One less punching bag at the Chron

[Nate Colbert]

JdJO is leaving to become a columnist (!) at the StL Post-Dispatch (per tweets). Must reading, there.

What sacrifices to the baseball gods have to be made to get Zach Levine to take his old job back?

[moriartp]

You just made my day.

[chuck]

I'm starting to see the upside of my new parallel universe.

I'll never forget the time I wrote him something, who knows what triggered it, but the general theme of my remarks was that he's a fuckwit.  He forwarded it to Dick Justice who promptly upbraided me. Then he invited me to lunch. But as many times as I tried to arrange a friendly luncheon the both of them unfailingly shunned my society. I have no idea why.

[Fredia]

did you get there by black hole or vortex?
when i was in sedona the tour driver could not answer if anyone had ever disappeared in a vortex

[juliogotay]

did you get there by black hole or vortex?
when i was in sedona the tour driver could not answer if anyone had ever disappeared in a vortex

Did you take the pink jeep tour in Sedona?

[Fredia]

sadly no, was on the trolly one.

[roadrunner]

JdJO is leaving to become a columnist (!) at the StL Post-Dispatch (per tweets). Must reading, there.

What sacrifices to the baseball gods have to be made to get Zach Levine to take his old job back?

I would contribute financially to get Levine back as the Astros beat reporter. 

[hostros7]

I would contribute financially to get Levine back as the Astros beat reporter.

Levine is more likely to work for the Astros than the Chron at this point in his career.

Is the new position in STL viewed as a promotion? Not sure if a columnist position in a baseball town is a step up from the larger Houston market, a step down, or basically a lateral move.


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[astrosfan76]

JdJO still tweeting for the Chron, but Drellich is taking his shtick to Bahston to cover the beat for the Herald.

[Mr. Happy]

JdJO still tweeting for the Chron, but Drellich is taking his shtick to Bahston to cover the beat for the Herald.

Good riddance.

[Bench]

McTaggart with a terse "Bye"

[drew corleone]

I never understood the disdain for him Drellich, not JdJO).

[Mr. Happy]

I never understood the disdain for him Drellich, not JdJO).

Drellich had it in for Astros management and never missed an opportunity to stir the pot. He never really broke any big story, and his Chron career was an amalgam of insinuations and cheap shots. He's Boston's problem now.

[Reuben]

Drellich had it in for Astros management and never missed an opportunity to stir the pot. He never really broke any big story, and his Chron career was an amalgam of insinuations and cheap shots. He's Boston's problem now.

I would add that what made it so frustrating is that he wasn't just a clueless hack dumbfuck like JDJO or a goofy semi-knowledgable flip-flopper like Justice. Drellich was bright enough and insightful enough to have some good things to say or observations to make at times. But for some reason he constantly felt the need to stir up shit and push this cheap-shot click-bait agenda. In that respect it's no surprise to see him go back to Boston to work at the Herald.

[Knoxbanedoodle]

Both these guys (Drellich and JdJO) were interviewed on the Effectively Wild podcast Astros season preview a few days ago, and I was struck by how largely informationless and lame it was.

[moriartp]

I would add that what made it so frustrating is that he wasn't just a clueless hack dumbfuck like JDJO or a goofy semi-knowledgable flip-flopper like Justice. Drellich was bright enough and insightful enough to have some good things to say or observations to make at times. But for some reason he constantly felt the need to stir up shit and push this cheap-shot click-bait agenda. In that respect it's no surprise to see him go back to Boston to work at the Herald.

That's how I feel about it. Drellich could be a fine reporter if he wanted to be.

[HudsonHawk]

That's how I feel about it. Drellich could be a fine reporter if he wanted to be.

None of them want to be "reporters", they want to be "columnists".  The latter comes with more money and no ethical obligations or expectations. 

[WakePhil]

Both these guys (Drellich and JdJO) were interviewed on the Effectively Wild podcast Astros season preview a few days ago, and I was struck by how largely informationless and lame it was.

Yes, absolutely accurate. For an interesting team expected to be a contender, it was one of the most boring episodes of the series and I have a vested interest.

There was an episode earlier and the question was, "If I tell you a team won 110 games and you can pick the Dodgers or FTC, who would you pick?" Sam, one of the co-hosts picked the Astros. What a strange new world we live in.

[juliogotay]

None of them want to be "reporters", they want to be "columnists".  The latter comes with more money and no ethical obligations or expectations.

It could be mgmnt pushing these guys to be more opinionated. I have no knowledge of this, just speculation, but with the newspaper industry losing so much share of voice they may be trying to re-invent themselves to a degree.

[Ty in Tampa]

It could be mgmnt pushing these guys to be more opinionated. I have no knowledge of this, just speculation, but with the newspaper industry losing so much share of voice they may be trying to re-invent themselves to a degree.

