Via The Big Lead – required sports reading, really – comes a tale of intrigue involving the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network. According to Neil Best, Newsday’s sports media commentator, the Yanks have banned SI.com’s Tom Verducci from the YES Network because of his close ties to estranged former manager Joe Torre.
Last month, Verducci penned a very critical piece on the Yanks’ treatment of Torre that was published just days before word came long that the two are working on a book. While I think YES should stomach the criticism, the ties between Torre and Verducci here blur the lines of journalist integrity. The relationship between sports writers and their subjects has always been cozy, and these co-writer situations like this always make me raise in eyebrow.
To replace Verducci, YES has turned to Jon Heyman for Sports Illustrated commentary instead.
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