Coffey's and salt.
Read the blog entry T.R. Sullivan posted overnight. It's cryptic in places, turbo-cryptic in others, but it struck a nerve with me, and I think it's worth your time. The reason I created the "Trot Coffey" emails a year and a half ago (around the 2008 trade deadline) was less to drive up mailing list numbers than to separate rumor from news. I used to include all of it together, but with the advent and explosive growth of Twitter and MLB Trade Rumors and beat writers maintaining blogs (responsibly so in most cases), it's easier now to send messages out several times a day than to wait for the papers when the alarm clock sounds each morning. Easier, and exponentially more dangerous. For many, the objective is, as it has always has been, to be right. For others, the sole objective, substantiation be damned, is to be first. I'll admit to that urge from time to time, but it's always been my policy not to break news (or, to be more fair to the discussion, to attempt to break news). I have my opportunities. Hey, here's an email from a fan who is buddies with a bigtime free agent who told him at the gym an hour ago that he's signing either with Texas or that other team! There's one from a reporter in another market who is about to break news of a trade – here are the specifics! – but not until he gets confirmation from one of the teams. And there's that text from a player who just found out he's getting The Call to the big leagues. I could send those things out, but I choose not to. There are reasons those things don't go public before they do – even if they're true, which they aren't always – and my purpose isn't to be the one whose name or website might somehow get attached to the story. I usually won't be first, even if I always try to be prompt. That's why, even in the Trot Coffey's, the rumors come from what I count on as established sources. You can't always tell if the rumor is reliable – but you can try (successfully most of the time, you hope) to stick to the sources who generally are. And you (well, I) put your (my) trust in the likelihood that, despite the allure of the social networking race, they did their homework, and that they ran down their normal traps before tweeting. As T.R. wrote: "It's just a matter of knowing the right URL and how to get there. There are certain boulevards that all play on, but make sure they arrive from multiple cross-streets." Anyway, I have nothing (as of now) to report today. Just wanted to remind you that the Trot Coffey's are there for a reason. I used to crave getting my Sporting News in the mail as a kid, tearing through it to find the Peter Gammons column first because I knew it would be full of trade rumors that nobody else had. Now we all get blasts all day long, and I do my best to pass along only those coming from dependable places. The Trot Coffey's have been a popular feature, and I'll keep sending them, but they're sent out in a different format by design. There's nothing wrong with Twitter or MLBTR – I'm a believer in both – as long as the underlying source is reliable. But even then, the Trot Coffey's – which I send to the mailing list but don't post on the website for real reasons – always end with that salt shaker capsized under its own weight. =========================================================== To join the free Newberg Report mailing list so you can get e-mail deliveries of every edition of the newsletter, daily minor league game recaps, and frequent Newberg Report News Flashes, go to www.newbergreport.com and click the "Mailing List" link on the top menu bar. (c) Jamey Newberg http://www.newbergreport.com Twitter @newbergreport If you want to be removed from this list, please e-mail me at newbergreport@sbcglobal.net