Arizona Diamondbacks TV broadcaster Daron Sutton was removed from the team's telecasts last week and the team gave no explanation, leading to these comments from the Arizona Republic's Dan Bickley:
D’backs TV Voice Daron Sutton Suspended For Insubordination
Sutton, the lead TV broadcaster for the D’backs, has been off the air since June 21, and now we know why.
Yet this mysterious disappearance doesn't work, either. His sudden ejection from the broadcast booth has led to rampant speculation. A friend surmised that he must've been caught cheating. A reader suggested another kind of infidelity, that Sutton was busted negotiating with the Dodgers on the sly.
Laughter ensued, but now, we learn there’s something more serious involved. Jerry Crasnick:
The Arizona Diamondbacks have suspended broadcaster Daron Sutton for “insubordination” after determining that he had failed to comply with a number of management directives over the years, a baseball source told ESPN.com.Among those directives, writes Crasnick:
A person familiar with the situation said Sutton recently had been involved in a dispute with the Diamondbacks over the team’s new on-air dress code. But another source said Sutton’s suspension was the culmination of a series of events rather than a single incident.The dress-code violation report was confirmed by Nick Piecoro of the Republic:
A source confirmed that dispute to The Republic, saying that while the club prefers its broadcast team to wear polo shirts adorned with the Diamondbacks logo, Sutton has lobbied to wear suits.
He made at least one veiled reference to the dispute on the air during the last game he called, an afternoon game against the Seattle Mariners on June 20.
In general, when team management has rules for employees or team members, those people usually have to follow the rules or face consequences. Now, this could be interesting:
[Sutton] was scheduled to call the Diamondbacks-Brewers game on Saturday for Fox's national telecast.
It's unclear if he will still call that game. Mike Connelly, the senior vice president of and executive producer of Fox Sports, did not return emails seeking comment.
As always, we await developments. For more on the Diamondbacks, please visit AZ Snakepit and SB Nation Arizona.
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