Athletic fired Fegan in Jun23, now hired with Sox Machine

[Heads22]

10 minutes ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

670 reported that the White Sox reached out to the Athletic on why they fired Fegan. 

Not really sure what that means for him other than they at least tangently support him or having some beat writer but yeah. 

I guess it means despite a preponderance of evidence to the contrary, they can in fact notice when something is wrong

[caulfield12]

48 minutes ago, Heads22 said:

I guess it means despite a preponderance of evidence to the contrary, they can in fact notice when something is wrong

Should be Fegan checking with his editors on whether ANY writer history could possibly have sustained interest in the White Sox...and how they would have managed that, exactly.

If anything, he was too honest/objective, but not nearly as harsh or critical as he could have been.

The White Sox probably were confused and thought he was being paid to be more of a cheerleader/PR spin doctor.

[CWSpalehoseCWS]

On June 9th I was charged a full years worth for an Athletic subscription. I was able to get them to completely refund me. They claimed to understand my frustration, but didn't even really put up much of a fight and only offered me a discount to continue the rest of the year. I obviously took the refund and cancelation instead. If anyone is in the same boat, reach out and get your money back.

[Chisoxfn]

18 hours ago, Texsox said:

I hope you're "write". I have a MA in Lit and teach people to appreciated the written word. Editor of my high school and college newspapers. Worked part time at an afternoon newspaper, a weekly, and a monthly outdoor publication. I've watched printed media decline in popularity. 

Everyone wants to make this about the Sox. This was a business of media decision. Does MLB baseball need thirty writers? Can it be done with 25? 10? When writers aren't chained to one team will coverage improve? 

It’s interesting - I personally think you can get a beat writer to cover multiple teams. Might actually mean they ask tougher questions cause they are less dependent on one franchise. That said - you will absolutely lose a bit on the nuggets that can come up on the fly when you aren’t in the clubhouse every road trip/every game.
 

Still rotate every other or something and you can still do it and get pretty damn good coverage. 
 

Above is pure business - with that said - Fegan is great and I hope he lands on his feet quickly. sucks that our favorite baseball franchise is so damn irrelevant. 

[Texsox]

Some media outlets have one sports beat writer. Some have a baseball beat writer. Some might have a few more. 

This is just like we've complained forever that ESPN only cares about East Coast and a couple West Coast teams and ignores the rest of the country. 

I think we all agree the layoffs were economic. Just like a couple years ago when they fired over 40 writers. 

To me they are following the same path that Deford and Co. did with The National in the 80s with the same end point. Only a small subset of sports fans will care enough to pay for a subscription for sporting news. I'll short every non porn stock that tries to exist on subscription fees. There is too much free content out there. 

 

[Dick Allen]

7 minutes ago, Texsox said:

Some media outlets have one sports beat writer. Some have a baseball beat writer. Some might have a few more. 

This is just like we've complained forever that ESPN only cares about East Coast and a couple West Coast teams and ignores the rest of the country. 

I think we all agree the layoffs were economic. Just like a couple years ago when they fired over 40 writers. 

To me they are following the same path that Deford and Co. did with The National in the 80s with the same end point. Only a small subset of sports fans will care enough to pay for a subscription for sporting news. I'll short every non porn stock that tries to exist on subscription fees. There is too much free content out there. 

 

It wasn't like they got rid of half the beat writers. Only a small few, and if you don't think the reason is the White Sox don't draw much interest, you are fooling yourself. 

[Balta1701]

11 minutes ago, Texsox said:

Some media outlets have one sports beat writer. Some have a baseball beat writer. Some might have a few more. 

This is just like we've complained forever that ESPN only cares about East Coast and a couple West Coast teams and ignores the rest of the country. 

I think we all agree the layoffs were economic. Just like a couple years ago when they fired over 40 writers. 

To me they are following the same path that Deford and Co. did with The National in the 80s with the same end point. Only a small subset of sports fans will care enough to pay for a subscription for sporting news. I'll short every non porn stock that tries to exist on subscription fees. There is too much free content out there. 

