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Blue Jays' Jose Bautista right to boycott Sportsnet in suit dispute

Blue Jays' Jose Bautista right to boycott Sportsnet in suit dispute

Update: Jose Bautista ended his feud with Sportsnet on Wednesday night, saying the issue was "resolved and we're moving on."  He did not specify how the issue was resolved. Bautista appeared in a 1-on-1 interview on Sportsnet's pregame show Wednesday. No reference was made to the boycott.

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An employer doesn't get to make an employee help pay to promote the business, period, full stop.

Everything other hot take is a side point at best regarding the Toronto Star scoop that Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista has ceased granting one-on-one interviews to Sportsnet "in protest of the broadcaster's refusal to pay the cost of a designer suit purchased by rookie Devon Travis as part of a TV segment" that aired in May.

The original story wasn't news, but the fallout is. None of the principals — Bautista, Travis, the Jays, Sportsnet, who all live under the Rogers roof — wanted it to be public knowledge. More obsessive fans might have wondered why pregame and postgame interviews had been with other players, instead of a six-time all-star who occupies a key spot in the lineup. As it turns out, there is a principle involved, plus the nagging suspicion that no matter how good a situation might be, with the Jays in first place and their TV ratings soaring, Rogers will find a way to screw it up.

From Brendan Kennedy (@BKennedyStar):

Bautista believes Sportsnet took advantage of Travis — since it was the network's idea to do the suit-buying special — and that he needs to stand up for his rookie teammate, who is unable to stand up for himself given his lower-echelon status in the league and with his new team.

Travis, currently rehabbing a shoulder injury at the Jays' training facility in Dunedin, Fla., declined to comment through a team spokesman.

In the six-minute-and-30-second segment, Sportsnet host Hazel Mae takes Travis to Gotstyle in Toronto's Distillery District, where the rookie second baseman models a handful of suits before settling on a two-piece, cobalt blue Ted Baker suit, a microprint shirt, hounds tooth tie and "cognac" lace-up shoes.

"This is pretty tight right here," he says.

Bautista is still giving one-on-one interviews to other media outlets, but the last time he spoke exclusively to Sportsnet was May 12, according to a search of Sportsnet's video archive by the Star. Since then he has not done any post-game, on-field interviews and has only been interviewed by Sportsnet cameras as part of group scrums with other media. (Toronto Star)

Gotstyle apparently provides many suits for Sportsnet's on-air personalities. It seems odd that Rogers would do that for one classification of employees and not another, since designer clothing is material for the job in both cases. A multi-billion dollar corporation used a player in its employ for a promotional piece for a supplier. It doesn't matter whether Travis, who makes the MLB-minimum $507,500 salary but is only a year out of Double-A baseball where players are not paid a living wage, can afford have bought the suit.

Framing the decision around journalistic ethics also works about as well as trying to catch Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey's knuckleball with an infielder's glove worn on the wrong hand. It's a labour issue when the Jays and Sportsnet are vertically integrated. As one of the Blue Jays' player reps (information obtained from Sportsnet's website), Bautista has an obligation to decide whether to get involved.

There's some he-said, she-said in this story, but if Devon Travis was given the impression he was getting a free suit, Rogers owes him a suit. It's worth stressing that point since it's applicable in an era where many employers, generally, are getting increasingly brazen about what the worker has to pay for out of her/his pocket.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @naitSAYger.