Late Innings

I’ve seen a few interesting items today that I should pass along:

…

I wanted to give props today to the excellent Hot Stove coverage of the Winter Meetings going on at MLB Trade Rumors. Tim Dierkes is clearly burning the midnight oil (I’ve seen him on Google Chat at 3AM one day this week, and there were a few 4AM posting as well.) His coverage on the event is in my opinion the best and most comprehensive I’ve ever seen (RotoWorld gets second place here.) On average his site usually has around 75 fresh posts a week (according to Ball Hype.) He hit close to that yesterday alone. That dedication alone deserves my respect, since everyone deep down is a rumor addict.

…

Readers of ShysterBall know that Craig Calcaterra recently moved his blog over to The Hardball Times two weeks ago. However he revealed this interesting tidbit this morning on the THT daily update:

…as soon as I made it known I was going to move my blog, The Sporting News offered me an insane amount of money. … Then I ran into Studeman in a Vegas hotel and told him that I’d really like to come to the Hardball Times, and the rest is history

Wow, I know many writers are mad at him (e.g. the “Bloggers Union"), but I’m proud that he put his own interests over money. What I would have done in the same situation is a little different… I’d take the Sporting News offer to ESPN and use that as a ploy.

…

Lastly just like everyone else, MLB.com is laying off about 5% of its staff (they have 450 employees give or take.) I’ve seen a few front offices cut about 10% of their staff, and the recession is impacting baseball everywhere.