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There is a part of all of us that, having found something that we like, would like to be able to rely on it to stay the same. Please, don’t reformulate Coke, don’t hire a new chef at the local Italian joint or change the oil in which the fries are cooked, don’t change your makeup or my hairline, I love you just the way you are. Oh, and Whitey Herzog should still be managing the Cardinals. Really, life was better that way.

Before proceeding with this line of thought, I would like to introduce the newest member of our staff, Derek Carty. Mr. Carty, whom I already think of as “Rico” in the way that I think of Ben Lindbergh as “The Colonel” and Bob Denver as “Gilligan,” is our new Fantasy editor and will be contributing his own fantasy columns as well. Here is the official bio:

Derek Carty is a fantasy baseball writer and analyst living in New Jersey. Before joining BP, his work had been published by The Hardball Times, Sports Illustrated, NBC's Rotoworld, FOX Sports, and USA Today, among others. In 2009, he became the youngest champion in the history of LABR—the longest-running expert league in existence—taking home his first title as a rookie. Derek is a proud graduate of the MLB Scouting Bureau's Scout Development Program (aka Scout School) and is one of just two active fantasy writers to have graduated from the program.

I hope you will all join me in welcoming Derek and will check out his first piece, which appears elsewhere on the site today. Even for those not into fantasizing, and I number among you, you will find that his work has some interest, as his sabermetrically-oriented approach defies the boundaries of mere gaming.

And so it goes. When reading the comments on Marc Normandin’s final Fantasy Focus piece last week, there were several of the comments that we always get when someone leaves:

  • Wow, there continues to be lots of turnover here at BP…
  • While I understand that some turnover is a necessary thing (and perhaps even a good thing) at BP, I am becoming alarmed at the number of fine contributors here who have left in 2011. What's going on, BP?
  • I have to say, even though I've enjoyed a lot of the new writers, it is a little bit worrisome that almost all the long-time BP-ers are leaving.

Now that I am editor-in-chief of the big Beta-Pi, I had planned to say a few dramatic words about the nature of the comings and goings that have attended our operations over the 15 years we’ve been here writing about baseball. Yet, now that I am here with the keyboard under my fingers, I find that most of what I had planned to say is unnecessary. You all have almost certainly experienced the same kinds of changes that we have, and for the same reasons, at your own places of work.  

BP has changed greatly over the years. Of our departures, some left for their own reasons, and there was not a thing we could have done to keep them no matter how hard we tried. There were others where it seemed clear that it was time for a parting, so when they spoke of leaving we acquiesced. The reasons for our feeling that way might not have been obvious to you, but it was inescapably clear on our side of the curtain. In both cases, our hands are often tied—you really have to want to work here at BP; it requires certain sacrifices, and that can be tiring. Sometimes a guy just wants to move on. Sometimes he gets a job offer from the Milwaukee Brewers.  

Over the years, there have also been occasional contributors who failed to reward our initial confidence in them. You don’t have to be able to spell “Mientkiewicz,” quote Casey Stengel, or even keep a reliable schedule to write for Baseball Prospectus, but you had damned well always be interesting. These are extremely rare cases.

In all of these things, we are much like any publication or business, except for one significant factor: you also get a vote. Every time you click the link above an author’s name, you, the reader/subscriber, are casting a vote in favor of that writer. If you are consistently avoiding his entries, you are sending us a clear message. Every writer is someone’s favorite, but if there aren’t enough someones to form a reading populating around that writer, that puts us in a difficult position. Sometimes we are forced to conclude that we should take those same resources and show you something new.

That brings me to my good friend Marc Normandin. I am especially sentimental about Marc, because I have known him since he was a mere teenager. On one of my first trips to Boston for BP, Christina and I took him out for a soda pop—he wasn’t yet old enough to drink. Now, when he tweets about what beer he’s having, I feel odd about it, because I’ll never forget that under-aged kid. In between, I got to watch Marc grow into being a writer, into being an adult capable of dreaming grand dreams and managing others, and I still believe he has more growth in front of him, more achievements that he hasn’t yet imagined himself capable of. And I believe these things even though he seemingly spends 3,000 hours a week thinking about video games and he never takes my advice on old movies.

