Sports channel MLB Network has cut ties with top baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal after a fracas over his criticism of league commissioner Rob Manfred, according to a report from the New York Post. The dust-up began last summer when Rosenthal, an in-studio reporter for the network, began scrutinizing Manfred’s negotiations with the players’ union during the pandemic in a series of columns for The Athletic. Sources told the Post that Rosenthal, 59, was subsequently yanked off the air at MLB Network for roughly three months. His absence was not reported at the time. The quiet three-month suspension, during which Rosenthal was paid, ended in time for the league’s trade deadline in late August. His contract ended in December last year. Rosenthal declined to comment on the matter to the Post. He will remain with both The Athletic and Fox Sports, where he is a dugout reporter.