FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TORONTO, ONTARIO
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2012
BLUE JAYS COMMENT REGARDING ESCOBAR
The Toronto Blue Jays do not support discrimination of any kind nor condone the message displayed by Yunel Escobar during Saturday’s game. The club takes this situation seriously and is investigating the matter.
Alex Anthopoulos, Sr. VP Baseball Operations and General Manager will be available to the media tomorrow afternoon at Yankee Stadium and we expect him to be joined by Yunel Escobar, Manager John Farrell and Coach Luis Rivera. Details and location for the media availability will be announced tomorrow.
Commentary: I am glad that the Blue Jays decided to make a statement tonight rather than waiting for tomorrow. The knee-jerk reaction nature of the Twitter (and the rest of the Internet) have made the five hours or so since fan photographer @james_in_to released the first picture of the offensive words on Escobar's eyeblack seem like an eternity. I am happy to see the club making it clear that it does not condone what Escobar did last Saturday--I expect a more extensive response tomorrow. The club needs to be given time to fully investigate the issue, and Yunel Escobar deserves a chance to somehow defend or apologize for his actions.
I am eager to see what Anthopoulos, Farrell, Rivera, and Escobar will say tomorrow at the press conference. I just hope it is not one of those boring pressers where everyone apologizes from a script and makes vague statements of how they are going to prevent it in the future.
This can be a learning (and growing) moment for Escobar and the ballclub--let's hope they make the best of this situation.