Courtesy National Post

(June 7, 2010) Mike Wilner, who covers the Toronto Blue Jays for the team's flagship radio station, has been taken off the job for the weekend series with the New York Yankees following a confrontation on Wednesday with Jays manager Cito Gaston.

The disciplinary action was taken by Wilner's station, The Fan 590, which is owned by Rogers Communications. Rogers also owns the Blue Jays.

During Gaston's daily media scrum on Wednesday afternoon, Wilner raised questions about the way Gaston had used his bullpen in Tuesday night's 7-6 loss to Tampa Bay. A brief but tense exchange followed.

Later on his Fan 590 blog, Wilner wrote at length about the exchange, asserting that Gaston had "painted himself into a corner" by using relievers Shawn Camp and Scott Downs too early. Wilner also wrote that Gaston had "belittled" him in front of other reporters.

Friday, Wilner was absent from the game and his usual post-game call-in show. A source close to the situation said management had "benched" him for the weekend. It was unclear when he would return to his post-game show.

"My only comment is that I have the weekend off," Wilner said in response to an email seeking comment Friday night.

Wilner is a Rogers employee whose duties include on-air segments during the games, a daily blog and in-game live chats on the Internet as well as a popular post-game show.

Attempts to reach Fan 590 program director Don Kollins were unsuccessful.

Jays president Paul Beeston said Friday that he was unaware of the Wilner situation but would look into it.

The Toronto Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America sent Beeston a letter expressing "concern" about Wilner's enforced weekend off.

"The baseball writers association would like to officially voice its support of the right of Mr. Wilner or any other reporter to ask challenging questions," chapter president Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star wrote in the letter.

"Similar lines of questioning in the wake of difficult losses are not uncommon in all pro sports. The concern of the BBWAA is that this amounts to an attempt to either censor or intimidate the media coverage that the Jays receive on a daily basis in all four newspapers and the wire services."

Wilner and Gaston have clashed before. Earlier this season, Wilner apologized on his blog for comments he had made about Gaston's use of first baseman Lyle Overbay. Wilner also frequently criticizes Gaston's managerial strategy on the post-game show.

In his blog entry posted after Wednesday night's game, Wilner addressed his confrontation with Gaston: "It's unfortunate that I can't have a legitimate discussion about strategy with the manager without him feeling as though he's being attacked (or at least reacting as though he's being attacked -- I don't know what he was feeling), but such is life.

"I don't need to be belittled by the skipper in front of the entire [media] assemblage when I'm asking legitimate, rational questions about a situation that he brought up earlier in a conversation."

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