No scribble MS paint drawing :(

No scribble MS paint drawing :(

Non-zero possibility that it's behind the paywall.

You know, I enjoyed Transaction Oracle posts for a while. Sometimes they were funny, but mostly I read them because I wanted to read about baseball. I never liked the MS Paint drawings, so I won't miss those. But now that TO is behind a pay wall, I just realized that I can live without it.

This whole site is slowly disintegrating. I feel like I'm watching a controlled demolition. First one thing's gone, then another. Soon it will be the main thing I enjoy here, Sox Therapy. But I can probably live without that too. I spend too much time in front of a computer anyway.

So, goodbye TO. It was fun while it lasted.

Soon it will be the main thing I enjoy here, Sox Therapy. But I can probably live without that too. I spend too much time in front of a computer anyway.

I can dial up my theatrics in chatter a notch if you want????

Is there a way to get ESPN: The Website without being cursed with ESPN: The Magazine, ESPN: The Fleece Sweater, ESPN: The Boxed Wine and ESPN: The Karaoke Machine?

I actually enjoy the magazine.

Zim's contributed a ton of stuff that we've gotten for free for the last decade. To bemoan the fact that it now costs about a dollar a month to read some of Dan's stuff (and that's only if you consider him the only worthwhile thing on Insider and the magazine) seems downright miserly. $15 a year is like 45 minutes of work for an average person. If you don't think TO is worth the money, that's certainly your business, but to act like a fan and then be all outraged about having to pay a fraction of a pittance is retarded.

Zim's contributed a ton of stuff that we've gotten for free for the last decade. To bemoan the fact that it now costs about a dollar a month to read some of Dan's stuff (and that's only if you consider him the only worthwhile thing on Insider and the magazine) seems downright miserly.

But it's money to ESPN, not to this site. I'm not giving ESPN money to read something I used to get here for free. Then again, I'm not giving them any of my money for anything.

Is there a way to get ESPN: The Website without being cursed with ESPN: The Magazine, ESPN: The Fleece Sweater, ESPN: The Boxed Wine and ESPN: The Karaoke Machine?

I believe they allow you to redirect your subscription to a school library or other similar type organization if you do not want to receive the actual magazine. They used to do that at least.

$15 a year is like 45 minutes of work for an average person. If you don't think TO is worth the money, that's certainly your business, but to act like a fan and then be all outraged about having to pay a fraction of a pittance is retarded.

If I paid $15 here and there to get behind paywalls for every site I visit on the internet, I'd be broke. But you're wrong: It's $39.95 a year. Which just isn't worth it to read occasional TO articles.

But more to the point: the content was about worth what I was paying before, and that's what I realized when it was gone. I actually do subscribe to Bill James's website, so there are some things I find worth it. There's literally nothing at ESPN that I want to pay for. I mean, what's there? Crazy baseball trade rumors that they invent to make it seem like you're getting your money?

Is there a way to get ESPN: The Website without being cursed with ESPN: The Magazine, ESPN: The Fleece Sweater, ESPN: The Boxed Wine and ESPN: The Karaoke Machine?

Get the magazine sub when it is on sale, slickdeals had it available a week or so ago for like $4 for a year. That gets you Insider for free. Set your magazine sub to electronic delivery, it's just one email a month and just delete it as soon as you get it.

Get the magazine sub when it is on sale, slickdeals had it available a week or so ago for like $4 for a year. That gets you Insider for free. Set your magazine sub to electronic delivery, it's just one email a month and just delete it as soon as you get it.

I'm with DA. As much as I'm happy for Szym that he's getting work from the Bristolites, there is no way in hell I would ever fork over a dime to those bastards. If I ever come across a couple of extra bucks to throw some way for content (not likely for the forseeable future with three kids in Catholic School), I'll have a little diamond next to my name.

