Jerry Brewer of the Seattle Times checks in with his thoughts on Seattle Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln’s anti-media email.
Brewer writes that Lincoln conveniently refuses to accept responsibility for the negativity directed towards his organization.
Lincoln makes it sound as if the Mariners have done nothing wrong this season and are unnecessarily being scrutinized. He conveniently leaves out the fact that they’re back in the American League West cellar, with a 55-85 record after posting a winning season in 2009. He leaves out that they failed to capitalize on the Cliff Lee trade and wound up dealing him to Texas in a deal that included the acquisition of a pitcher, Josh Lueke, who pleaded down rape and sodomy charges last summer. And they did it without communicating with each other effectively. He leaves out that Ken Griffey Jr. drove off in the middle of the night and retired in the oddest manner possible. He leaves out that the team has fired five people, including manager Don Wakamatsu, this season. We could go on, but the point is that no one in the media is throwing haymakers at the Mariners. These are all big stories that must be covered and scrutinized. These are all new items the media is reacting to, not inventing.
Last night, Jeff Sullivan of Lookout Landing.com tweeted that the email is a relatively minor issue compared to the team’s handling of Josh Lueke, a minor league pitching prospect who plead guilty in relation to a sexual assault investigation.
If the Howard Lincoln email posted by @gbakermariners takes focus away from the team’s handling of the Lueke situation, that’s a problem
Jeff Sullivan
LookoutLanding
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