 

Except for the part where The Athletic was sold to The NY Times for $500 million, making their founders fabulously wealthy.

[Texsox]

1 minute ago, Dick Allen said:

It wasn't like they got rid of half the beat writers. Only a small few, and if you don't think the reason is the White Sox don't draw much interest, you are fooling yourself. 

Do you believe he's a good writer? Why not reassign him to other teams? Or is he one of the worst baseball writers on the staff? 

 

 

 

[Texsox]

2 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Except for the part where The Athletic was sold to The NY Times for $500 million, making their founders fabulously wealthy.

Yep, those guys knew when to cash out. 

[Dick Allen]

Just now, Texsox said:

Do you believe he's a good writer? Why not reassign him to other teams? Or is he one of the worst baseball writers on the staff? 

 

 

 

Because replacing a beat writer midseason doesn't work very well, really makes the other person look bad, and Fegan would need to work on his contacts with other teams. 

And maybe they did, but perhaps he doesn't want to relocate.

If he's one of the worst beat writers on the staff, everyone else is beyond outstanding. This guy is really good. I would say the best beat writer the Sox have had in a long time, and they have had several real good ones.

[Texsox]

5 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Because replacing a beat writer midseason doesn't work very well, really makes the other person look bad, and Fegan would need to work on his contacts with other teams. 

And maybe they did, but perhaps he doesn't want to relocate.

If he's one of the worst beat writers on the staff, everyone else is beyond outstanding. This guy is really good. I would say the best beat writer the Sox have had in a long time, and they have had several real good ones.

They are also reassigning twenty writers as part of this restructuring. He's not one of those either. Are those other reporters just better at adapting? 

Yes, the poor national draw of the Sox is part of it, but looking at some of the other writers laid off, salaries had a role. 

If management fired teams instead of looking at names and salaries they are even bigger idiots than the Time Warner group that bought AOL. 

 

[Dick Allen]

2 minutes ago, Texsox said:

They are also reassigning twenty writers as part of this restructuring. He's not one of those either. Are those other reporters just better at adapting? 

Yes, the poor national draw of the Sox is part of it, but looking at some of the other writers laid off, salaries had a role. 

 

I really doubt his salary, considering his previous employment, was significant enough to be a deciding factor in his layoff. The guy got laid off because he covered a team not many people care to read about.

[Kyyle23]

Tex why are you trying to validate his firing?  This sucks

[Texsox]

4 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I really doubt his salary, considering his previous employment, was significant enough to be a deciding factor in his layoff. The guy got laid off because he covered a team not many people care to read about.

 

And he isn't good enough to be part of the group that was reassigned? I can't believe that. 

Usually during layoffs there is a target dollar amount they are looking to save. They dumped two of the best and most respected hockey writers of all time. 

I agree if folks on the coasts cared about Sox baseball he'd be in a better spot, but that's only one part of the equation. 

Remember during 2005 we complained about national coverage. This isn't new. The Pirates lost their beat writer. I thought they were doing well this year. 

 

[Texsox]

7 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Tex why are you trying to validate his firing?  This sucks

No. I'm trying to explain it's not as easy as the Sox suck so we lost national coverage. The Pirates lost their beat writer and they are in first place. 

Plus I see two issues.

A. Sox lose beat writer (that's on the team not being interesting nationally, and historically true) 

B. A really good writer lost his job when others were reassigned.

Part A makes sense. But it goes beyond the standings, look at the Pirates. 

Part B only makes sense to me if other factors, specifically salary, comes into play. Again, looking at the other writers fired. 