I described four kinds of partings from BP above: (1) writers we could not keep, (2) writers we would not keep, (3) writers who failed to meet basic standards, and (4) writers who, for whatever reason, failed to establish an audience. Marc’s departure is firmly in the first category and none other. We part as friends, the door remains open, and I hope that he will always feel, as I do about so many of those who have been here and gone on to other things, that once a BPer, always a BPer. We shall all be reunited in the next world, at that great baseball roundtable in the sky.

That brings us full circle. I wish that Herzog were still with the Cards, although I recognize that at 79 he probably doesn’t have the stamina he did at 55. I wish Alan Moore were still writing Swamp Thing, but if he were, we would have been deprived of a lot of other cool things that he has created since, like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Lost Girls. (I’m even glad that they reformulated Coke, because Coke isn’t good for you anyway, and better not to like it as much.) There are few publications that have had an unbroken 15-year run with the same creators. Creators and publications must keep changing or they ossify, and BP and BPers are no exception.

As such, while I will always cherish the fine writers we’ve had here at BP in the past, I am even more excited about the writers we’re bringing you in the present and will continue to add in the future—writers like Derek Carty (no pressure, Derek!). Try as we might, we cannot promise you that we will always have the same staff, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That ship had sailed long before I joined up. What we can promise you is the same dedication to high-level baseball analysis that we have always had, and that while we might not always stay the same, we will always get better.

Thank you for reading

This is a free article. If you enjoyed it, consider subscribing to Baseball Prospectus. Subscriptions support ongoing public baseball research and analysis in an increasingly proprietary environment.

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lemppi
5/30
Did "Baghdad Bob" write your view of the talent drain going on?
mattymatty2000
5/30
It's kinda sad that this is the first comment on such a nice piece as this.
lemppi
5/30
It's also sad that you need to suck up to the writers here all the time. Amusing actually.
mattymatty2000
5/31
I should write something mean back for that last comment, but one of the things I like about BP is that people are respectful of each other. Yourself excepted, of course.
lemppi
5/31
Love the pack mentality of the rating system by the fanboys here. Amusing.
crperry13
5/31
Disagreeing with rudeness isn't the hallmark of a fanboy. It's an indicator of a decent human being.
lemppi
5/31
You're missing the "a" in your name.
crperry13
5/31
Well played, schoolboy.
jtwalsh
5/30
Can we play "Match the Departed Author with Appropriate Category" game?

W. Carroll = 2
J. Sheehan = 1.5
N. Silver = 1
C. Kahl = 1
M. Normandin = 1
R. Jazayerli= 2
E. Span = 3

Entry with the most correct answers should get BP bobblehead doll with interchangeable heads.
dianagramr
5/30
Unless that's your own personal opinion of Ms. Span, I think you are in error. Her most recent column was 5/26.
GraigNettles
5/31
"E. Span = 3"

Oh wish that it were...

crperry13
5/31
Weak.
Scott44
5/30
Marc - Good luck on your new adventures!

SG - For all the naysayers, BP continues to produce fantastic content. Keep up the great work.
rawagman
5/30
So Marc Normandin got a job with the Brewers?
yankeehater32
5/30
I couldn't say no to the offers of beer and sausage.

