Comments on: Do Bloggers Belong in the Press Box?

By: Rich Campbell

Rich Campbell — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:29:13 +0000

Ringing in late on the Press Box issue... I personally would love the access and think that it would enhance my work. But, I also recognize the fact that it would create more hassles from a team side, i.e. credentials and crowding and costs and marketing. Not to mention player relations. What I have often felt would be a good compromise would be greater access to press conferences. With the use of email lists and the facilities available in most modern ballparks, there is very little to no reason why the team shouldn't make use of the extra potential for media attention and gain goodwill with the fanbase.

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By: John Conniff

John Conniff — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:03:47 +0000

#16@Corey Brock: One comment that should be addressed is that because someone writes on the Internet, as Corey’s association with MLB.com, does not automatically make them a “blogger”.

For example at Madfriars.com about 90% of what we put on our site is either game summaries and interviews. We believe that our audience is much more interested in hearing from those involved than our opinions. Twice a year we rank the prospects, have a player and pitcher of the month and a yearly draft review, but for the most part we try to run a news site. A big part of our job is having press access so we can be on the field before the game interviewing players/coaches along with locker room access afterwards to write game reports.

I know in the print media the term blogger has become a type of pejoritive phrase but in reality a good blogger is about the same as a good columnist, both are writing about their opinions with varying degrees of facts to back up their assertions. Frankly I enjoy reading Geoff’s opinions more than Canepa or Sullivan because they are usually backed up by some type of numerical analysis compared to “I think..”

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By: JP

JP — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:07:12 +0000

Maybe the scouts are confusing Blanks with former and recent Padres farmhand Walter Young.

http://tinyurl.com/5n3w7k

Young had conditioning problems and couldn’t run well.

The Missions are struggling, having been swept by Frisco at home. I am hoping to see the Missions play Springfield on Thursday.

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By: Tom Waits

Tom Waits — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:00:29 +0000

#64@Steve C: It does seem to be a lot like Burroughs, except that scouts are talking about possible weakness in his swing instead of glossing over it. Burroughs almost always had solid (and sometimes great) numbers. It was probably only his pedigree and draft position that kept some scouts from worrying more about the total lack of load in his swing.

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By: Steve C

Steve C — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:55:02 +0000

#63@Tom Waits: Yeah its like of like a Sean Burroughs type thing, they see a big kid and they expect big power, which has not really come consistently yet.

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By: Tom Waits

Tom Waits — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:47:28 +0000

#62@Pat: Scouts don't seem to think his body is bad, in fact it seems like they love his body. Many of them don't like how he uses it in terms of generating bat speed and such. Still, he doesn't seem like he'd sell any jeans. In a lot of pictures his cap looks about 2 sizes too small.

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By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:32:15 +0000

#34@Schlom: Yeah, I think Blanks suffers from the fact that he doesn't look like a prospect to a scout. I have visions of Moneyball running through my head. Great numbers, bad body = poor scouting report.

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By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:28:40 +0000

#28@JMAR: “I don’t necessarily disagree. I just know that there are scouts and minor league experts who know more than we do and they’re not talking about Blanks, so what is the reason?”

Yes, and I made sure to state that I’m going solely off numbers with no personal/scouting experience of either. If I were to hazard a guess on Blanks, I’d say it’s a size bias. There simply is not much history of guys his size making it. There are exceptions like Frank Howard and a few other big guys, but not many who were very successful. But it could be more than that; I don’t know. Whatever it is though is not showing up in his production.

BTW, I wasn’t looking at BP’s numbers at all. My info is strictly from the Baseball Cube.

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By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:24:00 +0000

#59@Jim: Yeah, I wouldn't consider that cheering.

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By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:09:18 +0000

#16. Corey. I knew that would come out wrong when I said it but what I was trying to say is that as unbiased as sports writers are supposed to be, they still tend to appreciate tough and amazing plays regardless of the sport. I have never seen outloud cheering but when there is a nice defensive play by a short stop, a great diving catch by a wide receiver or something similar, you can hear a buzz throughout the press box of guys talking about what they saw. It may not be considered cheering but you know the guys like what they saw.

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