 

 

[Kyyle23]

Nah all I’m reading is you saying “yes I see why the company did this” without acknowledging that this company’s original mission statement was to provide coverage exactly like Fegan was doing.  This s%*# absolutely sucks ass and we are in here like “yea well nobody watches them and look they are reassigning other writers too”.  What does rosenthal even provide anymore?  Puff pieces.  Bullshit.  He gets to announce trades that he certainly wasn’t the source for.  s%*# that probably comes from Fegan himself, and we accept the corporate reasons for letting Fegan go. 
 

we are losing our print media piece by piece and convincing ourselves it’s right

[Kyyle23]

Ahhhh three years ago when everything was rosy

http://amp.awfulannouncing.com/athletic/the-athletic-has-reportedly-offered-writers-15-36-percent-salary-bumps-small-stakes-in-company.html

[Dick Allen]

17 minutes ago, Texsox said:

No. I'm trying to explain it's not as easy as the Sox suck so we lost national coverage. The Pirates lost their beat writer and they are in first place. 

Plus I see two issues.

A. Sox lose beat writer (that's on the team not being interesting nationally, and historically true) 

B. A really good writer lost his job when others were reassigned.

Part A makes sense. But it goes beyond the standings, look at the Pirates. 

Part B only makes sense to me if other factors, specifically salary, comes into play. Again, looking at the other writers fired. 

 

 

Outside of Pittsburgh , there are very few people who give a rat's ass about Pirate news. They have no superstars. They don't generate interest. Just like the White Sox. Win/Loss record doesn't matter as much as interest, although the White Sox are one team that W/L is a good barometer of the interest.

[Texsox]

7 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Outside of Pittsburgh , there are very few people who give a rat's ass about Pirate news. They have no superstars. They don't generate interest. Just like the White Sox. Win/Loss record doesn't matter as much as interest, although the White Sox are one team that W/L is a good barometer of the interest.

Exactly. It's all fly over land that the major population centers don't care about. 

Interest where? Nationally? Didn't happen in 2005, we complained Sox highlights were always after Yankees/Red Sox. 

And it's not just sports. 

 

[Dick Allen]

Just now, Texsox said:

Exactly. It's all fly over land that the major population centers don't care about. 

Interest where? Nationally? Didn't happen in 2005, we complained Sox highlights were always after Yankees/Red Sox. 

And it's not just sports. 

 

I'd be willing to bet if the White Sox were currently in first place, James Fegan would still be working at the Athletic, and some other beat writer would be jobless.

 

[Texsox]

4 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I'd be willing to bet if the White Sox were currently in first place, James Fegan would still be working at the Athletic, and some other beat writer would be jobless.

 

So they aren't just like the Pirates? I swear that exactly what you just posted. 

[Quin]

38 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I'd be willing to bet if the White Sox were currently in first place, James Fegan would still be working at the Athletic, and some other beat writer would be jobless.

 

Do we have a full list of laid off writers?

For example, was the Dbacks writer laid off? Or the Rays?

It'd always be hard in Cubs town.

[Texsox]

42 minutes ago, Quin said:

Do we have a full list of laid off writers?

For example, was the Dbacks writer laid off? Or the Rays?

It'd always be hard in Cubs town.

https://frontofficesports.com/the-athletic-lays-off-20-journalists-in-reorganization/

I haven't seen a complete list. Seems like MLB, NHL, NBA all lost three or four. All business reporters were let go. Some general assignment journalists. Twenty more are getting new assignments possibly in addition to what they are already covering. 

Cowboys, Cavs, Canadians, Maple Leafs, Pirates, White Sox, I didn't see any coastal teams. 

[Quin]

9 minutes ago, Texsox said:

https://frontofficesports.com/the-athletic-lays-off-20-journalists-in-reorganization/

I haven't seen a complete list. Seems like MLB, NHL, NBA all lost three or four. All business reporters were let go. Some general assignment journalists. Twenty more are getting new assignments possibly in addition to what they are already covering. 

Cavs, Canadians, Maple Leafs, Pirates, White Sox, I didn't see any coastal teams. 

f***, Schiff got laid off. Went to college with him.

But also, there you go. The 76ers and Nets weren't worth keeping beat writers?

Edit; Also...there's several coastal teams on there Tex. The Mariners, Sharks, aforementioned Sixers and Nets.

And in Toronto, you'd imagine the Maple Leafs were worth keeping a beat writer. Same for the Cowboys.

[Quin]

Remains employed: Jim Bowden