Carroll’s Column: The Times Have Changed

The New York Times - Image Credit: Front Office Sports/Twitter

NEW YORK — If you haven’t known so already, the times have changed for those in the media-industry. And year-by-year, it seems as if journalists are hit the hardest… 

Last Monday, the New York Times, the nation’s “newspaper of record,” announced it would be disbanding its sports department, and would instead reprint stories from its online subsidiary, the Athletic. 

The Athletic was formed in January 2016 by a pair of successful tech entrepreneurs who happened to be huge sports fans, Alex Mather, and Adam Hansmann. They saw a decline in sports coverage in daily newspapers and felt consumers would pay for quality sports coverage of local teams who were currently being underserved because of personnel cutbacks in the print world. 

While the Athletic did make a splash by signing some big-name columnists like Ken Rosenthal and Jayson Stark, their business model was hiring younger, less expensive journalists to cover local teams in the four big sports leagues: MLB, NFL, NBA, and the NHL. They also hired beat writers for sports which had smaller followings such as Major League Soccer and the WNBA, depending on the market. 

While the business plan sounded like a reasonable one for financial success, the Athletic instead hemorrhaged money. Mather and Hansmann badly underestimated both subscription revenues, and major costs such as the travel and payroll tax expenses of having beat writers in every city. Layoffs ensued. 

It was not a surprise Mather and Hansmann started shopping for a buyer for their company. In January 2022, the New York Times announced it had purchased the Athletic for $550 million. 

Times executives claimed the acquisition of the Athletic was done to attract new subscribers for both its print and online editions who would be getting access to more content. Times employees, especially in its sports department, saw a Trojan horse. Last Monday, their fears were realized.     

It is easy to understand the outcry over the New York Times’ decision to reassign all its sports journalists. The Times is synonymous with sports writing legends such as Red Smith, Arthur Daley, Dave Anderson, and a pair of Queens natives, Jamaica’s George Vecsey, and Rego Park’s Robert Lipsyte. One of the biggest thrills of my writing career was hearing Dave Anderson tell me how much he enjoyed reading my columns.    

Granted, the Times has gotten away from traditional local sports team coverage by focusing instead on national stories. Longtime baseball writers Tyler Kepner and James Wagner have done a terrific job with profiles of players and executives who do not work in our area. I believe a New York daily should not ignore what is going on in its own backyard. That, however, was management’s decision. Using the Athletic’s scribes, few of whom are not up to the Times’ lofty standards, is not the solution.   

The union representing Times journalists is suing management over its decision to replace current Times writers with those from the Athletic. I wish them well. 

Mets Drop Weekend Series To Dodgers In Flushing

I thought I had seen the Mets at their most bumbling in Philadelphia on June 23 when they blew a 6-3 lead over the Phillies in the eighth inning as their putrid bullpen led by Jeff Brigham (since demoted to their Syracuse AAA team) gave up four runs on one hit, thanks to walks and hit batsmen. I was wrong.

Last Saturday evening, on national television, the Mets outdid themselves. The good news was they tripled their hit count against the Dodgers from their game with them the previous night. The bad news was the Mets only had one hit in that game. 

In the Saturday game, the Mets wasted a fine pitching performance from Kodai Senga, when Pete Alonso sabotaged a double play with a high throw to shortstop Francisco Lindor in the top of the eighth inning which allowed the Dodgers to take a 2-1 lead. Both Alonso’s strikeouts and bad throws are up considerably from past years.      

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Mets had runners on first and third base with no outs. The odds were, at the very least, the Mets should be able to tie the game. In a span of eight pitches, Mark Canha popped up, and Luis Guillorme and Brett Baty struck out. The Mets have made an art form of not scoring in these kinds of situations, and the Citi Field crowd understandably booed lustily.    

Things would get worse for Baty in the top of the ninth inning. He misplayed a popup in his direction which led to Dodgers scoring an insurance third run off Grant Hartwig, who would proceed to give up two more runs for good measure.

Hartwig is another in a long line of forgettable Mets relief pitchers who constantly get two strikes on opposing hitters but rarely puts them away.  

While common sense says the Mets should be a seller instead of a buyer of players at the August 1 trade deadline, FOX Sports analyst AJ Pierzynski rightfully pointed out few contending teams would be interested in their players because of their expensive contracts. He added that even if Mets owner Steve Cohen were willing to pay the salaries of starting pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, the interest would be minimal because they are no longer considered to be impact players.

He believes the Mets may as well hold onto both and hope for the best in 2024. Pierzynski threw more cold water on Mets fans when he said the current team would be returning in 2024. He did state it could have a deleterious effect on attendance next year. 

Yankees Fire Hitting Coach Dillon Lawson — Hire Sean Casey

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman made news during the All-Star Game break when he fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson and replaced him with Aaron Boone’s former Cincinnati Reds teammate, Sean Casey. This marked the first time Cashman ever fired a manager or coach mid-season. 

Time will tell whether the Yankees’ hitting will improve this season, but the Casey hiring should be a good one. He was an accomplished big-league hitter, and he is an excellent communicator. 

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Novak Djokovic At Wimbledon

I have a feeling the press conferences for Carlos Alcaraz at Interview Room 1 at Arthur Ashe Stadium next month will be far more crowded than they were at the 2022 US Open. The 20-year-old Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last Sunday.

The Spanish sensation has done it 🇪🇸@carlosalcaraz triumphs over Novak Djokovic, 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in an all-time classic#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/sPGLXr2k99

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 16, 2023

Alcaraz made it clear he enjoyed chatting with the media. I remember asking him in Spanish if he would stick around New York City after the US Open to visit the various points of interest. He responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” Of course, he was not as recognizable then as he is now. Hopefully, success won’t jade him as it does to many successful professional athletes.     

Fran Drescher and Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA)

The “fancy girl from Flushing,” Hillcrest High School alum Fran Drescher is tackling her most important career move as the president of the actors union, SAG-AFTRA. Drescher, who in real life sounds nothing like her “Nanny” character, did a superb job of articulating the many complicated issues facing her membership these days on various news programs.  

In an ironic case of art predicting life, in her classic 1990s show, “The Nanny,” her Fran Fine character’s boss was a Broadway show producer, Maxwell Sheffield, ably played by British actor Charles Shaughnessy. Now Drescher will have to sit across the bargaining table from the real-life Maxwell Sheffields of the film and television worlds. 

You can read more of Lloyd Carroll’s columns posted weekly on The Queens Chronicle.