Well this is it. Finally started the blog. I guess I'll start with a little it about myself. My name is Paul Kemper, and I was born and raised in Minnesota. I am currently a college engineering student and I've been working hard towards my degree. Throughout my life I have had a real passion for baseball. Growing up in Minnesota, naturally I'm a huge Twins fan, but no matter who's playing I just love baseball. As for what type of baseball fan I am, my interests seem to gravitate more towards player movement and development as opposed to the actually in game management and statistical analysis. As far as a writer, I often just write what comes to my mind and I am often very opinionated. I enjoy doing research also and am definitely willing to dig for info or new ideas. I will be posting as often as I can/believe is necessary, which means often throughout the winter as moves get made. I am very open to suggestions and ideas so feel free to contact me. That's it for now but look for more soon.
I'm a Mets fan, and I got my favorite watering holes so I'm probably not going to be one of your bigger contributers/commenters, but you never know, funnier things have happened.
Suggestions. Try to cater to the local Twins market, as well as MLB news in general. I think the greatest chance to make a big name for yourself is MLB news in general. So, you need to do a lot of networking. FInding commenters can be impossible. I blog at the NYDN and the main Mets blog there, Surfing the Mets, gets on average 1 comment per article, and thats the NYDN. Another Mets blog on the NYDN, The Bitter Bill, has a relatively small community of blogggers, but we get around 200 comments per article. That tells me that if you can recruit 5-to-10 local die hard fans, you can get a massive amount of comments. And, from there, you never know. Interacting with your commenters is a MUST. Also, ask your commenters what type of article they want you to write, what topic, and oblige. That makes commenters feel very good, and a part of the project. If and when you do get a nice community of bloggers, use their names in the articles, this is HUGE as well. Ask questions in your posts. Pictures are great, utilize them. IMO, you really do not have to worry about copyright, I ran a blog and took whatever I wanted, without any trouble at all. I guess you are breaking some rules, but IMO, no biggie whatsoever. That is totally up to you though. Utilize the heck out of Twitter. That's an easy way to communicate with the big boys, and in you comments you can say, I asked Jon Heyman(for example) what if he thinks playerX would be a good fit for teamX and he said.......
Make predictions, when you feel really confident about something. Utilize Twitter for this and tweet the big boys with your predictions. Make predictions on your blog when your confident or semi confident. About players years/stats, transactions, records, WS. Go with your gut/info/stats/reports/inside info for these predictions.
Go absolutely nuts when you want a player for your team. Clammor away like a maniac. Consider if you want to be a homer or not, then stick to your guns. Be a wicked homer, or the total opposite.
Submit as many articles as you can for Baseball blogs weigh in. I had a couple posted and only attempted like 5 or 6. BTW, they had copywrited pictures. Make sure your articles are fantastic before you submit. A little humor, a couple of on point cliches, lots of passion(very important in all aspects of your blog to be very passionate)
If you get a following and you have memorobilia you could easily part with, then offer them as a prize in some sort of contest. Got to have a following for this, or you will be giving things away for nothing.
Most important of all, recruit some friends, internet buddies, and cater to there wants, while sticking to your style. Keep it clean at all times. No swear words period. If somebody swears in your comments section, then email them and nicely ask them to keep it clean. If I want to hear a truckers mouth, I'll go to a truckstop.
There's a few suggestions. I'm sure I'll come up with more and will be back to post. I'm following you on twitter, so keep me posted.
If you got any questions Email me, and I'll be happy to communicate with you.
Your Twinkies SP is still awful, IMO, Hughes will be fine in that ballpark given run support, and Nolasco should be okay, maybe a kid steps up, but my god, you need Pelfrey to walk, he IMO is awful, just awful, his FIP was okay, but I hate FIP with a passion. ERA/K/BB/W/IP that's gospel to me. FIP, uh, i hate.
Stop in to the Bitter Bill(NY Daily News blog section) sometime, you willl not be able to recruit there, so don't try as it will come across bad, but stop by and chat if you have a trade offer Mets/Twins or Mets/other team. We all blead Orange and Blue, so keep it all Mets, and keep your Twins alliance on the shelf, you can mention it but keep it Mets orientated. That said, you can recruit from other blogs, pick and choose your spots and plug your site in. Remember it is very hard to get commenters so don't get upset, just keep hammering away and keep it fresh. Practice makes perfect my friend, good luck
mega
Binghampton NY.
Home of the first place B-Mets.