Props To Cowley

[Ranger]

It's true some will. I think most of us understand that while you can be frustrated (and you certainly have given your opinion especially when the team plays like crap) you can't exactly go all-out ripping on the Sox and expect to keep your pre and post job.

 

I think you do a great job intelligently critiquing the Sox while making pre/post and WS Weekly great listens.

 

I appreciate it. It's about being fair. I can criticize, but I'm not going to go make a ranting lunatic of myself. I'm certainly not going to say _______ or _______ sucks, only to have to go back and change my tune when they start playing well again. You want lunacy, you know where to find it, but I'm not selling.

 

Just to clarify, I think J4L was talking about Scott Merkin there, not Cowley. Merkin is indeed a homer, because that's of course his job - he writes for MLB and represents the team's interests (if indirectly). I don't think anyone is of the view that Cowley is a homer.

 

And on the fluidity argument, that is exactly why Cowley is such garbage. His writing, tweets and other data he flings around speak in only two forms - sarcasm and absolutism. If he took out the 12-year-old act sarcasm crap, and made his material less absolute (PK has sailed!!!!!!), he'd at least have a chance to be marginally believable. As it stands, he's not a journalist at all, he's a screaming columnist, a la Jay Mariotti.

 

I have to say that KW was speaking that afternoon as if they were moving on, but I think just about everyone (even Cowley) knew there was always a slight chance something could still happen. If I'm not mistaken, Joe was on our station right after KW spoke and even said as much. Obviously later in the evening, things changed. I know that the Sox did, for a couple of hours at least, think they were going to have to go to plan B.

[NorthSideSox72]

I have to say that KW was speaking that afternoon as if they were moving on, but I think just about everyone (even Cowley) knew there was always a slight chance something could still happen. If I'm not mistaken, Joe was on our station right after KW spoke and even said as much. Obviously later in the evening, things changed. I know that the Sox did, for a couple of hours at least, think they were going to have to go to plan B.

And if he stated it as resonably and calmly as you just did, he'd be worth following. He didn't. He made it seem, at various points, 100% he's staying, then 100% he's not, then 100% he was. He was no better than the lunacy you see on this board every day, and he should be held to a higher standard, IMO, because this is his job.

 

[Ranger]

I believe he was referring to Merkin as the homer, not Cowley. I know Joe is your buddy, but he's been very wrong all offseason. Maybe it is because things are "fluid", which appears to be the new in word. The problem is, if anyone else is off, especially if they work for any other place but the Score or the Sun Times, Cowley pounces. His crap about KW destroying Rogers is ironic. KW destroyed Cowley on Friday when he said his stuff about the Sox shopping Quentin was "a lie". Joe sent out stuff like one of KW and Ozzie has to go, and you all know which one. No Joe, I don't, tell us. Have the balls to get it out there. Either have KW destroy you the rest of the time you cover Chicago baseball by saying KW has to go, or end your bromance with Oneyt by saying Ozzie has to go. AJ was going to Toronto. No he wasn't. He was going to the Dodgers. Paulie was going to the Cubs or the Rangers. No he wasn't, he was going to the Sox or the DBacks. He jumped on a collegue's story about the potential trade of Ozzie to the Marlins. The problem was the trade part may have been accurate, but the player the Sox were supposedly asking for was not.

 

Why is it when someone reported a story to Don Cooper and gave Cowley as the source of the information, did Cooper say, Cowley reported it? Then its a lie.

 

You'll have to take that up with Cooper, but he has some sort of personal issue with Cowley. I love Coop, but he just doesn't like the media at all.

 

I would not discount AJ/Toronto just because Rosenthal reported AJ was not going there. There may have been a time (even if it was only for an hour or two) that AJ was strongly considering, if not close to accepting a deal there. Joe knows AJ very well. And, I would not put a whole lot of stock in KW saying that shopping CQ is a lie. He's just not going to publicly admit that he's looking to trade Quentin.

[southsider2k5]

Define "failure". You may not like his personality, but he's on top of everything. What you have to understand is that offseason stuff is constantly fluid, even for those that are actually involved in getting deals done. They may think they have something one minute, only for it to fall apart the next.

 

The people that are signing his checks are the ones at the Sun Times. Job number one for him is to sell newspapers. I know he gets paid to be on the Score as well, but from experience I know that isn't much. Writers on the radio is another way of selling more newspapers. If people aren't buying the Sun Times based on his work, then he is failing, even if people are talking about it on a place like Soxtalk. I also know that his record this winter has been abysmal compared to lots of the other writers. Heck some of the national writers are out-scooping him, which with the connections that should happen in your own marketplace, should really never happen. Not only hasn't he been out in front of anything, he has been completely wrong on pretty much everything. I know things change, but comparing his body of work to other people's is how you can make a judgment call IMO of how accurate he has been, and I just haven't seen it. Cowley has been pretty much the equivalent of the Bears offensive line this off-season.

