The Cincinnati Reds were on a four-game losing streak when manager Bryan Price spoke to the media on Monday. Perhaps that was part of the reason Price went off on C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer and provided one of the more considerable profanity-laced rants in recent memory.
To sum it up, Price dropped the F-bomb 77 times and sprinkled in some other curses to top off a five-minute tirade after he was upset about the media reporting lineup information, which benefitted the Reds' opponent and also didn't give Price the opportunity to personally notify one of his players that he would be sent back down to the minors. The prospect found out via the report.
Listen to Price's rant below:
Price berated Rosecrans over the issue and made headlines, joining the likes of former managers Lou Piniella, Tommy Lasorda, Ozzie Guillen, Hal McRae and others. He apologized via the Reds' Twitter account yesterday and said:
"In my pre-game conversation with reporters yesterday, I used wholly inappropriate language to describe the media coverage of our team. While I stand by the content of my message, I am sorry for the choice of words."
He also apologized directly to the reporters twice in the manager's office in Milwaukee.
Price has been criticized for still not appearing to have grasped the fact that it's the media's job to report any pertinent information regarding the team they cover, but it's undoubtedly frustrating that such news was made public before Price was able to at least tell youngster Kyle Skipworth that he'd be going back to the minor leagues. Additionally, it was advantageous to the St. Louis Cardinals knowing that All-Star catcher Devin Mesoraco would not be in the starting lineup.
Richard Justice of MLB.com provides an interesting take on the whole manager-media relationship, which he deems "tricky."
"Managers face the media twice a night for about 10 minutes, and emotions are often raw, tempers short, particularly after a loss ...
"Managers answer questions before games and then again after games. They discuss lineups, update the injury situation and offer thoughts on an assortment of topics.
"Can you imagine an NFL coach opening himself up to this kind of examination? Their access is tightly controlled, sometimes scripted, always limited.
"Baseball managers do this every single day, from the opening of Spring Training until the last out of the season. They understand it's as much a part of the game as umpires and airplanes.
"Because other sports don't offer this kind of access, there's much less information, way more speculation out there. And yet it's part of the culture of the sport, one of the best parts."
Price standing by the content of his message is something he's free to do, but that won't change anything (even though Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez and New York Mets manager Terry Collins agreed with him). The media will continue to do their job, whether or not it benefits a specific club, and Price is likely aware of that. It's clear his emotions took over and he lost his cool, especially since the team had lost seven of eight contests up until the moment of his meltdown.
When Andy Martino of the New York Daily News asked Gonzalez about how difficult it is to control information, the manager responded:
"Very difficult. Very difficult. You're talking about Bryan Price? He's dead on, other than the 77 f-bombs. We try to get ahead of it. This has happened to me not so much with (the Braves beat writers), but I understand that you don't want that somebody is not here to get leaked out."
Collins had a similar response:
"I don't know Bryan all that well, but he lost four in a row. Probably caught him at the wrong time. And I'll tell you what, there's a time when we get a little tired of that sh-t. We get a little tired of the leaks...You've got to vent somehow. Once in a while, we should be allowed to do that too."
It all makes sense. These managers are trying to win games, not to have every piece of information regarding their team be posted on every social media platform for the world to see. But these are the times now, and they'll have to deal with it and be more careful about with information is disseminated to those who have the power to spread it to a larger audience.
