As the MLB Winter Meetings come to a close from Nashville on Wednesday, many baseball fans are eagerly awaiting the news of where two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will sign. When USA TODAY reporter Bob Nightengale reported that optimism within the Chicago Cubs organization about landing Ohtani had waned, and later added that the team is not willing to award him with a 10-year contract worth at least $500 million, the baseball world took notice. In fact, it led to a contentious exchange involving team president Jed Hoyer and Nightengale himself, according to Jesse Watters of ESPN.
“A little inside baseball,” Watters said during a guest appearance with ESPN 1000. “Jed spoke with reporters a few minutes ago. As he was walking towards the group, he runs into Bob Nightengale and there were some stern words exchanged. I don’t know what was said, but stern words exchanged.”
The reported tension between a baseball executive and a member of the media caught the attention of Mike Mulligan and David Haugh, both of whom formerly reported at the Chicago Tribune. Mulligan began the conversation by reflecting on the perception that Nightengale seems to have fostered within the Chicago sports marketplace.
“Do you know what I learned yesterday more than anything else – and this is fascinating?,” Mulligan said Wednesday morning on 670 The Score. “That if Bob Nightengale has a report about the White Sox, everybody’s like, ‘Oh gosh, Bob has never been wrong about the White Sox.’ That’s all it is; ‘He’s been told that by the man himself.’ Apparently a lot of people on Cubs Twitter [are] not so interested about what Bob has to say about the Cubs.”
The show presumed that Hoyer was evidently displeased about Nightengale disseminating information about Ohtani and attributing the Cubs organization therein. Haugh thought that he would channel Kenny Williams, former general manager of the White Sox who said that team owner Jerry Reinsdorf needed to stay out of the team’s business.
“He’s like, ‘Oh wait, we didn’t get that memo. Oh wait, we haven’t been told,’” Haugh said of Hoyer. “So if that is the case – if the Cubs are out on Ohtani – it was news to Jed Hoyer and it still could happen in terms of them being eliminated as a possibility. Maybe Ohtani’s people said that, but he did push back. It was reportedly a little testy exchange, and good for Jed Hoyer for at least keeping that slim possibility alive.”
Mulligan assumed that Haugh would be very disappointed, but he then remembered that Cubs fans do not seem to care what Nightengale thinks about their team. Even with this ostensible concordance though, Haugh clarified what he thinks about the longtime baseball reporter on the air.
“I do care what Bob Nightengale says; I do respect him as a reporter,” Haugh said. “He is a friend, and I was disappointed by his initial report that the Cubs are out on it, and I think it kind of forced me to [go], ‘Alright, let’s consider the offseason without Ohtani. Not the end of the world. IT can still be a good offseason,’ and you start to rationalize it.”
