minorleagueball...john sickels

[Art Vandelay]

is no more.

Vox cut him and the site loose as of yesterday.

I don't know how many of you follow John's prospect rankings but I have, since the mid to late 1990's I believe (I could be wrong, but I have recollections of that time frame). His grading and explanations are fantastic. Not only that, but there is a slew of outstanding writers at minorleagueball too.

John has indicated that Vox is allowing him to take his brand with him, so this suggests he shall open shop up again. He was 7 teams deep in his off-season evaluations so maybe he'll continue soon.

[Ken]

Wow, that's a surprise.

I guess the content was so niche that reader counts were low, but I believe I've read every preview of every team for the last 10 years at least.

I wonder what the operating cost is for Vox for an additional site? It seems like there's not much overhead for them to have additional sites once the infrastructure is in place for the 100s of sites they currently run.

Thanks for the heads up.

[rhd]

This is the 2nd time he's been cut loose. He did just fine after being cut the 1st time so I fully expect him to end up fine this time.

[harmon]

Hopefully there is enough time before spring training for john to be up and running. Invaluable content.

Hope this isn't too stupid of a suggestion. Is there any way John could be associated with this site?

[revo]

Hopefully there is enough time before spring training for john to be up and running. Invaluable content.

Hope this isn't too stupid of a suggestion. Is there any way John could be associated with this site?

Well, I'd assume he was being paid to run his site, and since I work here for free, I'm assuming we won't have the funds to nab him. lol.

[harmon]

Well, I'd assume he was being paid to run his site, and since I work here for free, I'm assuming we won't have the funds to nab him. lol.

Thanks for not coming right out and saying it was a stupid suggestion.

[TS Garp]

Wouldn't be surprised to see him resurface at The Athletic, which I think is completely worth what I pay for it.

[revo]

Thanks for not coming right out and saying it was a stupid suggestion.

It's actually a very good suggestion. Maybe what we can do is reach out to him and say, if you go out on your own, we can become the message board for your new site. Maybe Jason knows him and can ask, otherwise I'd be doing a cold DM on Twitter.

[Sour Masher]

Given his health issues, I was afraid this thread was going to be about his passing. I'm glad it is not health related, and I'm hopeful he lands on his feet somewhere soon. The forums there have been my go to place to read about rising prospects for years. People there talk about hot players even before they make it to BA's hot lists, and now that BA is behind a pay wall, if that site is no more, I don't know where I'd find current, informed conversations about up and coming prospects.

[Art Vandelay]

It's actually a very good suggestion. Maybe what we can do is reach out to him and say, if you go out on your own, we can become the message board for your new site. Maybe Jason knows him and can ask, otherwise I'd be doing a cold DM on Twitter.

This is a fantastic idea.

The daily game results threads are in season MUST read for both content and entertainment

[The Dane]

It's actually a very good suggestion. Maybe what we can do is reach out to him and say, if you go out on your own, we can become the message board for your new site. Maybe Jason knows him and can ask, otherwise I'd be doing a cold DM on Twitter.

Someone can refresh my memory, but I believe it was Jason that stepped up and helped John when he had a health episode at FPF. I'm not intimating that that is enough to bring his brand here, but only that I do believe they know each other.

[harmon]

There is a large regular group of commenters on John's forum that are incredibly knowledgable. Spread across the country many offer up first hand accounts of minor league games and observations of individual players.

Would be a major coup for RJ to get in on this.

[cavebird]

Wow, I have been absent for a while, but had not heard this. I guess I will miss my go-to guy for prospects (for detail, for lists rhd can't be beat) this offseason. That sucks.

[Art Vandelay]

J.Sickels posted his top 100 prospect list over at the athletic. no surprise, franco #1

[harmon]

Have to say his material is just not the same without his former army of daily commenters. His reviews tend to be short and heavily dominated by stats which we can find on our own.