The Yankees’ season hasn’t gone well and the tension in the Bronx is visible. Michael Kay got into an argument with a fan, who felt he was being too polite to general manager Brian Cashman.
The Yankees’ play-by-play announcer on the YES Network didn’t appreciate a fan tweet from Wednesday night in which the user, @PlayoffBader, claimed to be defending general manager Brian Cashman.
Fan attacked Michael Kay
After @PlayoffBader sent a direct message to Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay and received a lengthy response, the exchange was made public.
The tweet sent during the game between the Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians at Yankee Stadium read:
“You watch every game, right? Explain to me how you could possibly defend Cashman,”
Michael Kay sent him a lengthy direct message after the Yankees’ 4-3 victory in extra innings, and PlayoffBader screenshotted and then tweeted:
“Okay, let’s do this. You give me a quote, or a sentence where I defended Cashman on the air tonight, any proof you can come up with, and I will make a sizable donation to your favorite charity. Again, any instance of me defending the Yankee GM during tonight’s broadcast, and I will gladly make the donation. And if you can’t come up with proof, and you will not be able to because it doesn’t exist, I want nothing back from you, other than you gaining the knowledge that what you and others hear is that when someone isn’t bashing Cashman who think they’re defending him. I will patiently await the proof. Thank you for watching the game on (Amazon) Prime.”
However, Michael Kay became agitated when the fan didn’t immediately rebut with evidence that the broadcaster had backed the Yankees GM.
“And still no answer,” Michael Kay tweeted. “That’s all you have. I never DM anyone anything I wouldn’t make public so this is fine but the fact I gave you the consideration of DMing you a response and you made it public tells me all I need to know about you and your opinion. LOL.”
Since Michael Kay hadn’t heard anything by Thursday morning, Kay announced that he would donate his own money to the Alzheimer’s Association.
The background
With a $300 million salary bill, the Yankees are currently in last place in the challenging American League East despite being above .500. Their fans are hardly satisfied with such a performance.
On Wednesday, with the team sitting at 16-15 and dead last in the American League East, Cashman addressed local media for the first time this season. Micahel Kay was sitting next to Cashman, as the Yankees general manager offered to take responsibility for the team’s struggle.
He pleaded to not “count us out,” have done little to assuage the nerves of Yankees supporters.
“Don’t give up on us,” Cashman said. “That’s all I can tell you. Don’t count us out. Don’t give up on us. We’ve got a good group of people. Player-wise, staff-wise, support-staff wise. This is a championship-caliber operation.”
There are several valid points of criticism regarding Cashman’s actions. His decisions to maintain manager Aaron Boone and bench player Isiah Kiner Falefa, who has been performing poorly, have hindered the team’s progress. It’s amusing to see the play-by-play announcer get upset with a supporter for defending the team’s general manager, though. The Yankees’ season hasn’t gone well thus far, and this viral moment won’t change that.
The twitter account @PlayoffBader is now deleted.
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