The latest residue from Carmen Mlodzinski’s public pouting over his role with the Pittsburgh Pirates has resulted in a media kerfuffle.
Pittsburgh media outlets traveling to cover the team in Houston were apparently informed that Mlodzinski would be addressing his time on the restricted list — and his expected reinstatement from it — prior to Tuesday’s game against the Astros.
Before that happened, though, the organization gave MLB.com team insider Jason Mackey an interview with Mlodzinski, and the official heads-up that the pitcher was coming off the list.
“I wanna do what’s best to help us win baseball games,” Mlodzinski told Mackey. “Being around these guys, this team, it’s a pretty cool group to be a part of. Of course, I want to start and will always want that, but winning games takes precedence.
Later in the story, Mlodzinski added, “If they called on me Tuesday, if they need me to do that, I would be willing to do whatever they’re asking.”
In a post that appeared on both the league and team websites, the controversy surrounding Mlodzinski’s de facto one-game suspension was tamped down with the opening sentence: “The fuss over Carmen Mlodzinski’s role will soon be a thing of the past.”
Eh, let’s see about that based on how Bubba Chandler does Tuesday night, and how Jared Jones does his next couple of starts through the rotation.
This development resulted in angst from other local media members. Some of them work for outlets that are footing the bill to send reporters on the road to cover the team, as opposed to traveling on the organization’s dime.
They were understandably upset that such a story was served up to the team outlet to get Mlodzinski’s quotes into the ether before he had to face questions from reporters who may not have his or the team’s best interest at heart.
Rather, their goal is just to get the facts, tell the story, be objective and try to get responses to questions that may not be comfortable to ask or answer.
To say nothing of how the team itself got to “break” its own news.
Mackey posted that story to social media at 8:54 p.m. A one-line news release regarding Mlodzinski’s reinstatement went out from the team at 9:16 p.m.
Yeah. I rolled my eyes about it too. More state-run, sanitized, controlled sports “news” that’s as much propaganda as it is information. That’s the way of the sports media world nowadays.
More and more every day, in fact. I share in the frustration expressed by those in the local industry, cosign on the agitation and applaud them speaking out on the matter.
One thing, though. Part of the dialogue online Monday night seemed to suggest that this was a Pirates-specific issue — that neither the Steelers nor the Penguins would do such a thing.
I’ll disagree there. Of course they would. They’ve both done so in recent months. It’s commonplace in the industry.
The Penguins initially announced Evgeni Malkin’s contract extension through an email blast to season ticket holders and a couple of fluffy social media videos. He hasn’t spoken with the local media about it. Nor has general manager Kyle Dubas.
The Steelers put Art Rooney II on the Steelers radio network flagship station on Day 3 of the draft in the wake of the Makai Lemon first-round phone call fiasco and didn’t walk him down the hall to a room full of media members. They’ve been doing the Day 3 flagship interview with the owner since Dan Rooney was in charge.
This is nothing new with them. And this isn’t a Pittsburgh-only trend either. It happens everywhere. Way more than it should.
But it’s not a Pirates-generated phenomenon. In fact, it’s probably making waves right now because the Pirates have been behind the times in having someone like this on their payroll.
The problem here isn’t the team-run media process. Sports franchises have their own agenda. That agenda is to shine up every scuffed story and sand down any splintered edges. It’s Kevin Bacon in “Animal House” at all times.
In the internet and social media age, they are just playing the game.
The problem is us. The consumers. We are to blame.
As readers, viewers and listeners we frequently do a poor job of distinguishing between propaganda and the press.
Or, in a lot of cases in 2026, many of us seek out that propaganda because feeling good and being told what we want to hear is more important than being properly informed.
As a result of the Mlodzinski story, overnight on Monday into Tuesday, a lot of oxygen was spent trying to spell out the nuance between journalism and public relations.
I’m glad some of my colleagues still have the energy to wage that war. I’ve got to admit that I’ve become jaded about who we are fighting for, and the public’s effort to grasp the difference.
In this specific case, based on some of the responses I saw to their complaints, the lines were so blurred that anyone who was willing to see the difference could do so quite easily.
I just wish that was the case more often.