YES Network Cans Verducci for Being Honest

If you ever needed proof that the YES Network was little more than a mouthpiece for the Yankees front office, here it is: Tom Verducci, one of the most respected baseball minds in all of media, was relieved of his analyst duties for straying too far from the company line. The sad (or funny, depending on your perspective) thing? YES isn't even hiding their rationale. From Neil Best's Watchdog blog on Newsday (via The Big Lead):

YES spokesman Eric Handler said Verducci's "recent remarks pertaining to the Yankees' ownership were extremely personal and cutting, and we decided it would not be in our interests to have him on the show going forward.

The comments Handler refers to come from this column for Sports Illustrated in which Verducci puts the Yankees ownership on blast for how they severed ties with Torre, specifically, by doing it under the guise of wanting him back by offering him a deal they knew he'd never accept. Of course, it's not a huge surprise that Verducci had a strong reaction given the fact that he's collaborating on a book with Torre, which the suits at YES also took exception to:

"The recent disclosure of Tom's collaboration with Torre on yet another book highlights a conflict in his ability to write a balanced column about Torre's departure from the Yankees,'' Handler said.

It rings hollow for a regional sports network owned by a team to criticize a writer for not remaining objective, especially since there's no way this would have happened had Verducci taken the opposite stance and praised the Yankees. YES doesn't want objective opinions, they want polished PR, which would be fine so long as they didn't make such a fuss claiming otherwise.