Fire Brand is undergoing a couple of changes, much like the Red Sox. Unlike the club, however, there’s no “bridge” year — we’re bringing you only the best.
Troy Patterson and Lee Perrault of Yawkey Way Academy are joining Fire Brand to help us continue bringing strong opinion and analysis of the Sox to the masses. We’re tremendously excited to have Troy and Lee aboard, and hope you are too. With the addition of Troy and Lee, we hope to boost our pitch F/X coverage which will allow us to analyze pitchers (and to an extent, hitters) more effectively.
Unfortunately, the addition comes with a spot of bad news. Mike Silver will be stepping down as a frequent writer, as he has accepted an internship with the Colorado Spring Sky Sox. It’s a fantastic career move for Mike and we wish him the best of luck. Given his new job demands, he will be moving from three articles a week to one. You’ll see him a couple of times a week for the next month until he begins his internship. Following that, however, Troy and I will be your guides to the madness that is Red Sox baseball throughout the week while Mike and Lee help you stave off weekend boredom and give you a reason to avoid cleaning the house or watching Twilight.
Of course, Tim Daloisio will still be the podcast guru and will burn the airwaves up weekly during the offseason. When the season turns, Fireside Chats will add a second episode each week, so you’ll double your listening pleasure.
Also, for the first time since May 2007, Fire Brand will not be offering game recaps. Not only can you find a much better-crafted game recap from the tremendous beat reporters at the Boston Globe, Herald, your local Boston newspaper or even ESPN Boston, but it will help cut down on content in one day at Fire Brand. Four articles a day was the norm last season, with five a fairly regular occurrence.
We grew concerned about the signal to noise ratio as well as ensuring that the key article (and any important breaking news covered as a Quick Post) maintained enough visibility. Game recaps seemed like the logical thing to go after soliciting feedback and hearing the stray critique in the comments, which do not go unnoticed. (By the way, if you ever have something to suggest about Fire Brand, I am always an e-mail away, or you can drop it in the comments and we’ll find it.)