[Dick Allen]

You'll have to take that up with Cooper, but he has some sort of personal issue with Cowley. I love Coop, but he just doesn't like the media at all.

 

I would not discount AJ/Toronto just because Rosenthal reported AJ was not going there. There may have been a time (even if it was only for an hour or two) that AJ was strongly considering, if not close to accepting a deal there. Joe knows AJ very well. And, I would not put a whole lot of stock in KW saying that shopping CQ is a lie. He's just not going to publicly admit that he's looking to trade Quentin.

Actually, AJ himself was on MLB Network and said he was a minute away from going to the Dodgers. Cowley had it Toronto, and then it suddenly dissappeared from his story. Maybe not him editing it, but someone who obviously figured out the information was incorrect. Again. I don't think KW would use a term as strong as lie if he were indeed shopping Quentin, anther thing Cowley put his legs on both sides of the fence. First saying they were asking for a lot, then saying they were looking for a Carlos Lee like deal, which IIRC was initially panned for the talent being returned but praised for freeing up payroll.

What about his The Kids Can Play Part II, the the Sox were going young and maybe the Sox will sign Johnny Damon to throw the fans a bone stuff? Some more Cowley fiction. If Phil Rogers came up with all this stuff, Cowley would be tweeting how big a fool "Phillip" is, and probably going on and on about how the sports editor or "Little Dictator" at the Tribune has ruined the paper. You can make excuses for him all you want, but this offseason, he has been horrible. You would have learned nothing from his stories. He's broken nothing. He thinks he's superior to those that are outworking and outscooping him.

 

I know you have Joe on your show and maybe in real life he is a nice guy, but his "stage" persona is ridiculous.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Dick Allen

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

Ranger,

 

You're too good of a Sox fan to waste your posting time here defending Cowley. It'll never work. You should argue in the other threads, about baseball. You don't seem to post enough.

[Ranger]

The people that are signing his checks are the ones at the Sun Times. Job number one for him is to sell newspapers. I know he gets paid to be on the Score as well, but from experience I know that isn't much. Writers on the radio is another way of selling more newspapers. If people aren't buying the Sun Times based on his work, then he is failing, even if people are talking about it on a place like Soxtalk. I also know that his record this winter has been abysmal compared to lots of the other writers. Heck some of the national writers are out-scooping him, which with the connections that should happen in your own marketplace, should really never happen. Not only hasn't he been out in front of anything, he has been completely wrong on pretty much everything. I know things change, but comparing his body of work to other people's is how you can make a judgment call IMO of how accurate he has been, and I just haven't seen it. Cowley has been pretty much the equivalent of the Bears offensive line this off-season.

 

It's unfair to place the success of a newspaper on one sports writer. That's staff-wide issue up to the highest ranks of the newspaper.

 

Because of the history of his interaction with this website, I think very few people here would give him credit for anything. Usually that's what happens when things get adversarial. But I can assure you that he's been on top of things this offseason.

 

Actually, AJ himself was on MLB Network and said he was a minute away from going to the Dodgers. Cowley had it Toronto, and then it suddenly dissappeared from his story. Maybe not him editing it, but someone who obviously figured out the information was incorrect. Again. I don't think KW would use a term as strong as lie if he were indeed shopping Quentin, anther thing Cowley put his legs on both sides of the fence. First saying they were asking for a lot, then saying they were looking for a Carlos Lee like deal, which IIRC was initially panned for the talent being returned but praised for freeing up payroll.

What about his The Kids Can Play Part II, the the Sox were going young and maybe the Sox will sign Johnny Damon to throw the fans a bone stuff? Some more Cowley fiction. If Phil Rogers came up with all this stuff, Cowley would be tweeting how big a fool "Phillip" is, and probably going on and on about how the sports editor or "Little Dictator" at the Tribune has ruined the paper. You can make excuses for him all you want, but this offseason, he has been horrible. You would have learned nothing from his stories. He's broken nothing. He thinks he's superior to those that are outworking and outscooping him.

 

I know you have Joe on your show and maybe in real life he is a nice guy, but his "stage" persona is ridiculous.

