We’re In The Wall Street Journal

Dave · March 6, 2008 at 9:48 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

The Wall Street Journal. Seriously. Go look.Yea, the Felix story has been told before, but it’s the Wall Street Journal.

And, if you haven’t heard about it yet, the story about what the Cardinals are doing with their fans is pretty remarkable. Can you even imagine the Mariners doing something like that?

Comments

41 Responses to “We’re In The Wall Street Journal”

  1. loki on March 6th, 2008 10:01 pm

    Wow, congratulations!

    At first I thought there would just be that anonymous reference, but then they actually print names and details. Very cool!

  2. DaveValleDrinkNight on March 6th, 2008 10:16 pm

    Hey, good work.
    If it takes informed Fans to help the team along, so be it. No one spends more time than Baseball Fans analyzing the guys that were watching. I would also say, and I think this Site does a good job of this, lay off the young kids. No one knows how a 19 year old kid will actually develop or pan out.

  3. William D on March 6th, 2008 10:17 pm

    Send McLaren the WSJ article and this line from the AP story on today’s game:

    Hernandez, who threw 44 pitches, struck out the side in the fourth, including last year’s NL home run king Prince Fielder and Braun, once he began mixing in his curveball and offspeed pitches. He finished with five strikeouts, and the only hits he allowed were the homers.

    Note to Felix: fewer fastballs, please.

  4. Dayve on March 6th, 2008 10:25 pm

    It’s not the same old Wall Street Journal that’s been around for decades. It’s now owned by the Murdoch’s. Take that with a grain of salt for now.

  5. robbbbbb on March 6th, 2008 10:32 pm

    Best newspaper in America. Nice to see you guys get a mention.

  6. Gillis27 on March 6th, 2008 10:42 pm

    Congrats on the mention! That has to feel pretty good!

  7. Dave on March 6th, 2008 10:44 pm

    Note to Felix: fewer fastballs, please.

    Not fewer, just more varied.

  8. hawgdriver on March 6th, 2008 10:45 pm

    I’m afraid the organization will take it as a slight. What could be better than the team leveraging the acumen of its fans to win a championship?

    This is a great boost for the site. I’m proud to be associated.

  9. jlc on March 6th, 2008 10:58 pm

    Felix is of a generation that respects the power of the Internet. Maybe reading about the intelligence of (some) Internet fans in the WSJ is a way to get to the Howard Lincolns and Chuck Armstrongs of the world.

  10. lailaihei on March 6th, 2008 11:01 pm

    Cool article. I hadn’t heard of the Cardinals thing previously, but it’s a wonderful idea.

  11. DMZ on March 7th, 2008 12:07 am

    The really interesting thing is that the Cardinals idea is not that far off what other teams have — the Braves have so many people working with them or just with their ear in their neck of the woods that they have an incredible advantage scouting high school talent in the South and it shows in their draft. This is like expanding that, using technology to allow better collaboration, and bam!

    I wonder how long before someone tries to game it to get their kid drafted.

  12. Librocrat on March 7th, 2008 12:42 am

    DMZ –

    I wonder how long before someone tries to game it to get their kid drafted.

    I give it 5, maybe 10 seconds.

    Congratulations USSM.

  13. Typical Idiot Fan on March 7th, 2008 1:04 am

    The Cardinals’ story is completely bitchin’. I’ve been trying to tell morons for months now that the game is evolving more towards what we think and less from their old ways of thinking. I hate humanity, I really do.

    The Felix story never gets old. But what amazes me most about it is that nobody has tried to use it as a slam on the Mariners at all. I know there’s a lot of folks out there who absolutely hate blogs and blog writers, but nobody has tried the “well, if these blog jackasses can see it, then your coaching and scouting sucks!” attack yet. I hope that continues and allows for more positive influences to come from this community fanbase.

  14. IMFletcher on March 7th, 2008 1:44 am

    Dave and Derek – That is a great plug for you and the site. Enjoy the recognition and attention. You guys put a ton of time into this site and deserve the praise. Congratulations!

    4 – Stupid comment. Since everything about Ruppert Murdoch is scandalous, I bet he marched right up to the desk of the author, Darren Everson, and threatened to fire him if he didn’t include “The Surge is Working” in his article.

  15. Spanky on March 7th, 2008 7:41 am

    This is GREAT stuff and I look forward to the article they write when the story about how Howard Lincoln took the advice from fans on the USSMariner Website and FIRED Bill Bavasi and hired “USSM-Endorsed GM candidate Antonetti”!!!

    NOW THAT WOULD BE EVOLUTION IN THE GAME!!!

  16. Nuss on March 7th, 2008 7:42 am

    Congratulations, guys. Well deserved.

    And I think I might have to stop being an M’s fan if they ever tried a stunt like that. It would be way not enough fun as a fan if they did things that made sense. What would we talk about? Winning? That gets old in a hurry.

  17. klosetfann on March 7th, 2008 7:44 am

    Dave, you should be the pitching coach. You cant do any worse than the last guy.

  18. Dobbs on March 7th, 2008 7:51 am

    #16

    2001 memories disagree with your assertion:p

  19. msb on March 7th, 2008 8:05 am

    the story about what the Cardinals are doing with their fans is pretty remarkable.

    think it has something to do with the fact that they have a “senior quantitative analyst” on staff?

