I’ve been reading over some typical SB Nation want-ad writeups and boy, the cheese factor is high. So, as usual, we’ll do it a little differently here.
As you know, back in February there was a regime change, and one of my immediate initiatives when I picked up the the car keys was to invite in more contributors. Contributors who are actually, you know, paid. Something. Fourthmeal money. Whatever. Paid.
And in that endeavor, there’s been some success. Year of the Hamster has thrived as my deputy, the author of polls you love to hate, doing a ton of background grinder work, and upping the overall sass factor.
Danks for Nothin has taken on the lion’s share of opponent previews and a heavy load of game coverage, and has perfected his brand of monologue recaps, where his ends of sentences are conversational and fun, like what I’m doing right here. Which is nice.
Michael Kenny has kept on as a regular contributor after steering the transition, and brings a great voice to game recaps and features, as well as some deeper-dive tech stuff like the composite prospect lists and, I believe, the offseason roster plans.
Darren Jackson and AJ Hellraiser are owning our minor league coverage. Never before have there been game capsules on SSS, where there’s room to color the more typical “box score” stuff. We’ve introduced the game MVPs, which might further assist a reader’s understanding of a prospect’s progress, or lack thereof. And DJ’s deeper dives into the hows and whys of prospect performance have been superb; that he is bringing some of that expertise to breaking down players on the big club (Dylan Covey and Avisaíl García, for starters) is all the more fabulous.
KenWo anchored our inaugural SSS Hall of Fame ballot and continues to be our go-to guy for all things Hall. He’s also good for hot takes of every flavor. Hope we see more of him, wrestling references and all. He’s dead wrong about Yoán Moncada, though.
Where have you gone, Mechanical Turk? SSS turns its lonely eyes to you.
And larry is still around here, somewhere.
Lurker Laura hopped on as the season got rolling and has been a rollicking success. I hope to see more of her, not less, in weeks and months and seasons to come.
whisoxman20051917 got involved just in time to aid Darren and Steve P with draft coverage, coverage that turned out to be beyond my wildest hopes for the site. WSM continues on with us, plying the minors in search of some plum prospects we haven’t yet given enough love to.
We’ve had some other voices pop up, like katiesphil, Esteban Shapiro and Schoolly_D, who I hope to see more of (especially Schoolly, if he ever snaps out of that Rangers haze he’s got himself in and embraces his inner Sox fan). All three writers have penned stellar pieces, with Phil’s essays being a particularly great fit.
And there are a quite a few other voices who I’ve been in contact with to write, a few of whom I hope will relent and get involved at some point.
We’ve lost some longtime SSS figures, and we are not the better for it. But, still, as an eternal optimist (White Sox fan, duh) I have hopes that some familiar bylines will one day grace our pages again.
And to all of you who “just” read, or read and comment, well, good on you — you make this site. Despite those relative few D and F grades issued in Hamster’s midseason poll a couple of weeks back, I hope you are mostly entertained by what we’ve done with SSS so far this season. There are always more surprises to come.
OK, all that said, in addition to the ongoing interest in bolstering staff (for those of you who might be editorially inclined), I have a couple of positions to fill that fall outside of my realm of expertise.
Podcast Manager
The first is someone who can run our podcast. Ideally, you would take on the role of host, but obviously I am on board to at least co-host, or even spearhead most of the broadcast work (interviews, etc.). I’d say that podcast editing and uploading are key requirements, publicity for the podcast and keeping us all on a regular schedule will be pretty important, too. Basically, the job can cover as much as you want to do. Along with the gig will be at least a little bit of writing (announcing each podcast on our pages here), but someone who wants to be a member of the regular writing rotation is welcomed and encouraged.
Fantasy League Manager
The second is someone who is familiar with baseball simulation software, who has run their own OOTP or Digital Diamond Baseball leagues. I have a pretty fun idea for the offseason, the creation of a league like nothing you’ve ever seen. But I’ve always been better with fantasy baseball conception than execution (I’m the guy who wants to write a hilarious media guide for the league, not run the games). The writeups are going to land in mostly fanpost territory, but the position will be paid. What’s needed is someone to run the league and either write up results, or pass that info on to me to work on. And that’s all I’m going to reveal for now.
Again, both positions are paid. It’s gas money, not car payment money. But it is money.
If you’re interested, drop me a line at brettballantini@yahoo.com.