What's with all the ESPN hate? It's not like they're dumping toxic waste in Bangladesh or something. There's also Keith Law content and they have a lot of cool NBA stuff and great coverage of various drafts. Even some additional BP articles. Besides, you're already giving money to ESPN/ABC/Disney.

I got my magazine/insider for $14. Like Prince, I think you fellas are underrating the magazine.

I would never pay $40/yr for Insider, but for $5/yr, it is worth it. You get the Neyer and KLaw content and now you get some stuff from Szym, Tango, and the BPro people. The non-baseball Insider content is occasionally interesting as well.

Edit: The magazine is a total waste though.

a lot of cool NBA stuff

No such thing.

It's not like they're dumping toxic waste in Bangladesh or something.

Even worse is that they're doing it here!

Really, though, ESPN is just awful. Their aggressive used car salesman approach to sports entertainment is just unbearable. Too bad CNNSI couldn't stick around as an alternative.

What's with all the ESPN hate? It's not like they're dumping toxic waste in Bangladesh or something. There's also Keith Law content and they have a lot of cool NBA stuff and great coverage of various drafts. Even some additional BP articles. Besides, you're already giving money to ESPN/ABC/Disney.

Besides what Shooty mentions, and the fact that they're owned by those Disney ########, I've got actual personal reasons for my ESPN hate. I prefer not to go into them here (though if my vague hints can convince just one person to share in my disdain, I've done my job).

I have Insider and have been keeping up with and enjoying Szymbo over there, but it's disappointing that he can't write with the same irreverent style that he used to use here. Dan, if you're reading this, does your deal allow you to keep writing the same good analysis you've been doing at ESPN and then come in here and burn some toast?

I'd happily pay Dan $15/yr., but my experience with ESPN has been awful.

They somehow auto-renewed me for Insider without a valid address or CC#, and I couldn't get it reversed. I will never subscribe to their products again.

For a while ESPN was grabbing the best local sports talent like Wal-Mart shutting down family owned stores. Then ESPN realized they had too many sportsfolks and not enough jobs so the environment righted itself. Also, the local guys who left for ESPN looked around and realized that unless they did something really unique they were just another face in the crowd (mostly white by the way). Hence all the stupid announcing schtick.

It did lead to a greater emphasis on collegiate and local school sports at the down home level. Which is a real positive. ESPN can't really cover oodles of colleges, they follow the name schools for the particular sport and every so often realize that something other than Ohio State football exists.

I don't subscribe anywhere. I miss ready Dan's stuff, and I know I'm missing out on Tango's ESPN stuff, or Colin Wyers and some of the newer guys at BPro (never really considered paying for the veterans there, but a lot of good young talent added in the last year). I'm sure some of it is worth the money. But here's my dilemna: There is more good baseball writing on the web than I can possibly hope to read. If more people go the subscription route, I will have no trouble replacing them in my daily reading.

When everyone who writes anything decent about baseball is behind a paywall, then I'll have to pick a few to subscribe to, but I'm nowhere near that point yet.

AROM is absolutely correct.

Too many of those guys are simply co-opting ideas they read elsewhere. And I am also amused that the blogs linked to ESPN are the secondary ones that hope that a ESPN will boost traffic. The legit team blogs don't regularly associate with ESPN. There is no need. They have their own audience.

I have Insider and have been keeping up with and enjoying Szymbo over there, but it's disappointing that he can't write with the same irreverent style that he used to use here. Dan, if you're reading this, does your deal allow you to keep writing the same good analysis you've been doing at ESPN and then come in here and burn some toast?

Yeah, I can do wacky things here. I've been busy preparing a 3-minute long Francoeur animation that I hope to have up in a month or so. I usually do straight-up entries for big moves anyway.

They've actually encouraged me to be a little snarky - I was the one who was generally conservative to start things off. ESPN's obviously not going to want toast or Dayton Moore artwork from me, but I do work in some barbs and silliness in from time to time.