 

KW has denied plenty before, as is his job. He tries to do things a little bit differently than a lot of executives would do and he absolutely hates it when rumors get out. Probably more so than anyone else. That's why he's so secretive.

 

You don't have to be the first to report it in order for you to be doing your job. Breaking stories is great, but because of the easy access to information these days, the game is a little bit different than it used to be.

 

You may not like his style or the shots he takes, that's understandable. But I don't think it's fair to say he's been horrible at gathering information this offseason.

 

 

Ranger,

 

You're too good of a Sox fan to waste your posting time here defending Cowley. It'll never work. You should argue in the other threads, about baseball. You don't seem to post enough.

 

I haven't been around for a while. I'll try to get back more often.

 

[bigruss]

I do think this board gets on Cowley a bit more than he deserves, but his style of reporting is not professional way too often, but it attracts readers and gets his and the Sun-Times name out there which is what they need to sell papers. It's not all on him, but his style of reporting is what works in today's economic climate when it comes to the media. If people agree with him or not, he's getting attention, and that's his job.

 

That said, I think it's sad that much of the media has come to this as the only viable solution to keep their jobs. I expect more professionalism than most reporters and editors give. Some of the crap that gets put out there is for attention grabbing, and gets let through editors because they can fall back on the "deal fell through" safety net. It's one thing to use that once in a while, but when it happens to all of your claims than something is going on. Especially as an insider, a reporter should know not to be so definitive in statements knowing that it can change within an hour. An experienced and professional reporter should adjust their reports to this.

[StrangeSox]

It's unfair to place the success of a newspaper on one sports writer. That's staff-wide issue up to the highest ranks of the newspaper.

 

Because of the history of his interaction with this website, I think very few people here would give him credit for anything. Usually that's what happens when things get adversarial. But I can assure you that he's been on top of things this offseason.

 

How can you assure us of that when the written record is in direct contradiction?

[fathom]

But I don't think it's fair to say he's been horrible at gathering information this offseason.

 

I don't want to see what you consider horrible then. I don't care for a second about his stupid feud with this site over the Gonzalez stuff. All I know is this guy's track record is terrible with regards to breaking stories about the team he covers.

Edited December 13, 2010 by fathom

[StrangeSox]

Really, trades and signings being "fluid" isn't an excuse to carpet-bomb with whatever speculation you can think of and state it as fact. I would have thought the whole Lebron fiasco this summer would have taught everyone the problem with twitter "reporting"

[Dick Allen]

It's unfair to place the success of a newspaper on one sports writer. That's staff-wide issue up to the highest ranks of the newspaper.

 

Because of the history of his interaction with this website, I think very few people here would give him credit for anything. Usually that's what happens when things get adversarial. But I can assure you that he's been on top of things this offseason.

 

 

 

KW has denied plenty before, as is his job. He tries to do things a little bit differently than a lot of executives would do and he absolutely hates it when rumors get out. Probably more so than anyone else. That's why he's so secretive.

 

You don't have to be the first to report it in order for you to be doing your job. Breaking stories is great, but because of the easy access to information these days, the game is a little bit different than it used to be.

 

You may not like his style or the shots he takes, that's understandable. But I don't think it's fair to say he's been horrible at gathering information this offseason.

 

 

 

 

I haven't been around for a while. I'll try to get back more often.

 

The bottom line is if you measure Joe's performance the same way he measures his competitions', he's had a brutal offseason. He was the one taunting the Tribune when the Sun Times broke the details of the potential Ozzie trade, (Although they had the trade including an incorrect player). Maybe he isn't the totatl d-bag Marriotti is away from the Sun Times or twitter. I read his twitter for the same reason I read Oney's, just to see the crazy crap they were trying to stir. I would prefer his twitter to actually contain some accurate White Sox news I can't get anywhere else, but it seems he tries to follow the Marriotti pattern, maybe in order to hit a nice payday. I guess being obnoxious pays for some, or at least they think it pays.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Dick Allen

[bigruss]

Really, trades and signings being "fluid" isn't an excuse to carpet-bomb with whatever speculation you can think of and state it as fact. I would have thought the whole Lebron fiasco this summer would have taught everyone the problem with twitter "reporting"

That's the thing, reporters need to address and adapt to this whole new media source that Twitter brings. It's a place where jokes (when appropriate) are better suited than an article, but at the same time it still represents the company that the writer works for and should be treated as such. Reporters should not get a free pass for stating rumors as facts just because it is the most recent rumor they've heard. I know they only have what, 140 characters, but that doesn't mean they can get away with poor reporting. If anything, link the twitter to an article for more details or something.