(Also, no. I didn't.)
NYYanks826
5/30
That's too bad, Marc. If you did get a job with the Brewers, I was gonna suggest you try one of Miller Park's pulled pork parfaits. They are an experience.
yankeehater32
5/30
I'll have to do that if I end up in Miller Park sometime. Can't argue with pulled pork.
moonlightj
5/30
The quality of beer in Milwaukee is not up to Normandin's standards
Behemoth
5/30
The persistent assumption that new people can't be as good, or even better than their predecessors is getting a little dull.
mhmosher
5/30
Good lord, BP. You guys are a freaking revolving door!
joechris96
5/30
First, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Second, because we continue to produce quality work, the demand for our staff continues to rise. As I said in the comments last week, we're a small business and can't compete financially with many larger entities. Unless of course you know of an investor who would like to make a significant contribution...
mhmosher
5/30
Well, Joe, how many writers have left in the past 12 months? That's all I'm saying.
mrdannyg
5/30
"What you're saying" was just discussed in 12 paragraphs in the article you're quoting.
rawagman
5/30
Would you prefer that subscription costs went up?
crperry13
5/31
Don't know about that, but what I do know is that in the 24+ months I've been a subscriber, amazin_mess has had nothing positive to say. About anybody.
mattymatty2000
5/31
I've noticed that too.
mhmosher
5/31
Here's a tissue, guys. Sorry I hurt your internet feelings.
mhmosher
5/31
All you have to do is scroll down to see a positive statement. In the first post, I was only expressing a degree of frustration in losing another good writer. That's it- I realize the sky is not falling. Been a subscriber since 02.
Timcarvin
5/30
Are people really getting upset about writers for BP getting career opportunities? Really?
eliyahu
5/30
Please, BP, don't let the tail wag the dog. Everything that Goldman just wrote is patently obvious to a mature adult. The tired refrains of a "revolving door" are more a reflection of those particular commenters than the readership at large. Put it this way: paid subscribers of a site that has efficient use of resources in MLB and has introduced the general readership to the concept of marginal cost/marginal win understands that you are running a business.

All the "boo hoo we want Joe" types are getting far more attention than they warrant. And if you subscribe to the axiom that management attention is finite, I'd rather the BP powers that be focus more on the product and less on giving oil to the squeaky wheels.

Keep up the great work. (Particularly on the fantasy stuff, which is what many, many people justify their subscriptions with.)
PBSteve
5/30
I appreciate this comment, and the next one as well, but I don't mind saying these things, and wanted to say them for a long time, because the tenor of the comments is generally the same, and it's a helpless feeling to not be able to address them more directly. The reasons why people stay or go are generally pretty commonplace, but we have to respect everyone's privacy, so we don't say much. Yet, BP readership has always had a family feeling, and so I don't mind trying to address these things as best I am able. I'm very happy that so many care so deeply. Without that, we couldn't exist. That caring demands an explanation, even if that explanation would seem obvious to some.
kddean
5/31
To be honest Steven, I don't understand how you have "a helpless feeling to not be able to address" departures/comments/whatever.
You are the editor of this website, you can comment anytime you want, whether it's an article or in comments. Who's stopping you? Yourself?

PBSteve
5/31
Frustrated that we can't always address things in more detail. There are always assumptions made about reasons for things, but inasmuch as we'd like to disclose specifics at times, we have to have a respect for privacy as well.
crperry13
5/31
Easy to say, hard to do, but brush it off. The only statistical certainty in life is that there will always be grumpy complainy people around.
devine
5/30
I'm no longer that interested in Fantasy-related content, so I'd missed Marc's final column. So... thanks, Marc, for funny, fabulous writing and excellent chats. Good luck with what's next!

And I'm with eliyahu on everything else. Turnover happens. It's okay. We can miss the old, embrace the new, and keep reading as long as we like.
nicholj
5/30
I enjoyed Marc's work and wish him the best in his new endeavour but as an avid reader of fantasy content, IMHO Derek is the best in the business. So, this time the turnover is an upgrade. I am looking forward to seeing BP's fantasy content going forward.
fawcettb
5/30
1.) Most of the turnover is acceptable simply because it's inevitable. But I wish there was more candidness about it. I don't come here to read between the lines, and that's happened too much lately. If there's a legal reason clear reasons can't be provided, say so.
2.) More scoresheet related fantasy materials would be appreciated.
3.) The slow fade of Kevin Goldstein is a huge problem. Where was the Monday Morning column, for instance.
4.) I most miss Christina's wit, although Emma Span makes it easier to live with.
5.) Please fix PECOTA, or I'll find it hard to renew next spring.
kgoldstein
5/30
I'm not fading, but I have been dealing with some things that have nothing to do with my job. I wanted to take care of those things as much as possible before the draft stuff began. It's one week, and things happen. I'm not fading. I'd burn out anything, because that's what Neil Young told me to do.
mhmosher
5/31
You're not fading Kevin. I haven't noticed anything wrong with your columns at all.
dianagramr
5/30
Geez .... KG misses one Monday Morning column, and you classify this as a slow fade? You DO know he's the hardest working man in (getting to the) show business?

