Derek’s right, I wasn’t going to bring it up. Despite the fact that this will probably kill Justin Spiro’s credibility in the eyes of most, I really don’t think it should. He got burned by an overzealous source. It happens to everyone who reports on what those “who wish to remain annonymous” tell them.
As I’ve made a good number of friends in the industry over the past two years, many of whom like to tell their friends things “off the record”, I’ve learned that some of it is interesting, some of it is ridiculous, and some of it is just crap. 99 percent of it is speculation, or their opinion, or in some cases, something they want to test public reactions on by getting it out there. I’ve kept a ton of stuff to myself that people wanted me to spread, simply because I don’t care to be the source of rumors. Some people like that gig, and live for breaking stories. I could care less if I’m the first or the fifteenth person to report something, as long as I provide something that is interesting to read. There are times I’ll sit on something until its announced as planned out of respect for the club. I’m sitting on an announcement that a major league club has hired a minor league baseball writer as an area scout right now (that will come out later this week, probably, not like most of you will care either way). I don’t feel a journalistic responsibility to make public everything I know. At the same time, I don’t expect everything that we post to be held to the same standards of a news reporting agency.
I’ll report some stuff, and I’ll refute some stuff, when I feel like its necessary. The Pudge-to-Seattle rumor was so blatently wrong that I felt like I should shoot it down. But, don’t give up on Justin Spiro because of this. I’ve never talked to him, and I don’t know anything about him, but he’s not the first guy to get burned by a source, and he won’t be the last.
Ivan Rodriguez signed with Detroit today. We got some nasty email when Dave, writing on January 23rd, said that Justin Spiro’s (Detriot Sports Net) report that Ivan had agreed to sign with the Mariners was wrong. Particularly, that we were frequently full of ourselves and tooting our own horn for being right about things (though these same detractors were unable to provide me examples — I think we let our record speak for itself and figure our readers know what’s up).
But because I know Dave won’t, I’d like to remind those people that wrote in that Dave was right.
On the scalping issue: yaaayyy. It’s bad enough the team gets to enforce crazy regulations like “you can’t sell your tickets for below face value in front of Safeco” but that they do it while actively trying to get into the scalping business themselves is appalling. The M’s defense has been “Our way is legal, and scalpers aren’t…” but if it was legal to kill someone in Everett (is it?), would it be right to do so? I hope that this does something to remind fans that the M’s aren’t owned by a charitable organization, they’re run to make a great profit.
It’s always been insane to regard team owners as doing some public service because they sign the checks of local sports stars. If there was a way the Mariners could burn down Safeco Field and get the insurance money, we’d all be making s’mores tomorrow on the charcol at First and Royal Brougham.