Deadspin is Burning

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Since AJ Daulerio left and Grantland started, Deadspin has been pumping out some really good features. One of them is this one which tells the story of a former Sox minor league catcher, Luis Rodriguez, and his trek through the minor leagues. The reason for the story is evident in the first or second paragraph, but there's a lot of good stuff in here about Manny's early days with the Sox, how minor leagures viewed the Duquette-era front office and if you ever wanted to know what Steve Lomasney is doing, here's your chance.

Even if there were no Sox connections, this is a good piece. Give it a shot.
 
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Jul 10, 2002
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Behind
He smiled when he recalls catching Pedro Martinez at his peak: "He says to me that first day: 'I'm working on fastballs in and fastballs away. My curveball is my best pitch. My changeup is my other best pitch.'"
 

The Gray Eagle

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This year, he's caught 94 games, and also played 5 at SS, 7 at 3B and 47 at 2B. 151 games played at age 38, at those positions, that's nuts.

Also had his career high of 31 walks too.

Too bad we didn't call him up instead of Kevin Cash a few years ago, at least this guy is interesting and has a cannon for an arm. And isn't the worst hitter of all time.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Too bad we didn't call him up instead of Kevin Cash a few years ago, at least this guy is interesting and has a cannon for an arm. And isn't the worst hitter of all time.
I sort of agree, although it's worth mentioning that Cash put up an OPS of .647 for Boston in 2008 (162 PA), while Rodriguez put up a .535 for Nashua (177 PA)...

Also, Luis hasn't been in the Sox system since 2002.
 

Buck Showalter

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This year, he's caught 94 games, and also played 5 at SS, 7 at 3B and 47 at 2B. 151 games played at age 38, at those positions, that's nuts.

Also had his career high of 31 walks too.

Too bad we didn't call him up instead of Kevin Cash a few years ago, at least this guy is interesting and has a cannon for an arm. And isn't the worst hitter of all time.
Does anyone know what a guy like this is paid in the Atlantic League?
 

The Gray Eagle

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Deadspin has their annual Why Your NFL Team Sucks series, and the Patriots article is out. I think these are usually pretty funny, and appreciate the idea that everyone's team sucks and they should all be roasted.
 
The best part was this bit, which doesn't even rip on the Patriots, but on Borges and the local media:
 
"By the way, that big Rolling Stone exposé on Aaron Hernandez (more on him shortly) was co-written by loathsome Boston writer (NOTE: There is no other kind of Boston writer) Ron Borges. Borges is the plagiarist who once went on record saying he'd rather have Tony Dungy as Pats coach because Dungy was classier than Belichick. Anyway, in the midst of what is otherwise a purely investigative piece, Borges still saw fit to sneak in a #HOTSPORTSTAKE about Belichick:

Time was, the Pats were the Tiffany franchise, a team of such sterling moral repute that they cut a player right after they drafted him, having learned he had a history of assaulting women. But Belichick, the winner of three Super Bowl titles and grand wizard of the greatest show on turf, had decided long before he got to New England that such niceties were beneath him. Over a decade, he’d been aggregating power unto himself, becoming the Chief Decider on personnel matters. He signed so many players bearing red flags they could have marched in Moscow’s May Day parade.

Look at the first two sentences again and tell me if they make a lick of sense. Time was, back before Belichick arrived and the Pats were a national laughingstock and Zeke Mowatt was grabbing ass in the locker room, they were the CROWN JEWEL of the NFL! Them's were the days! This is the Boston media in a nutshell. Whether it's accurate or not, they will seize any opportunity to bury current events in the asshole of this city's sporting past. LARRY LEGEND NEVER WOULD HAVE SHOT A GUY."
 
(Maybe this is already being talked about in another thread but I couldn't find it-- if so, please link)
 

Leather

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The one thing I find amusing about those pieces is that almost every team's fans are the "worst fans". 
 

dirtynine

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At the end of the Rodriguez article, did you read into the comments where the ex-wife chimed in?  Interesting perspective. 
 

gtg807y

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drleather2001 said:
The one thing I find amusing about those pieces is that almost every team's fans are the "worst fans". 
 
I don't know, I've grown a little tired of Magary through the years but those still make me laugh pretty regularly.
 

mjswarner

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MVPedroia's dump

Leather

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The indignant outrage from the Old Guard will be delicious.
 

E5 Yaz

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If the Deadspin conspiracy submits a ridiculous ballot, it'll be thrown out and the voter whose name is attached will lose voting rights.
 
If the Deadspin conspiracy submits an average ballot, how different would it have been from the real voters selections?
 
As PR for Deadspin, it's a short-term win; otherwise, it's meaningless
 

epraz

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Based on last year's results, there are plenty of ballots that aren't ridiculous but consist of players that won't get in.
 

dirtynine

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Deadspin does great work, especially Drew Magary.  Excellent editorial voice, and during the times when it's most inane to be a mass-market sports fan, they are a godsend.
 