(shaking my head)
crperry13
5/31
You must not listen to the podcast. Kevin's on top of his game.
mmcma007
5/30
After the explanation there is only one more step. A BP Reality Show!! Put it in Miami and provide tons of booze. Your Welcome!
pjbenedict
5/31
I might be unusual, but I very much like metacontent. I like hearing how people work, how the team relates, why people are hired, and why they leave. I appreciate this article, and would enjoy seeing one like it (perhaps a blog post?) when people leave.

I've been a member here for quite awhile; I feel some sense of cameraderie with the team here. It's good to hear more when people depart.
FrankL
5/31
Good luck, Marc. I enjoyed your column, and wish you similar success (and acclaim) in your next role.

Thanks for setting a high bar at BP. Derek (Rico) Carty's first column met that the high standard you set. Marc, you'll be missed but not forgotten as the BP Evil Empire (sarcasm off) replaces a star with a future star. Now, who was that guy who closed for the Yanks before Mo?
adecker31
5/31
I'm a huge Marc Normandin fan, as a writer he's insightful and not only that, he notices subtleties which I admit go beyond my ken as a fan watching the game. I've really been impressed, and his chats are second to none. So I'll definitely miss him.

Having said that, I feel BP was in a bit of a funk a few years ago but that the writing and the thoughts going into the writing have really awakened over the last year/year and a half: the injury columns are really really impressive and I love the new statistical layouts on the pecota pages. I'm looking forward to the new writing, and like with Mr. Sheehan before him, I hope I can continue to follow Mr. Normandin's thoughts on the game wherever he ends up. The whole point of BP at one time was that it was new and it offered ideas we hadn't been able to find easily since Bill James stopped writing his annual. What made it better than Bill James to me was that it was a group of people with different opinions and different ways to getting to their opinions, not just one voice. As long as that doesn't change, and the voices continue to offer new and surprising ideas, as well as solid commentary on all aspects of the game and the state of the game, I'm all in.
mattymatty2000
5/31
Well said.
jhardman
5/31
As a long time reader, I particularly appreciated this column. An article needed to be written by the editor to address the big elephant in the room - the turnover of writers. It is good to know as a subscriber exactly what it is you are subscribing to, as the nature of the sportswriting biz gets turned on its head as years go by. I trained to be a sportswriter and was one for a time, and the business is dramatically different than it was in the late 1980's. So for my money, I like knowing what the decision makers are thinking as the product matures. Since I am old enough to have been reading those rec.sport.baseball posts that eventually morphed into this site/publication, I very much appreciate this column, Mr. Goldman. Thank you.
dianagramr
5/31
I'm just waiting for the IPO.

(I know ... dream on)
crperry13
5/31
Steven, thanks for this article. Even though everything you said is completely logical and as somebody pointed out, should be obvious to a mature adult, it's nice to see in print. Subscribers are kind of like investors, and we like to see some behind-the-scenes sometimes to have confidence in throwing our money at you.

There's a lot of negativity here that I can't figure out, because I think all of the new writers in the past year have been stellar.
Michael
5/31
While I am concerned about the turnover at BP (did Eric Seidman get a send off?), I am much more impressed by the additions during the last year. I'm thinking of Mike Fast, Jeremy Greenhouse and a few others as well as Larry Granillo's lighter content.

