A Chat With Mr. Chad Finn
- Thread starter absintheofmalaise
- Start date
Do you find it more difficult balancing a family and personal life while working at the Globe than you did working at the Concord Monitor? Can you describe your typical work day?
There's a heavy sense of skepticism/paranoia among Patriots fans as to how ESPN, in particular, has covered the team and the various "gates." As a media watchdog, do you see specific approaches in that coverage that justifies that concern? Could ESPN, for instance, carry out an "agenda" against a team for this long without one member of its staff airing the network's dirty laundry?
Chad,
How much money do you think Dombrowski has available to him to acquire an ace? Will Henry let him go after a starter such as Price who is approaching 30 and will command a huge contract?
The lineup looks to be fairly set everywhere but 1B for 2016. However, what are the odds that Dombrowski tries to trade for an impact middle of the order bat? They have the table setters in Betts, Pedroia, and Bogaerts. They could use another bat with power to stick in the middle of the order.
How much money do you think Dombrowski has available to him to acquire an ace? Will Henry let him go after a starter such as Price who is approaching 30 and will command a huge contract?
The lineup looks to be fairly set everywhere but 1B for 2016. However, what are the odds that Dombrowski tries to trade for an impact middle of the order bat? They have the table setters in Betts, Pedroia, and Bogaerts. They could use another bat with power to stick in the middle of the order.
How have you developed your strategy for using social media? It seems that you have chosen to use it almost like a personal account, sharing things you enjoy, chatting with people and generally interacting with other real human beings. This obviously works well for you, given the number of people you have following you, but is a stark contrast to some of your colleagues who use it as a platform to broadcast more than interact. Did this develop organically or was it a calculated decision?
A follow up: What do you think the most glaring weakness of twitter is from the perspective of a sports writer? Biggest strength?
Thank you for doing this chat with us. It means a lot that you are willing to take time out of your day for it!
A follow up: What do you think the most glaring weakness of twitter is from the perspective of a sports writer? Biggest strength?
Thank you for doing this chat with us. It means a lot that you are willing to take time out of your day for it!
What is the mood of the front office post Dombrowski hiring? Is everyone preparing to bail? Or has ownership tried to reassure them regarding their status?
Even though the outfield prospects in the minors are a year or two away (at best), do you think that Dombrowski trades one of Mookie, JBJ or Castillo this offseason? If so, who is to go?
Chad,
Including the minors, can you list the five players that you would most be unwilling to trade in the current Sox organization?
Including the minors, can you list the five players that you would most be unwilling to trade in the current Sox organization?
Now that you're a BBWAA member, what is your stance on "steroid era" players? Are they on your ballot or not?
Is there any way to get the genie back into the bottle in terms of the widespread use of anonymous sources in sportswriting? It's pretty clear at this point that the extremely widespread practice of using anonymous sources and single-sourcing has had a catastrophic impact on the quality of sports journalism and the regard in which fans hold it. Why would I ever believe another word said by Peter King or Mort that relies on an "anonymous source"?
Do you think ESPN's brass actually cares about sports journalism? It seem like they care only about the "E" in ESPN, and the public sops it up. This seems to be borne out by, if nothing else, their lack of an ombudsman. Also, the fact that they ran the Pats' statement yesterday while excising the part where the Pats mentioned ESPN having to publicly correct false reports was a new low.
Do you think it was a coincidence that SI and ESPN released articles that largely retread old ground about the Pats' "cheating" on the same day?
Do you think ESPN's brass actually cares about sports journalism? It seem like they care only about the "E" in ESPN, and the public sops it up. This seems to be borne out by, if nothing else, their lack of an ombudsman. Also, the fact that they ran the Pats' statement yesterday while excising the part where the Pats mentioned ESPN having to publicly correct false reports was a new low.
Do you think it was a coincidence that SI and ESPN released articles that largely retread old ground about the Pats' "cheating" on the same day?
Given the recent play of the Sox since the ASB with great play from the young players and a turnaround with the pitching staff, was getting Dombrowski the right move or would it have been better to give Ben a little more time?
Chad,
First of all, thanks for doing this. You've always been a big supporter of the site and have been more than generous with your support of what we're doing on the .com.
I'd like to know your opinion on Dombrowski keeping the band together based on the announcements of the Sox promoting Quattlebaum to Porter's old position, the promotion of Mears to pitching crosschecker from his old position as amateur scout and moving Bannister into a new role. Specifically, what do you think he'll do in regards to Farrell and the rest of the coaching staff? Based on their second half results, the team has been hitting it's stride on offense and defense and the field staff certainly had a lot to do with that.
First of all, thanks for doing this. You've always been a big supporter of the site and have been more than generous with your support of what we're doing on the .com.
I'd like to know your opinion on Dombrowski keeping the band together based on the announcements of the Sox promoting Quattlebaum to Porter's old position, the promotion of Mears to pitching crosschecker from his old position as amateur scout and moving Bannister into a new role. Specifically, what do you think he'll do in regards to Farrell and the rest of the coaching staff? Based on their second half results, the team has been hitting it's stride on offense and defense and the field staff certainly had a lot to do with that.
Hey Chad,
How do you judge your own job performance? How do you think sportswriters in general should evaluate themselves?
Thanks for doing this,
MDLTG
How do you judge your own job performance? How do you think sportswriters in general should evaluate themselves?
