Pitchers and catchers fully reported, games beginning Saturday, and, yet ... we’d all rather be even more excited about the coming season.
Why?
Well, you see, there’s the little matter of baseball’s unresolved hot stovery, which encourages bored “insiders” jonesing for follows to go off on a bender. Witness Sunday night’s “Best of Jon Heyman”:
hashtag-Padres. christ https://t.co/rlA9SCRdAG
— South Side Sox (@SouthSideSox) February 18, 2019
"in Miami circles"
— South Side Sox (@SouthSideSox) February 18, 2019
Translation: Heyman's hired a guy to dumpster dive outside Manny's condo. https://t.co/rlA9SCRdAG
"Padres aren't kidding around"
— South Side Sox (@SouthSideSox) February 18, 2019
Jon, you picked the wrong offseason to quit sniffing glue. https://t.co/HXchRAwhKq
"as said here"
— South Side Sox (@SouthSideSox) February 18, 2019
hashtag-Phillies https://t.co/1jAN8UKsap
And it’s not to indict only Heyman, although I must say his finishing kick in the second half of this offseason (the 2019 part) has been truly beyond measure for inanity and nothingness.
MLB.com Padres beat AJ Cassavell piled on, with a fairy tale:
Whatever the dollar amount, the offer for Manny Machado is "substantial." There's a belief it's unlikely to be topped. The Padres have let Machado know (in words and, more importantly, dollars) how they feel about him. Seems like the ball's in his court.https://t.co/CKZpykT1Bv
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) February 18, 2019
"There's a belief it's unlikely to be topped," writes the Padres beat reporter.
— South Side Sox (@SouthSideSox) February 18, 2019
And the locals threw in as well, with the Sun-Times and Trib both whipping up Machado-to-San Diego quickies, along with the news desk at NBC:
Meanwhile NBC breathlessly rushes up a story about how "the Padres might just have topped everyone" on Machado. Guys, are you even reading what you're typing?
— South Side Sox (@SouthSideSox) February 18, 2019
May be time for an SSS pledge to shut down posts on this till the whole hot stove reporting shithouse goes up in flames.
So, I’ve tipped my hand here. I think you can tell how I’m leaning on this. But despite the “pledge” above, here I am, hours later, talking Manny.
But the exhaustion of following this harried, hackneyed reporting and writing belies a larger question: How do we report these (non-) stories?
I would like your take in the comments. It’s negligent to just turn backs on a story, especially one that could have decade (positive) ramifications on the White Sox. But what’s too much?