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[Schad]

Google's out there, and suggests that she does indeed do law work.

And yes, it would very much surprise me if a bunch of writers were conspiring to slander the Cubs, because that's nuts.

[Skin Blues]

So, there are two possibilities:

- It's exactly what it looks like, a possibility that seems to me to be bolstered by their top PR flack shooting from the hip;

- This is a conspiracy among a number of individuals within the industry to slander the Cubs in order to...appear woke?

This is a false dichotomy. It could be lots of things.

It indeed probably is exactly what it looks like though. Which is an unnamed reporter that felt threatened, but likely received no actual threat. The reporter tells their friend Sheryl in private that they don't feel comfortable writing some hit piece on Addison Russell. Sheryl Ring sends out a tweet about it, and it gets WAY more attention than she thought it would. Probably never thought they'd have to corroborate any of it. She has like 1,000 followers on Twitter, most of which are in her own bubble (Woke Baseball Twitter) where made-up accusations go unchallenged. There's virtually no push-back against anything at all, it's a mutual admiration society. Then the masses saw it blow up, and it gets real. There are consequences for these claims all of a sudden, and scrutiny.

The Cubs have admitted that they complain to outlets who write stories they don't agree with. That much is very clear. But they have not admitted to threatening anybody with removing access. And if there was any evidence of them doing so, it could be made public and the Cubs has vowed to fire that employee that made threats. But yet, we see... nothing. No evidence, no names, no quotes. Just a vague "threatened with reprisal" comment.

[Schad]

It indeed probably is exactly what it looks like though. Which is an unnamed reporter that felt threatened, but likely received no actual threat. The reporter tells their friend Sheryl in private that they don't feel comfortable writing some hit piece on Addison Russell. Sheryl Ring sends out a tweet about it, and it gets WAY more attention than she thought it would. Probably never thought they'd have to corroborate any of it. She has like 1,000 followers on Twitter, most of which are in her own bubble (Woke Baseball Twitter) where made-up accusations go unchallenged. There's virtually no push-back against anything at all, it's a mutual admiration society. Then the masses saw it blow up, and it gets real. There are consequences for these claims all of a sudden, and scrutiny.

You're all over the place here. It probably is what is seemed like, but Ring's in the wrong because she's part of Woke Baseball Twitter, and also while it is what it looks like, made-up accusations go unchallenged there?

If Twitter followers are the determinant of credibility, I'll mention YET AGAIN that what Ring said was corroborated by a BP writer and a guy who has been writing for ESPN and NBC for years and had spoken to local media folks, both of whom have five-digit Twitter counts since that apparently makes all the difference.

The Cubs have admitted that they complain to outlets who write stories they don't agree with. That much is very clear. But they have not admitted to threatening anybody with removing access. And if there was any evidence of them doing so, it could be made public and the Cubs has vowed to fire that employee that made threats. But yet, we see... nothing. No evidence, no names, no quotes. Just a vague "threatened with reprisal" comment.

The head of their PR wing literally called up Ring's boss and tried to pressure them into removing her tweet. That's not supposition: that's what he himself told the media. Yet it's somehow easier to believe that they're the victim of a Woker Than Thou conspiracy (even though this really was a literally inside-baseball thing about press-club interactions until their VP of Communications decided to rather loudly and publicly step on his own genitals) than believe that the Cubs' press shop went too far in trying to deflect attention away from the bit where they were trying to build a happy narrative around "wife abuser returns!".


Also, given that you keep mentioning evidence: most journalists do not, in fact, post evidence. They are not prosecutors. They might have quotes; they might not, if it's on deep background. The test is generally whether the information can be corroborated by other credible sources, and indeed that's what has happened here.

[Skin Blues]

It indeed probably is exactly what it looks like though. Which is an unnamed reporter that felt threatened, but likely received no actual threat. The reporter tells their friend Sheryl in private that they don't feel comfortable writing some hit piece on Addison Russell. Sheryl Ring sends out a tweet about it, and it gets WAY more attention than she thought it would. Probably never thought they'd have to corroborate any of it. She has like 1,000 followers on Twitter, most of which are in her own bubble (Woke Baseball Twitter) where made-up accusations go unchallenged. There's virtually no push-back against anything at all, it's a mutual admiration society. Then the masses saw it blow up, and it gets real. There are consequences for these claims all of a sudden, and scrutiny.

You're all over the place here. It probably is what is seemed like, but Ring's in the wrong because she's part of Woke Baseball Twitter, and also while it is what it looks like, made-up accusations go unchallenged there?

If Twitter followers are the determinant of credibility, I'll mention YET AGAIN that what Ring said was corroborated by a BP writer and a guy who has been writing for ESPN and NBC for years and had spoken to local media folks, both of whom have five-digit Twitter counts since that apparently makes all the difference.

The Cubs have admitted that they complain to outlets who write stories they don't agree with. That much is very clear. But they have not admitted to threatening anybody with removing access. And if there was any evidence of them doing so, it could be made public and the Cubs has vowed to fire that employee that made threats. But yet, we see... nothing. No evidence, no names, no quotes. Just a vague "threatened with reprisal" comment.