Thanks for doing this,
MDLTG
Hi Chad, do you know anything about International Scouting Director Eddie Romero's cachet within the team and the league? What kinds of jobs could he be looking at here or elsewhere?
absintheofmalaise said:
I'll piggyback this one and ask if Sullivan and the Globe would be interested in buying him out from ESPN or if they're content with sending us more Volins. Also, do you have any inside scoop on Bedard sliding over from MMQB to SI?
How do you see the Sports Hub vs. WEEI battle shaking out in the future? TSH was great counter-programming to a complacent EEI, and that's shown itself in the ratings, but can the pendulum swing back (especially since a show like Felger and Mazz has become a victim of its own success)? Or does it even matter, since the market has shown it can support two sports talk stations?
The Allented Mr Ripley said:
That's a great question.
Chad, regarding the Orsillo matter, any sense that it gets reversed or is it too late? Also, any sense that the decision was based on anything more than a general effort to "re-energize" the broadcast? In other words, any sense that NESN had done surveys or focus groups and pegged (empirically) some portion of the declining ratings to Orsillo and Remy? Or was it a simple equation of "Don is very good, but OB is great and so let's go with 'great'"? Or something else?
Great questions. Keep 'em coming. But I'm answering Corsi's now: Scoop Deck. It's pretty much across the street from where I live, and it's wonderful.
Chad, I don't have a question but I just want to add: you are doing God's work out there in sports media land. I don't read any other writers on a regular basis besides you. Love how you give a fan's perspective and tell human interest stories, while still keeping a progressive view of numbers and an intelligent and realistic perspective on the big sports issues. Thanks. Keep up the good work.
jacklamabe65 said:
I'll just Part II this with: If you were in charge who would it be (if different from who you think it will actually be)?
A couple, if I may (I, too read you in Concord that lifetime ago):
--What is it that separates the Reisses from the Volins of the sports beat? We all speculate here about brains, talent, hard work, ambition to be somewhere else. But you're on the inside. What makes one beat writer good and another not? Do Globies feel they are competing with the WWL hot take machine? Are they told, "no we aren't.?" (Are they?)
--In your capacity as a columnist, have you ever had anything edited *after* it was published?
--7 back of Texas with 23 to play?
--What is it that separates the Reisses from the Volins of the sports beat? We all speculate here about brains, talent, hard work, ambition to be somewhere else. But you're on the inside. What makes one beat writer good and another not? Do Globies feel they are competing with the WWL hot take machine? Are they told, "no we aren't.?" (Are they?)
--In your capacity as a columnist, have you ever had anything edited *after* it was published?
--7 back of Texas with 23 to play?
A two-part question (that I know you won't answer) and a request.
Two-part question first: Nick Cafardo? Really?
Request: I go to you TATB page every morning hoping that your stuff will get posted there again. Can you please, one day, turn this into the reverse ending of "Good Will Hunting", please?
Two-part question first: Nick Cafardo? Really?
Request: I go to you TATB page every morning hoping that your stuff will get posted there again. Can you please, one day, turn this into the reverse ending of "Good Will Hunting", please?
Baseball is constantly changing. I'm thinking about the take-pitches approach and relief pitching in particular, two aspects where the Sox seem to have fallen behind the competition. Do you think the Sox have been slow to change their approach as the game changed? Do the Sox think that?
For years the Sox approach to relief pitching, especially middle relief, has been to gather together a bunch of mediocre pitchers and hope that enough of them will preform adequately to get through the season. It seem that other teams are starting to focus on having pitchers who specialize in middle relief, rather than just grab pitchers who have failed at other roles. Do you think this is an accurate take, or is it just a few teams getting lucky? Are the Sox going to re-evaluate their approach to middle relief?
Chad,
With the return of Ordway, WEEI is basically the same lineup (albiet a little shuffled) that it was 5 years ago. It's not getting any younger. Bringing in ESPN lite guys like Benz and Salk hasn't worked. When do we see someone like Christian Arcand get his shot?
With the return of Ordway, WEEI is basically the same lineup (albiet a little shuffled) that it was 5 years ago. It's not getting any younger. Bringing in ESPN lite guys like Benz and Salk hasn't worked. When do we see someone like Christian Arcand get his shot?
With 500 HR, but also with writers like Sean McAdam saying they won't vote for him because of the 2003 leaked "off-the-record" PED test, how many years do you think it will take David Ortiz to get into the Hall of Fame?
Chad, I enjoy your writing and appreciate you doing this. Do you think Ben C. was treated fairly at the end of his tenure by ownership? Screwing up the Lester negotiations was a monumental blunder, one that seemingly had ownership's fingerprints all over it. It feels like they have been content to let Cherington take the blunt of the 2015 criticism without ever really acknowledging the role of Lucchino and others in driving Jon out of town.
Is Tom Werner as clueless as he seems? Outside of bringing us the Sox and Bruins, NESN seems a television wasteland. I thought Werner was supposed to rectify this.
I'm going to be locking this thread at 5 today, so if you have a question for Chad, post it now please.
FelixMantilla said:
Oh man, I had no idea there were so many people who knew Wells on here. My family has an old house off route 1; I've been going there summers since I was a kid.Corsi said:
Great stuff. Love his response on PEDs and the Hall--nailed it. Good thoughts on Ben C.'s exit, too.
Good stuff. I really enjoyed the
line. Some great other references in there but that one made me LOL