  20. msb on March 7th, 2008 8:05 am

    crap. that was “senior quantitative analyst”

  21. dlb on March 7th, 2008 8:08 am

    That is so awesome. Congrats to all.

  22. Jason Maxwell on March 7th, 2008 8:30 am

    Nice job. I’m a little dissapointed that the writer didn’t mention MyFC (www.myfc.co.uk), a group that was formed last year. They had enough people buy memberships that they were able to purchase a controlling intrest in Ebbsfleet United, of the English Conference (Think soccer’s version of low A ball). They are allowing anybody to purchase a maximum of 1 share, which gives them 1 vote. We vote on EVERYTHING, from the sponsorship deal from Nike for next season to the starting lineup for each game.

    Its based on “the wisdom of groups” that was mentioned in the WSJ article. We’ll see how it works.

  23. Carson on March 7th, 2008 8:47 am

    The Wall Street Journal called you friendly. I thought we were all a bunch of angry non-fan pessimists?

    Great work though, guys. Awesome to see baseball people opening their minds a little bit more.

  24. go_cougs on March 7th, 2008 8:56 am

    #4 I have been reading the WSJ for more then 10 years now. The quality of that paper is one of the best, if not the best in the country. Murdoch’s buying of the paper has not changed the quality of its reporting. Just because you do not like a Murdock does not mean the quality of the work that is being done by his employees is going to be worse.

  25. Some Dude on March 7th, 2008 8:57 am

    nobody has tried the “well, if these blog jackasses can see it, then your coaching and scouting sucks!” attack yet.

    That’s because we haven’t won anything since blogs became prominent. Nobody has any reason to use that attack, let alone attack us at all. Once we win something you can bet we’ll hear things like that.

  26. Taylor H on March 7th, 2008 9:12 am

    Congratulations Dave, that must be some honor to be mentioned in the Wall Street Journal! Here’s to many more potential articles about USSM in said paper!

    And also….[why you gotta go OT on this thread?]

  27. eponymous coward on March 7th, 2008 10:44 am

    I wonder how long before someone tries to game it to get their kid drafted.

    As opposed to, say, Andy Hargrove?

  28. pygmalion on March 7th, 2008 11:24 am

    Nice. I sent the article to a Red Sox friend to let him know that although his organization is smart and ours is, well, rather less clever, at least our fans are smart. Or some of them are.

    But no one has yet mentioned the role of Ryan Rowland-Smith! (Pitcher I’d most like to see make it…just because his name is fun to say).

  29. Evan on March 7th, 2008 11:31 am

    I wonder how long before someone tries to game it to get their kid drafted.

    Quick, delete this post before Corco sees it.

  30. joser on March 7th, 2008 12:02 pm

    I sent the article to a Red Sox friend

    You’ll see the Sons of Sam Horn blog gets a link too — and a note that the Sox valued one of its fans/contributers so much they hired him. They’ll be suspending games in hell due to snow* before that happens with USSM and the Mariners.

    *Or did that happen already last season? Wait, maybe that was Cleveland. I get them confused. Let’s ask Ichiro — hell is the destination that doesn’t cause you to punch yourself in the face, right?

  31. Steve T on March 7th, 2008 1:53 pm

    I still say that some team is going to hire Dave one of these days and win 1100 games over the next decade.

  32. Mere Tantalisers on March 7th, 2008 1:56 pm

    Rupert Murdoch personally approved that article.

    But seriously, that was a milestone for blogland. I think even the Athletics Nation guys must have turned a bit green. Well, a bit greenER at any rate.

  33. Brian Rust on March 7th, 2008 2:00 pm

    Congratulations, Dave! Your VERY OWN name in the WSJ.

    Surely, monetization of your fine blog-work cannot be far behind.

  34. MikeMLT on March 7th, 2008 5:08 pm

    Neyer picked this up at ESPN as well and mentioned Dave’s intelligence and focus.

  35. Dave in Palo Alto on March 7th, 2008 5:13 pm

    Great shout out. Congrats.

    But who you callin’ obsessive??

  36. Typical Idiot Fan on March 7th, 2008 6:31 pm

    But seriously, that was a milestone for blogland. I think even the Athletics Nation guys must have turned a bit green. Well, a bit greenER at any rate.

    I doubt it. Those guys get personal love notes from Billy Beane on a regular basis. Their interaction with their team’s FO is open and friendly. So their recognition is already pretty high.

  37. BillyJive on March 7th, 2008 8:40 pm

    Very cool!!
    I had no idea I was an obsessive fan until now…

  38. lylepdx on March 8th, 2008 10:19 am

    “I wonder how long before someone tries to game it to get their kid drafted.”

    how long? i guarantee it has already happened.

    they could always just put a clause in the contest where, if a player is drafted because of one of those scouting reports, and then later the report was found to be fraudulent, that the player is released outright immediately.

    that might put a little dent in some obsessive parent’s raging ego… ‘hey dad, i got released today. apparently they found out you wrote that scouting report. can you send some money so i can get a greyhound ticket? oh, and this means i have to pay them back for my contract, too. do you have any equity in your house anymore?’

  39. Kouvre on March 9th, 2008 7:36 am

    23

    This site may or may not have been pessimistic at one time, but then the ponies started showing up, and it’s been uphill ever since.

  40. tetrad on March 10th, 2008 8:30 am

    Congrats Dave & DMZ!

  41. tylerv on March 10th, 2008 9:07 am

    Maybe they brought this up when they fired Chavie.

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