Watch MLB Commish Rob Manfred Go At it With ESPN’s Le Batard: ‘I’m Not Gonna…Have You Call Me a Liar!’

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred got into a heated slugfest of a debate with ESPN’s Dan Le Batard on Wednesday over the Miami Marlins trading away two elite sluggers and getting back almost nothing in return.

During an interview The Dan Le Batard Show, Le Batard accused the MLB commissioner of lying after he claimed that he was unaware that Derek Jeter — CEO and part-owner of the Marlins — planned to slash the team’s payroll by trading away superstar Giancarlo Stanton and All-Star Marcell Ozuna for minimal return.

“You’re coming on here and saying you weren’t aware of Jeter’s plan to trade players and slash payroll?” Le Batard said. “We’re starting with a lie, Rob! That’s what we’re starting with! You can’t tell me you’re not aware of that!”

Manfred was furious with the accusation.

“I’m not going to sit here and have you call me a liar!” Manfred said.

Le Batard is one of the most prominent national sports voices based out of South Florida. And local fans have been infuriated with Jeter’s brief tenure as Marlins chief executive — particularly give that the Marlins have traded away their best players in the past simply because they deemed them too costly.

The ESPN radio host believes that Major League Baseball has been complicit in the fire sale. Manfred denies that is the case.

“I explained to you that we do not get involved in operating-level decisions in the ownership process, the ownership approval process,” Manfred said. “Clubs make those local decisions by themselves.”

Watch above, via ESPN.

[featured image via screengrab]

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