I've got other complaints, but you have heard them before.
SaberTJ
5/31
Agreed. I love Jason Parks' articles as well.
jparks77
5/31
Thanks. I appreciate that. This site has a reputation for talent, and the bar is set very high. It's not easy to join the ranks of the current crop of writers, much less to live in the shadows cast by the names of the past. My only goal is to make sure my contributions add to the prestige, rather than diminish the reputation of the site -- one meth comment at a time.
jtwalsh
5/31
CRP13,

Your perspective of this is of a recent subscriber. You don't understand the frustration because you had not experienced BP at its Zenith. Not too far in the past, you could read Nate Silver, Joe Sheehan, Will Carroll, Christina Kahl, and Kevin Goldstein the same week. That my friend, was quality, and of that group only Kevin is still here. I do not comment often, but I own the annuals back to 1999 and was a reader of the website before that. I understand turnover, and there was turnover from the earlier days (Rany, Huckaby, ect.), but the focus was on the quality of the work, whereas now it seems to be on the quantity of the work. I read the new authors and have come to appreciate Jaffe and Normandin (hasta Normandin), and Perrotto has grown on me.

I don't cheer for the name on the front of the jersey, as much as I cheer for the name on the back. I feel the same way here. I follow the authors that I find interesting, not just the name on the masthead.
crperry13
5/31
I understand, and I have been around long enough to read all of those you named (except Nate, alas). I count Christina and Will among the best baseball reads I've encountered, but MY point is their departure does not lessen the quality of the individual "new" writers. Same as you, some of the new writers have really grown on me. Some others, I don't read so much. But the clamor by many indicating the end of the world because some writers are moving on to bigger opportunities is tiresome.

Again, to summarize: It sucks that they left, but that does not lead to the conclusion that the replacements are no good. It's the old square/rectangle logic.

As to your own comment above, my ONLY beef was the "Span = 3" part. I was one of the fiercest objectioneers to her inaugural article about baseball fanfic, but I've found her subsequent articles to be entertaining at the least. I just thought your allusion that she wasn't good enough to hack it was tasteless and lowbrow.
crperry13
5/31
Oh, and for the "Zenith", older folks would call the Casey Stengel Yankees of the 50's the "Zenith" of the New York Yankees. Older folks and historians might say the "Zenith" would be the late-20's Babe Ruth Yankees. Baby Boomers may even say it's the 1977-78 Yankees, while Gen-X'ers will insist the Torre Yankees were the most successful group, and therefore the "Zenith".

It's not that you're wrong, it's just that it's a matter of perspective. I didn't have the privilege of reading Silver, Huckaby, et al, but I did get to read some of the other BP-Alum greats. The fact that there was great work done here in the past does not mean that BP has peaked, or that they're incapable of reaching such heights again, because to do so would be to unfairly discount the great work being done right now on PECOTA, the until recently ignored Fantasy crowd, injury databases, and the creative outlets offered by Granillo and Funck.
mhmosher
5/31
Thank you
jtwalsh
5/31
CRP13

When I posted the original, I was not aware that Span was still writing here. She fell off my radar. Perhaps #4 would have been a better choice.

Please remember that these are Goldman's definitions, and if they are tasteless and lowbrow please take it up with the author. I am attempting to make light of it by creating a game of it.
crperry13
5/31
Honest mistake about Span, no harm, no foul. I hope you understand the points I was making anyway.
Oleoay
6/06
I appreciate this column and I also appreciate the tons of additional quality content that have been added to BP since I started. The flavor has changed, and I am quite a bit nostalgic for quite a few of the older authors, but I don't recoil in shock like I do from seeing the staff changes at other changes.

That being said, in another thread, there was a listing of the current staff and a mention of who had left and even that seemed a bit incomplete... it would be nice to have some staff bios so it was easier to see who is around.
markpadden
6/07
I would agree. An "About Us" page with all current writers, their titles, bios and dates of hire would seem quite useful.

My impression is that BP is currently operating a merry-go-round. Every week, there is a brand new name or three on the front page. I'm all for discovering new talent, but at this point the site feels much more like an anthology of independent blog posts than a coherent brand.

It's interesting that page views are a criteria for rentention. I am all for this, but would hope that the concept would be taken a step further and a reader rating systems would be implemented. Something where readers could rate each article 1-5 stars. I feel like BP is never shy to judge others, and so should be very open to accepting transparent feedback from its customers.