No, Mr. Rogers, It Was Wrong

Admittedly, I have not read the Jesse Rogers article on Kris Bryant and the interview on Red Line Radio – a Barstool Chicago Podcast. I haven’t read it because I listened to the podcast, and I know how Kris Bryant feels.

Bryant, since coming to Chicago, has been the team’s most productive offensive player. This is factually and statistically true.

But more so, he’s been authentic. He’s been genuine. He’s been open and honest and has been himself to all of us. That all of us includes you Jesse Rogers.

Jesse isn’t the biggest manipulator on Bryant stories. In fact, since he has become a Cubs reporter I have found him to be fair, honest, and mostly accountable. There are some others in the ESPN Chicago house that I cannot say the same about.

I have been very critical of David Kaplan since the 2016 season. I have been because he was incredibly critical of everything the Cubs front office would do. He constantly complained about Theo Epstein’s plan and how it wasn’t working – which made for great radio and TV, but for those who bought into the plan, we kept the receipts.

No, there was no offer of anything north of $200 million to Kris Bryant or to Scott Boras. Sure, there may have been conversations of varying levels of intensity, but at no point did the Cubs offer a deal, and at no point did Kris turn down a deal.

That story went unchecked until this day. It has been recycled and regurgitated time-and-time again and there is a certain faction of this fanbase that has latched onto that. That faction grows as Bryant’s impending free agency gets closer, and that narrative has never been stricken down by the man who falsely reported it.

So, to this day, there is a faction of vocal Cubs fans that are fueled by fake news. That part of the fanbase continues to be over-critical and unfair. I’m not trying to say you cannot criticize a player, you can. But be fair in what you are criticizing. Whenever you get into a conversation with this ugly piece of Cubdom, and you are really able to peel back the onion, their root issue is almost always, “Scott Boras won’t let him re-sign here.” Then they cite the Kaplan story as if it is scripture.

Using Bryant’s words against him is only going to cause him to bottle up more. He already doesn’t speak to the press, now you’re going to take what he said in a short interview when he was being honest, and twist it to make it all out to be something else entirely?

Where did I ever say I wasn't accountable for my writing? Did you hear your guys @WaddleandSilvy ? Think they spelled it out pretty accurately. I know you're a huge fan. I think the storyline is the fans that made him feel this way.

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) January 21, 2021

Jesse, Kris is very happy in Chicago – shit, he said so himself. What he isn’t happy with is the unfair coverage he gets here, be it from fans AND the media. You are a part of that media. You have been given multiple chances to clear up your mistake. But instead of saying, “my bad guys, I made a mistake and I will do better next time,” you instead doubled-down on this AND THEN SAID IT IS THE FANS FAULT!

No, Mr. Rogers. It is 100% your fault.