This Week's Poll: Favorite Tigers Beat Guy?

by Ian Casselberry on May 11, 2009 11:00 AM EDT in News Comment 6 comments

If Fernando Rodney was pointing at his favorite Tigers beat reporter in the press box, who would he be pointing at?

I don't think this has been discussed much in the Tigersosphere (though it made the rounds on Twitter, thanks to Kurt), but the Freep's Michael Rosenberg mentioned on Facebook that Jon Paul Morosi will be leaving the paper to write for FoxSports.com.

For all the tension that supposedly exists between new and traditional media, I think almost all of us would agree that beat reporters are a vital part of a local team's coverage. If not for their work, there really wouldn't be much for us bloggers to post or respond to on a daily basis, other than game results. I do think, however, that Tigers fans don't get the same level of coverage that baseball fans in other cities do. But that may be more of an editorial decision by the local newspapers.

Morosi did the best with what he had to work with, and routinely beat his peers to scoops. (If there was news to be reported during the Winter Meetings, Morosi was the guy who broke it.) Had the Freep set up a true blog for him, one with a dedicated RSS feed, perhaps he would've provided the same coverage that Peter Abraham, for example, gives to Yankees fans or Geoff Baker provides to Mariners fans. (Jason Beck probably comes the closest now. Danny Knobler also wrote a fine blog before leaving for CBSSports.com.)

Assuming that you're relatively happy with the coverage that we get, however, which reporter do you prefer to read each day? Who do you think does the best job? That brings us to this week's poll question:

Who's your favorite reporter on the Tigers beat?

I included Morosi among the choices, even though he's leaving. It'll be interesting to see how the Freep chooses to replace him, whether it's by promoting someone from within or bringing in a writer from another city. Or perhaps this will be yet another example of newspaper coverage withering away.

Your comments on the subject are also welcome. You can find the poll on the right sidebar below the FanPosts block. Or you can vote here. And if you have suggestions for future poll questions, shoot me an e-mail.

How did our last poll go?

I guess our poll about the new Tigers went as expected, but with how Gerald Laird and Josh Anderson had been playing at the time, I thought it might be closer. Maybe I should've closed the poll before leaving for Seattle, as Laird went into a slump and Anderson saw a bit less playing time. Ah, well.

Who's been the Tigers' best new addition?

23%   Gerald Laird

49%   Edwin Jackson

24%   Josh Anderson

2%    Adam Everett

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Comments

Tough call

I’d be tempted to give Morosi the going-away vote. I think Jason Beck does a terrific job, and his actual blog (not that abomination of the word both the freep and detnews sites call blogs) and tweets really help get the news out. When the Tigers are in a rain delay, you expect a tweet from Beck. He ended up with my vote.

I like Lynn Henning because he seems to go out on the limb most often and has the most frequent analysis. I like frequent “here’s how I see it” and I don’t think we get that often enough from the Detroit media outlets. He’s sometimes wrong and sometimes funny, but I enjoy his analysis. And with Morosi gone, he’s probably the top feature write on the beat. His partner, Tom Gage reminds me of the crazy uncle. Which can be entertaining.

John Lowe is interesting. He tweets the games as well, and it can be pretty interesting to follow. He does research well and comes up with some great little factoids, too. But he’s got this professorial way about him that makes me feel like there’s a pop quiz at the end of the day. The Freep as a whole has this disconnect. In an era of social networking and internet egalitarianism, the freep seems to want to sit up on the dais and it kinda turns me off.

Due to the ugliness of MLive and the impossible to figure out Oakland Press web site, I don’t read much of Steve Kornacki or Jim Hawkins.

Mack Avenue Tigers

by MackAveKurt on May 11, 2009 12:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It's Morosi in a landslide

Morosi consistently scooped the other beat writers, especially his competition at the News, Tom Gage. Gage is decent on the game recaps, but seems slow on the uptake, and his blog, like Morosi’s, is useless. (for which we can thank the editors of the Freep and News)

I like Henning’s stuff, especially his opinion pieces, but he is closer to being a columnist than a beat writer. Kornacki is a mere shadow of Knobler, who was in Morosi’s league. Beck is solid, but as he’s employed by MLB, he’s essentially a mouthpiece for the Tigers. But he gives the most through coverage, better than the local papers.

I agree with Ian, the baseball coverage is town is sorely lacking, especially when compared to other major league cities. But considering the financial troubles of the Detroit News, Booth Newspapers, and OaklandPress/Macomb Daily, the Tigers coverage is likely to become even worse, which is really saying something.

The Wayne Fontes Experience

by BigAl on May 11, 2009 3:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Beck / Morosi

Jason Beck always seems to have good, timely information, and JPM has routinely scooped his peers. I was torn, but I went with a goodbye vote for JPM.

Also, Steve Kornacki and the Mlive Tigers site are trainwrecks. The guy doesn’t break anything and just kinda seems to be going through the motions.

by explosivo2k2 on May 11, 2009 5:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs