MLB Offseason Moves/Rumor Thread

[mall-O-cup]

8 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Fair enough, but if you don't think that newspaper reporters and reporters on TV don't have their stuff vetted and approved by some sort of higher up, then I don't know what to tell you.

 

That's why I come here for the majority of my Orioles news because you can pretty much let it all Hang Out.  

[SteveA]

59 minutes ago, oriolediehard said:

The O's signed outfielder Daniel Johnson to a minor league contract.

https://www.msn.com/en-US/sports/baseball_mlb/orioles-agree-to-minor-league-contract-with-outfielder/ar-BB1h9bap?ocid=sapphireappshare

Your link doesn't work for me.   Still at work and they block a lot of stuff so maybe it works for other people.

This the LH hitting OF who is 28 and played a little for Cleveland?   .783 career minor league OPS.   Outfield depth for Norfolk, injury insurance for Baltimore?    Played a lot of CF, we are a bit short on CF depth.

From New Mexico State but drafted 3 years before Joey Ortiz so probably no overlap.

Edited January 24 by SteveA

[Roll Tide]

1 hour ago, oriolediehard said:

The O's signed outfielder Daniel Johnson to a minor league contract.

https://www.msn.com/en-US/sports/baseball_mlb/orioles-agree-to-minor-league-contract-with-outfielder/ar-BB1h9bap?ocid=sapphireappshare

Link doesn’t work

[Roll Tide]

 

[Roll Tide]

He’s been a .800 OPS in the minors but horrid in the majors

[Moose Milligan]

Amazing!

[Frobby]

8 hours ago, wildbillhiccup said:

I get your point, but I think there's a difference between actual news and a paid infomercial. Roch's basically the Shamwow guy. 

Meh.  None of the O’s beat reporters really provide any more insight or actual scoops than Roch does.  It’s a pretty passive group.  

[Can_of_corn]

8 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

 

I've got news for you crews, you'll be sucking like a leech.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

Meh.  None of the O’s beat reporters really provide any more insight or actual scoops than Roch does.  It’s a pretty passive group.  

It’s largely that for any beat reporter. They are with these guys everyday. Jeff Zrebiec is excellent covering the Ravens. He doesn’t hold back on his opinions but he’s very respectful and rarely “breaks news”. He confirms it but never breaks it. Seems like the bigger stories get broken by the national guys, not the local ones.

That said, if a local guy is shooting down a rumor, it’s worth paying attention to.

[wildbillhiccup]

46 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Meh.  None of the O’s beat reporters really provide any more insight or actual scoops than Roch does.  It’s a pretty passive group.  

Are they passive or are they just not given access? It seems more like the latter to me. The Orioles relationship with the local media (or lack thereof) is a very interesting dynamic and one that definitely doesn't seem to be the norm in baseball. Most teams have independent beat reporters who seem to be pretty plugged in with teams they follow. And sure they might  get scooped on the big stories, but they're usually very good resources for making educated guesses about the day to day things like who's winning a position battle, who's going to close (if it's not obvious), etc. John Angelos seems to be very adversarial with the local media and I think a big part of that is because he thinks he can just use his in-house media team (i.e., Roch and MASN) to put an orange-tinted spin on everything. 

Like I said in another post, I'm not criticizing Roch. He's just doing his job. The only critique I have is when the team tries to pass him off to folks who aren't in the know as an independent reporter or even a beat reporter for that matter. You can't be a reporter and be employed by the person, thing, or company that you're reporting on. Call him a correspondent or something else. 

 

[24fps]

7 hours ago, Pickles said:

The failure of our press is something I'm well aware of, and legitimately deeply concerned about.  Roch's WAY down the list of what I'm worrying about though.

I didn't say or suggest anything about press "failure" although it's true that deep investigative reporting has always been subject to budget limitations if it's done in an institutional setting.  That's not failure but a fact of life.

[wildbillhiccup]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

It’s largely that for any beat reporter. They are with these guys everyday. Jeff Zrebiec is excellent covering the Ravens. He doesn’t hold back on his opinions but he’s very respectful and rarely “breaks news”. He confirms it but never breaks it. Seems like the bigger stories get broken by the national guys, not the local ones.

That said, if a local guy is shooting down a rumor, it’s worth paying attention to.

I disagree. Most independent beat reporters are pretty plugged in because most teams aren't as adversarial with the local media as the Orioles are. And sure the beat reporters might not be the first to break the big news (mostly because there's a lucrative national market for it now), but they're certainly great at speculating and making educated guesses about the direction the team is leaning. We're definitely missing that element here locally. Roch's probably broken more bones then he has stories. 

[wildbillhiccup]

1 hour ago, Roll Tide said:

 

If anyone on the board gets this one I consider you a friend for life. 

 

 

[Pickles]

27 minutes ago, 24fps said:

I didn't say or suggest anything about press "failure" although it's true that deep investigative reporting has always been subject to budget limitations if it's done in an institutional setting.  That's not failure but a fact of life.

Sure, which is exactly why getting worked up that Roch isn't some "newshound" is pretty silly.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

36 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

I disagree. Most independent beat reporters are pretty plugged in because most teams aren't as adversarial with the local media as the Orioles are. And sure the beat reporters might not be the first to break the big news (mostly because there's a lucrative national market for it now), but they're certainly great at speculating and making educated guesses about the direction the team is leaning. We're definitely missing that element here locally. Roch's probably broken more bones then he has stories. 

Just look at what the team did last year taking away Tony-OH's press pass. It was a petty move to do that to the man who founded the largest and best Oriole fan website. I'm sure it was done for a superfluous reason because we're actually allowed to be critical of team when it's warranted.