If they are opinionated at all then by definition they are not "reporters."

[GreatBagwellsBeard]

It could be mgmnt pushing these guys to be more opinionated. I have no knowledge of this, just speculation, but with the newspaper industry losing so much share of voice they may be trying to re-invent themselves to a degree.

I'd tend to agree with this assessment, with the caveat that the tone of some of Drellich's most noxious stuff implied a lack of access to Luhnow, etc. that left him with a chip on his shoulder.  In the absence of a good pull quote, throw the source under the bus.

Still, nothing as awful as JJdO taking Shawn Chacon's side happened, so he was still an improvement.  Bring back Zach Levine or convince the Chron to pony up for Footer.

[roadrunner]

I would add that what made it so frustrating is that he wasn't just a clueless hack dumbfuck like JDJO or a goofy semi-knowledgable flip-flopper like Justice. Drellich was bright enough and insightful enough to have some good things to say or observations to make at times. But for some reason he constantly felt the need to stir up shit and push this cheap-shot click-bait agenda. In that respect it's no surprise to see him go back to Boston to work at the Herald.

This.

The Aiken "reporting" and the anti-Astros FO/stats story he ran with several anonymous quotes (Cosart?) were the low-lights for me.  He never failed to take a shot at the Astros...even in 2015-2016 despite Luhnow and the organization completely proving all of the doubters wrong with their performance on the field.  Also he basically blamed the Astros the Cards hacking scandal.  He became too predictable.

I couldn't tell if he was going for click-bait or if he is just a northeastern prick who was forced to take a job in Texas to add to his resume.  He may have some talent in him, but he sure let his agenda get in the way of letting that show. 

[Duman]

He appeared on the Crawfish Boxes podcast last week.  They asked him a general question about the narrative of the payroll and why he focuses on it so much.  He stammers and stutters his way through the answer and follow up questions.  It is a great awkward moment.  Starts 17 minutes in.

Two recent examples of Drelich and his pot shots at the front office - After Sal Perez signed his deal with the Royals, he wrote an article talking about Altuve's contract.  He focuses on how he is underpaid now but never focus's on the fact it was a player friendly deal when it was signed.  Then in an article on Joe Musgrove he talks about his shoulder issues and blames it on the Astros throwing program.  Musgrove was with the Blue Jays when he developed the shoulder issues. 

[Knoxbanedoodle]

There was an episode earlier and the question was, "If I tell you a team won 110 games and you can pick the Dodgers or FTC, who would you pick?" Sam, one of the co-hosts picked the Astros. What a strange new world we live in.

I heard that one too. I believe it was actually, what team outside of the Cubs and Dodgers would you think could win 112 games. Ben said the Mets, Sam said the 'Stros.

I love those guys. Really looking forward to their book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Only-Rule-Has-Work/dp/1627795642

[JimR]

Drellich had it in for Astros management and never missed an opportunity to stir the pot. He never really broke any big story, and his Chron career was an amalgam of insinuations and cheap shots. He's Boston's problem now.

his story on the Astros in the BP Annual is poison pen.

[astrosfan76]

Two new guys to follow on Twitter, if you're into that kind of thing.  Angel Verdejo moves from the prep beat with the Chronicle to the Astros/MLB beat.  Also, Jake Kaplan, who previously covered the Phillies with the Philadelphia Inquirer is moving down to cover the Good Guys for the Chronicle.   

[Nate Colbert]

Jake Kaplan, who previously covered the Phillies with the Philadelphia Inquirer is moving down to cover the Good Guys for the Chronicle.   

His Linked In page, for anyone curious as to his CV. He and the other Phillies beat writer were laid off from the Inquirer in December as part of the usual newspaper death spiral.

[Arky Vaughan]

his story on the Astros in the BP Annual is poison pen.

I didn't know who he was until I read that BP drivel. It made me want my money back.

[Nate Colbert]

Nope, never would have guessed I'd be linking to anything the man had to say post-Chron but did find it interesting that he wrote this in the Post-Dispatch yesterday:

"Using a pick that Major League Baseball should have taken away from them for hacking into the Astros’ Ground Control database, the Cardinals doubled down by using their first-round selection on Puerto Rican shortstop Delvin Perez, who tested positive for using a performance-enhancing drug."

I actually find the logic in that sentence to be slightly strange but will give him some credit for tweaking the BFiBs.

Speaking of the BFiBs:

Jose de Jesus Ortiz ‏@OrtizKicks 5 hours ago
I don't think I dealt with more racist comments in 15 years combined in Houston than the last 2 months from Cardinals fans.

(h/t @BestFansStLouis)