Now that I've qualified my fanship, the requisite petty bitching. Just two things, really.  1) They've really upped their "here's some shit to buy on Amazon" game since late last year, to the point of it being pretty spammy and annoying.  And 2) Will Gordon seems like a nice guy, and I know he's a local (Cambridge) but I could do without a clickbait-headline beer entry every day. Once a week would probably suffice. 
 

Leather

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At least they did away with the inane running column by a guy that hated running. It was humorous at first but it went on way too long and he got defensive about it.

I also agree the "buy this shit" stuff is too common.
 

SeanBerry

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Deadspin sucks. It has for a long time. Now, it seems they have chosen boredom over sucking. Which is always a step down but still.

It's a shame. Deadspin used to be really great. Before Will Leitch left. Before Drew Magary felt the need to become this guy who pretends he is edgy while lecturing everyone not to be edgy.

Having some 24 year old telling me I'm a bad person because a cow farts in Iowa isn't really what I want to go Deadspin for. Neither is traditional (re: boring) sports coverage. It used to be a place to go read funny media criticism done in an insulting tone. Then they told us we couldn't be insulting anymore. Now they are wanting be the thing they used to make fun of.

It's confusing, I can see why Drew Magary's brain exploded.
 

SoFloSoxFan

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Deadspin sucks. It has for a long time. Now, it seems they have chosen boredom over sucking. Which is always a step down but still.
jab
It's a shame. Deadspin used to be really great. Before Will Leitch left. Before Drew Magary felt the need to become this guy who pretends he is edgy while lecturing everyone not to be edgy.
jab
Having some 24 year old telling me I'm a bad person because a cow farts in Iowa isn't really what I want to go Deadspin for. Neither is traditional (re: boring) sports coverage. It used to be a place to go read funny media criticism done in an insulting tone. Then they told us we couldn't be insulting anymore. Now they are wanting be the thing they used to make fun of.
feint
It's confusing, I can see why Drew Magary's brain exploded.

UPPERCUT.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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A former Deadspin writer who's now a baseball beat reporter (Lindsay Adler) described Deadspin as a culture site with sports at its center. I think that's a fair take, although I agree with Berry that the moralizing and snarkiness that's become so overwhelming over the last few years has become extremely grating.

I doubt they last another 2 years. Boring is death. If the writers rebel against that, they'll be fired and new, boring writers will be brought in. Magary will land on his feet, but the others? I don't know.
 

Devizier

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Deadspin won't make it another year. The Thiel/Hogan lawsuit killed them. An occasional (and increasingly infrequent) great non-sports piece from Magary or Burneko isn't enough.
 

Bunt4aTriple

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Burneko was a new (I'm hesitant to use "fresh") voice several years ago, but his style was aggressive, condescending and overly wordy. Hell, he would have a 5K word post on a recipe without a summary list of ingredients/steps.

Now it seems that his style was used as a template by most of the new writers. Drew, who I continue to read and enjoy, will find a new home. Don't really care about the rest.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

has fancy plans, and pants to match
Dope
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I like David Roth a lot. I like his weird late 80s/early 90s baseball sensibilities and I think that he's a really funny guy. I also still like Magary, but I agree, I think that this might be the twilight of Deadspin and that's too bad. I think that it's still a really decent web site and it's one that I still check out during the day.

If they go, I'm not sure where I'll go for sports commentary. I'm not going to Barstool, that's for damn sure.
 

thebtskink

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Jul 15, 2005
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Their front page headers are all non-sports stories this morning.

The way they're poking the bear now, I'd agree this either ends with a shutdown or a sale.

I'd follow Barry, Drew, Theisen, and Moskowitz wherever they go.
 

cromulence

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Their front page headers are all non-sports stories this morning.

The way they're poking the bear now, I'd agree this either ends with a shutdown or a sale.

I'd follow Barry, Drew, Theisen, and Moskowitz wherever they go.
Just came here to post this. I also don't see a single new story posted today. Something is going on.
 

cromulence

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Just posted this, complete with "Stick to Sports" in the corner of the picture. They're openly revolting at this point.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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I like David Roth a lot. I like his weird late 80s/early 90s baseball sensibilities and I think that he's a really funny guy. I also still like Magary, but I agree, I think that this might be the twilight of Deadspin and that's too bad. I think that it's still a really decent web site and it's one that I still check out during the day.

If they go, I'm not sure where I'll go for sports commentary. I'm not going to Barstool, that's for damn sure.
I agree with you on Roth, he's very good.
 

ifmanis5

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This is so dumb. Imagine being an internet takes company and firing people for takes. They're not even beholden to Federal regulation they're just self purging to virtue signal. I'm sure it'll go great for them.
 

tmracht

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This is bonkers, hope they keep tagging stick to politics on their images.