THE RUMOR MILL & THE RESPECT FACTOR

Bleeding Yankee Blue has been around for 4 years.  We're solid, but we're not perfect. That's because we're fans like you.  We never claimed to know everything and for the readers that have clicked on us since day 1... you know that.

For the ones that don't, you're missing out. Try us, but understand what we're doing here.  We're not a "baseball insider". We don't try to be.  If we have a source, we try to bring you through the process slowly, because, as fans, we understand that there are highs and lows in the rumor mill and many, MANY times, "Baseball insiders" will float ideas, not because they heard it from a "source", but because they want to get a rise out of you.  As fans, you understand that, but you click anyway.  When you're not happy with it, you literally go after the person who put it out, sometimes in a vicious way.  Because we straddle the fence of fan and journalist at BYB, we understand the frustration, but the hate is where you need to draw the line. Why? Because it's utter nonsense.

I was happy to see Wally Matthews of ESPN tweet about the hate the other day.  He was spot on:

Just FYI: There's a zero-tolerance policy here for rude and intolerant people #Blocked
— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) December 4, 2014

Now, as you know, guys like Matthews, Andrew Marchand and the like are hard working individuals with an even trickier job.  They need to bring you news and they're going to be provocative when they can as well.  That's the game, they didn't invent it. When you go after them, even when you go after bloggers, re-think that... it's foolish.  Why? Because the job is difficult and they're bringing you what they know when they know it.  Is it wrong? Nope, it's the gig.

We see it here as a blog.  We don't have the resume they do, but we do have an opinion, and as I said, once in a while, we get information we want to share.  But let's review the opinion part of that sentence for a moment;  Opinions are not wrong... they're opinions.  When I suggested Alex Rodriguez fans shouldn't be harassed just because they're fans of ARod, it's obviously correct.  Why are you gonna hate someone because he or she is a fan of a player you don't like? Makes no sense.

As far as sources, we received info early on that the Mets were going to make a push for David Robertson, 4 years and a "top" closer.  Was the information false? Nope.  Yet, Mark Simon, another ESPN guy was quick to question me on Twitter:

@BleednYankeeBlu really?
— Mark Simon (@msimonespn) November 6, 2014

That wasn't "Really?" like, "Whoa, you're kidding!" That was "Really?" like, "You think your little blog has a nugget, eh?" That's how I took it at least. Yup... we do and we did.

I'm not picking on Mark, I have tremendous respect for him, but what happened next was comical.  His co-workers put out the same story.  Read THE FAIRY DUST OF SPORTS NEWS. No "BYB mentioned this" like Ken Rosenthal of FOX would do... just steal it and make it their own.  What happened to respect?

(In Photo: Joe Sheehan with fake egg on his face. He was not hurt)
Hey, we're the rookies here... we take our lumps, but there is one difference between bloggers and "baseball insiders"... it's my opinion that the bloggers, the new ones for instance, and you can include BYB in there, want to get it right. Not only that, we want credit when appropriate.

We take pride in the product. Certain insiders get sloppy.  Certain insiders want clicks and to hell with the fans.  If they get it correct, great! If not, they don't apologize, they chalk it up with "I guess my source was wrong", or, maybe they just don't say anything.  They just move on.  We at BYB try not to do that. If we get it wrong, we're gonna tell ya.   Because we believe in honesty and we're not perfect.

I created the BYB Hub because there are plenty of new bloggers out there that want to make it in this business, but they won't if they're not read.  Now at least if you go to the Hub, you can learn about the newbies, and it will encourage these newbies to put together some quality stuff.  The best part though is you're on the journey with them, much like you were when BYB started up.  They're learning, they're reporting and you can choose to read them or others.  But I did it mainly because I found the disrespect between top reporters, fans and the new blogs to be incredibly insensitive.  Bloggers aren't know-it-alls, we're bloggers with a mission; to try and give you quality, all the while trying to crack into the biz. Respect that while you're sitting on your couch getting angry over a bloggers opinion.

Look, this post isn't meant to be your dad hammering you because you bitched out and old lady on the street for knocking into you. This is me as a human being simply saying, the hate over the rumor mill is just so outrageous and out of control and silly, it's gotta stop.  Not to mention that the irresponsible ones out there just like to throw shit against the wall to see if it sticks.  Guess what? People are reading wrong information on false rumors and  then getting pretty angry!

As fans we need to be smarter, read everything. READ EVERYTHING before you run around spreading false info, and before you attack someone.

In closing, BYB tweeted this the other day:

#BYB isn't writing anything about a Yankee trade or signing until it happens. The Rumor Mill is stupid right now. #Boom #BeRightNotFirst
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) December 4, 2014

That's my new policy as Chief at BYB. We're sticking to it.  The whole thing has gotten out of control and it's alittle dangerous. I'm rambling now... but you see my point I hope. 

Enjoy your Friday.

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