The satire sounded real enough.
A joke tweet by The Ringer writer Michael Baumann was misconstrued as an actual report, and MLB Network briefly passed along the wild bit of “news” about Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer.
Bauer has been sidelined since Aug. 11, when he took a line drive off his leg that gave him a stress fracture. He’s been given a 4-6 week timeline; not according to Baumann’s joke about the controversial starter.
“Trevor Bauer says that the doctors’ timeline for his return is based on outdated mainstream medicine and he’s begun a course of blood transfusions and colloidal silver to rid his body of CIA nanites. He anticipates missing two starts, three tops,” Baumann wrote.
Bauer is one of baseball’s most outspoken players. He once wanted to use a soldering iron to heal a finger wound; the Trump supporter claimed MLB was trying to silence him in March; and he was forced to deny his “BD 911,” scrawled on the mound during one of his outings, meant, “Bush did 9/11.”
So, with that background of the person, MLB Network seized on Baumann’s joke, reporting it as news. Bauer alleged ESPN did, as well, though whether the network did is unclear.
“For anyone who thinks this is actually true, it’s not,” Bauer wrote on Twitter. “Saw this on the crawl of espn. Couldn’t hear the audio so not sure how they’re presenting it but it is not true at all. @espn.
“Hey @MLBNetwork and @espn I would like public statements on social media and on your networks clarifying that the information you wrongly reported as fact earlier regarding my recovery timetable and process is false and not a quote from me. The report is damaging and absurd.”
Baumann, too, was disappointed his tweet had been picked up.
“For f–k’s sake, ESPN, I *said* it was a joke,” he wrote.
