Blog: Jon Heyman shills for Scott Boras

http://www.yankeeanalysts.com/2012/02/heyman-by-the-numbers-38590

It's a statistical-driven look into the frequency with which CBS Sports baseball reporter Jon Heyman, formerly of Sports Illustrated, writes about players represented by agent Scott Boras and the frequency with which Heyman links those players to the Yankees. It also includes a critical blog post at NBC Sports' Hardball Talk about Heyman's writings on Boras client Johnny Damon in recent years.

There have long been jokes about ties between reporters and agents. But anonymous sourcing has grown exponentially important since the popularization of the Internet, which means reporters are forced to rely on agents more often. Agents are always looking to keep their clients in the news, and they're more willing to release information -- particularly off the record -- than teams in hopes of driving up their clients' values.

I appreciate the distancing, level-headed approach to the post. But it's a pretty harsh accusation, and I would have hoped for more context on the research. The writer went through the steps to do the research, but failed to provide the full information. That chart only tells so much; we don't even know what the references were about. Without context, it's pretty hard to make the case that he's a shill. But it is something to look out for in the future.

Anyone have any good stories to tell on reporter-agent relationships?

 

Heyman was a Boras shill back when newspapers were still the preferred medium for sportswriters.

Good reporter, but a reminder that to become an insider you almost surely have to align yourself with a source who will bring your objectivity into question.

 

In location unknown, Peter King just scoffed, then continued paddling the leather-hooded 52-year-old son of a former senator, and he doesn't know why.

 

Its a ridiculously small 'sample size' of one year, and there is no context as to which agent's clients were up for contracts, or trade bait.

Having said that, the write still gets his stats wrong. The author says that Jon Heyman wrote about Scott Boras clients at a rate well above double Buster Olney’s. Heyman's "rate" was 39%. Olney's "rate" was 20%. That is not well above double the rate. It isn't even double the rate.