The head of their PR wing literally called up Ring's boss and tried to pressure them into removing her tweet. That's not supposition: that's what he himself told the media. Yet it's somehow easier to believe that they're the victim of a Woker Than Thou conspiracy (even though this really was a literally inside-baseball thing about press-club interactions until their VP of Communications decided to rather loudly and publicly step on his own genitals) than believe that the Cubs' press shop went too far in trying to deflect attention away from the bit where they were trying to build a happy narrative around "wife abuser returns!".

Yes, it probably is what it seems like to me. That's fairly obvious since I went into detail about what it seems like to me. I'm not presenting a false dichotomy where there's my version of events, and then there's an absurd strawman. I'm just saying what I think happened.

And I didn't say Sheryl's follower count discredits her. I said it likely meant she didn't think her tweet would get much attention outside her small circle of friends, like most of the rest of the things she tweets about. Just get some pats on the back for having the proper opinions on topics about oppressed people, and no threat of anybody challenging her about it being true or not.

I also didn't say it was supposition that the Cubs asked FanGraphs to remove the tweet. I flat out said they did it. They admit they did it. They admit they often complain to media outlets that run stories they believe are false. That doesn't mean they threatened a beat reporter with reprisal if they ran a story about Addison Russell, which is what this is all about.

With all the dishonest responses I'm seeing here, I don't see much hope for much of a conversation, but anyway, have a nice weekend. It's been nice bickering with you!!

[Black Watch]

- This is a conspiracy among a number of individuals within the industry to slander the Cubs in order to...appear woke?

Would that surprise you? That is basically Sheryl Ring's job description at Fangraphs. "Professional lawyer" who does no law work and often gets corrected on legal matters by random posters in the comments section (LOL) who spends their entire time writing non-baseball related opinion pieces on a baseball analytics website.

100%

I'm not into conspiracy-mongering myself, but it does seem manufactured, especially in this age of internet outrage culture.

[Schad]

Out of morbid curiosity: what makes it seem manufactured? I could perhaps buy that if the reaction to her tweet was just Theo's. But when the PR guy goes on the warpath over a tweet about overzealous PR guys, the dots seem to be connecting themselves.

[Fairview4Life]

Lol. Hang on, the supposition is that Ring didn't think a writer for fangraphs writing that about the Cubs would get any attention outside of her circle of (1000) friends? She was just trying to sneak that out there so her fellow woke snowflakes would congratulate her for her goodthink?

I get the desperate need to, let's say, "virtue signal" that you aren't one of those woke SJW's who are ruining everything with their lies, but come on now.

[JaysRule15]

[BigLeagueChew]

The Mets have released catcher Travis d’Arnaud, according to the MLB.com transactions page

[polo007]

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Kevin Gausman throws behind Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Ureña and gets ejected.

Watch on YouTube

Atlanta Braves Brian Snitker reacts to starter Kevin Gausman's ejection for throwing behind Miami Marlins starter Jose Ureña.

Watch on YouTube

[vaff87]

Dwight Smith Jr is having a solid year. I’m glad to see him doing well.

[The_Hater]

Matt Kemp being released seems shortsighted by the Reds, I’m not sure how 62 PA’s an an injury supersede his solid play from last Season.

[polo007]

Kevin Pillar makes a sensational defensive play for the San Francisco Giants, climbing up onto the wall and stealing a home run from Nick Senzel and the Cincinnati Reds.

Watch on YouTube

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

[I_Like_Dirt]

Lol. Hang on, the supposition is that Ring didn't think a writer for fangraphs writing that about the Cubs would get any attention outside of her circle of (1000) friends? She was just trying to sneak that out there so her fellow woke snowflakes would congratulate her for her goodthink?

I get the desperate need to, let's say, "virtue signal" that you aren't one of those woke SJW's who are ruining everything with their lies, but come on now.

It's clearly more likely that someone with nothing to gain and a lot to lose would throw out something like this because baseball franchises don't have any track records of coverups or abuses of power whatsoever.

The part that doesn't make sense to me is that I'd understand if the argument was more to wait and see what comes out but there seems to be this internet logic where, if something doesn't meet legal standards of proof, then we should assume it didn't happen. It pops up everywhere and it's ridiculous. There might have been a certain degree of misunderstanding here where the Cubs didn't feel they were threatening anyone while Ring and other baseball writers felt they did but if that's the case the natural course of action is to amicably clear up that misunderstanding. The Cubs haven't don't that.

[Cyrus]

So that DJ Smith looking halfway decent, might even win the AL rookie of the year if he keeps it up lol. Sure better than the bums like britto and co we are putting out there or signing ben revere

[Natural11]

Bryce Harper the $300 million dollar man with a mighty 0.3 WAR thus far and already receiving boos at home. He's only 26, odds are they will get a few good years out of him, but he's off to a terrible start given that Philly no doubt expected his best years to come early in the deal.

[BigLeagueChew]

Yankees Acquire Kendrys Morales; in exchange for cash or a player to be named later,

[Schad]

It's rare that you ship a player for practically nothing, eat 5/6ths of their contract, and still get the better end of the deal.

[torontoaces04]

Regarding the illustrious Jays career of Socrates Brito, and his Roy Halladay connection:

"The totals for Brito’s Blue Jays career: three hits over 43 plate appearances, four walks, a slash line of .077/.163/.128, and a wRC+ of -20. The only player in Blue Jays history to have come to the plate at least 40 times and been a worse hitter (by wRC+) was Roy Halladay, who offered a hell of a lot more in other facets of the game than Brito ever could."