This isn't the fault of the reporter, Alyson Footer, who did the right thing by confronting Wade, who proceeded to do the wrong thing by denying pursuit during mid-pursuit...
...But now that he has signed Pudge for $1.5 million plus incentives, he owes an apology to Footer, who had the professionalism to praise him for the move even after he led her astray. For his own sake Wade should also rethink this strategy, because when you're caught telling big fat ones like this, folks tend not to trust you in the future.
almost 3 years ago
Stephen Higdon
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I see his point
But at the same time, I also don’t expect that Wade should anyone know what’s going on behind the scenes if he doesn’t feel it’s in the Astros’ best interest. Sure, he could have said “no comment” but anyone in the news business knows “no comment” means there’s something to tell. There were a couple of other teams said to be interested in Pudge and by giving the idea that the Astros might even be slightly interested as well could have changed the playing field for him. That’s a risk he probably thought he could not take.
Yeah I don't get it
Isn’t it customary for the GMs of every professional sport to lie to or mislead reporters? Isn’t it all part of the game? Well, not just a game as entropic soul points out – there are good reasons for not telling reporters what’s going on. That GMs should apologize to reporters just seems really silly to me. It’s not their fault if a reporter’s credibility is questioned after something like that. I never questioned Footer’s credibility after Astros signed I-Rod. I just realize her only source is the official one (Wade) and he has sound reason not to be straightforward with her. I don’t think Footer or any beat reporter should be patted on the back for maintaining their professionalism after being ‘lead astray’. I expect reporters to behave professional anyway and not carry agendas (and it’s one reason why I like Footer).
the irony here
is that Heyman is the first writer that gets the scoop on all of the Scott Boras clients…a guy whose own ability to mislead, cast dispersion and be less than truthful has allowed him to become a super-agent (i’m using super in the pejorative sense). wade has no obligation to be truthful with anyone when it comes to free agent signings. if not telling footer anything gave the astros a competitive advantage over the other teams that were in pursuit of i-rod, then that’s fine with me.
by Evan Hochschild on Mar 19, 2009 8:08 PM CDT up reply actions
as I recall
Wade’s statement was something to the effect of “We haven’t had any new talks with Rodriguez or Boras.” For all we know, that’s the case. Boras seems to have simply met the Astros’ previous offer. Footer’s mistake was in claiming that she could “assure” us that the Astros were not signing Pudge. That doesn’t seem to be what Wade said, so it seems he was entirely truthful.
not cast dispersion!
cast aspersion is what i was going for….
by Evan Hochschild on Mar 19, 2009 8:58 PM CDT up reply actions
I wonder if Heyman knows about that radio talk by Footer....
where she accused Heyman of being used by Boras. Maybe he might not be so quick to defend her.
Yeah, what he said!! (HLP)
Heyman’s whole reportorial persona in recent years seems built around the idea of being the willing outlet for WHATEVER agents want to get out there as “news.” Seems pretty strange for him to be an arbiter in this situation. Waay too self-important.
I don't think its customary for GMs to lie
maybe avoid reporters or put out carefully crafted statements that are true but require parsing.
yes, the GM has no obligation to let the general public know what personnel....
he is pursuing or whom he has made offers. And he might be imprudent if he did so. It may be a different matter to talk about these things after the deals are done. The ironic part of Heyman’s argument is that it would result in a GM always saying that he has a policy of not talking about any personnel matters. (Some GMs do have that policy.) That policy would frustrate the press, because they wouldn’t ever get quotes. I think Wade tries to help out the press, generally, by giving them some information and quotes. Unfortunately, some situations call for him to use some misdirection so that his competitors don’t know everything he is working on.
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