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New Seattle Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said Tuesday that Kevin Long should keep his opinions to himself, two days after the New York Yankees hitting coach criticized second baseman Robinson Cano for his unwillingness to run out routine ground balls while in the Bronx.
McClendon said Long overstepped his bounds with his critique of Cano's effort with New York and defended the Mariners' prized offseason free-agent acquisition.
"Last time I checked, I didn't know that Kevin Long was the spokesman for the New York Yankees," McClendon told ESPN.com. "That was a little surprising. I was a little pissed off, and I'm sure Joe [Girardi] feels the same way. He's concerned with his team and what they're doing, not what the Seattle Mariners players are doing.
"I'm a little surprised that Kevin Long is the spokesman for the New York Yankees. I wonder if he had any problems with Robbie when he wrote that book ["Cage Rat"] proclaiming himself as the guru of hitting."
Long responded to the criticism later Tuesday.
"That's too bad," he said. "I don't consider myself the spokesman for the Yankees. If you look at all the good things that were written about Robinson you would understand there was no malicious meaning behind any of it. If he wants to speak publicly like that, that is up to him. That is the way he interpreted it. I'm not going to get in a media war with Lloyd McClendon; he'd probably win that anyway.
Source: ESPN
McClendon said Long overstepped his bounds with his critique of Cano's effort with New York and defended the Mariners' prized offseason free-agent acquisition.
"Last time I checked, I didn't know that Kevin Long was the spokesman for the New York Yankees," McClendon told ESPN.com. "That was a little surprising. I was a little pissed off, and I'm sure Joe [Girardi] feels the same way. He's concerned with his team and what they're doing, not what the Seattle Mariners players are doing.
"I'm a little surprised that Kevin Long is the spokesman for the New York Yankees. I wonder if he had any problems with Robbie when he wrote that book ["Cage Rat"] proclaiming himself as the guru of hitting."
Long responded to the criticism later Tuesday.
"That's too bad," he said. "I don't consider myself the spokesman for the Yankees. If you look at all the good things that were written about Robinson you would understand there was no malicious meaning behind any of it. If he wants to speak publicly like that, that is up to him. That is the way he interpreted it. I'm not going to get in a media war with Lloyd McClendon; he'd probably win that anyway.
Source: ESPN