Reds' Price apologizes for expletive-laden tirade: 'I am sorry for the choice of words'
Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price is feeling remorse a day after lashing out on reporters.
"In my pre-game conversation with reporters yesterday, I used wholly inappropriate language to describe the media coverage of our team," Price said Tuesday. "While I stand by the content of my message, I am sorry for the choice of words."
Price imploded in the clubhouse Monday prior to the Reds series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers, directing some serious invective toward a reporter he felt was disseminating too much information about his squad.
Irked by the reporter's decision to divulge that injured catcher Devin Mesoraco was not available to pinch hit in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, Price voiced his displeasure with the journalist, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer, prior to Monday's contest.
"I don't know what the importance is for everyone to know if we have a player that's not here," Price said. "We don't benefit at all from the other teams knowing we don't have a player."
Price, by the way, was already peeved with Rosecrans for reporting last Friday that Mesoraco and Tucker Barnhart were on the same flight to St. Louis before the manager could tell Kyle Skipworth - whose spot on the roster Barnhart was taking - that he was heading back to the minors.
Price's frustration boiled over Monday in a expletive-laden tirade that, according to Rosecrans, included 77 uses of the f-word (or a derivation):
I like to talk — and I have spoken as candidly as I can with you people, if that's not good enough, I won't say a f******thing. I'll go, 'yes sir, no sir.' And I can do that. But f***, I've been as candid as I can f****** be about this team and our players, and we've got to deal with this s***, every f****** team that we f****** play has to know every f****** guy that's here and what they can and can't do? F*** me. It's a f****** disgrace. I'm f****** sick of this s***. It's f****** hard enough to f****** win here to have f****** every f****** opponent know exactly what the f*** we bring to the table every day. It's f****** horse****. I don't like it. It's what I'm saying. To make it very clear, I don't like the way that this s***'s going — at all. I don't like it. I don't think you guys need to know everything. And I certainly don't think you need to see something and tweet it out there and make it a f****** world event. How the f*** do we benefit from them knowing we don't have Devin Mesoraco? How do we benefit from that? They benefit from it. I just want to know how we benefit from these f****** people know we don't have a player here. Can you answer that? How is that good for the Reds?
Rosecrans, incidentally, drew the ire of Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips back in 2013 after the reporter questioned the decision to move Phillips - and his waning on-base percentage - from the cleanup spot to the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
(Courtesy: Footballzone)