I did play the trade deadline stuff straighter than I normally would because of the quick turnarounds needed. The roundup for Saturday was like 2800 words that an editor had to get up quickly during the witching hours (I submitted it Sunday at 2 AM and it was up at 7 AM) and I didn't want him to have to spend time having to check too many things for taste level (I did, after all, once did a Milton entry that involved prostitute murder and called someone a slower runner than Stephen Hawking).

To address some of the previous posts in the thread, I'd obviously like you guys to be able to follow all my stuff, but if you don't want to subscribe, I'm not going to push anyone. The reason I'm posting occasional Insider stuff (I've written 25-30 things for them now, including ESPN Mag bits, so I'm still only linking a fraction of things) is that a lot of people professed a desire to know what I'm up to over there and that I shouldn't have qualms about self-promoting on a site that I partially own.

I don't subscribe anywhere. I miss ready Dan's stuff, and I know I'm missing out on Tango's ESPN stuff, or Colin Wyers and some of the newer guys at BPro (never really considered paying for the veterans there, but a lot of good young talent added in the last year).

Surprisingly, it's been a while since I've seen Tango writing something there (last thing he did appears to be April). Dunno if he has conflicts with his consulting or whatever - I don't regularly talk with him.

If you want to subscribe cheaply, just watch out for coupon codes for Discountmags.com or other sites. There was a $4 for a year of Magazine+Insider just last week. Right now at that site, you can get it at $12.57 with the discount code "sizzle" at checkout.

Best way to deal with revolving subscriptions is with Paypal SecureCards. You can stick a little money in your PayPal account and generate a Mastercard number for use, either for one time only or for recurring payments, and revoke the number at any time with the touch of a button. I'

The reason I'm posting occasional Insider stuff (I've written 25-30 things for them now, including ESPN Mag bits, so I'm still only linking a fraction of things) is that a lot of people professed a desire to know what I'm up to over there and that I shouldn't have qualms about self-promoting on a site that I partially own.

As the most vocal antiBristolite on the site, I don't have any problem with you linking to your stuff for them, and I can't imagine why anyone else would. Hell, Repoz routinely links to Jeff Pearlman and non-members regularly link to themselves, so I don't think you have anything to worry about.

It's not worth the full price subscription just for baseball articles (don't care about anything else) and it's not possible to get a discount for international customers.

ESPN's obviously not going to want toast or Dayton Moore artwork from me

They have no idea what they are missing.

I still have an insider subscription. I don't get the ESPN hate either. They are never my first choice, and I realize not everyone has 5 bucks a month to blow or whatever it costs. The bottom line is if they didn't have content I was willing to pay for, I wouldn't subscribe.

Guess I'm just not into "sticking it to the man"

Oh.....and for anyone who actually peeked behind the wall to read his writeup, I think that Dan along with most others mis read Haren's trade value. Cameron go this one right, IMHO.

Guess I'm just not into "sticking it to the man"

In my case, it is simply punishing a business that provided me incredibly poor customer service on multiple occasions. Failed after 4 or 5 requests to switch the magazine delivery to my grandfather. Auto-renewed me despite lacking a valid address or expiration date (I'm pissed at AMEX too), and refused to rescind the charge.

If not for their past poor service, I would have signed up to see Dan's stuff.

I still have an insider subscription. I don't get the ESPN hate either. They are never my first choice, and I realize not everyone has 5 bucks a month to blow or whatever it costs. The bottom line is if they didn't have content I was willing to pay for, I wouldn't subscribe.

And I don't subscribe and I ALSO dislike ESPN. Why is that hard to get? I guess I don't look at a corporation like ESPN in terms of the discrete products they sell but as an organization that operates in a larger cultural context. It's why I'm not a Yankee fan even though they have better players and offer a better "product" than the Oakland A's.

I also don't mind at all that Dan links to his stuff to ESPN. You go Dan!

I have looked into ESPN. All the discounted rates seem to include the magazine. I would prefer to get Insider without the magazine (if digital I could just ignore, but I really do not want a paper copy mailed to my house).