Website: East Windup Chronicle

Interview with: Aaron Shinsano

Is their more then one founder? If so, who are they?

Aaron Shinsano
Jackson Broder

What is your background and qualifications?

I worked at a daily newspaper in Oakland, CA for five years. Jackson works part time as a scout for the Twins. We both live in Asia, me in Korea, he in Taiwan. We both came here on masters programs and ended up teaching English. We both teach at colleges. I only do 12 hours teaching a week, so I have plenty of time to write. For better or for worse.

What is your website about?

Firstly we cover baseball as it relates to Asia, secondly we cover anything else related to Asia. Thirdly we cover anything as it relates to anything.

How do you generate revenue? If through ads, what ad network do you use?

We’ve gotten a few freelance writing jobs via the site, and just recently I started what will be a regular shift at MLB Traderumors (which is how I first read Sports Tech Now) that pays a little. Jackson just got hired to write sports for the Taipei Times.

We use Google AdSense which generates about ten big ones a month and we recently got our first non-ad network ad through Vividseats.com.

At first I was pretty pro-active about sending stuff out and trying to get linked to. MLB Trade Rumors supported us early on and it brought a huge influx of people to our site. Aaron Gleeman also wrote us up. But now, I’m at ease about the whole thing. Actually a big turning point was reading something Matt from Metsblog said on this site — that good writing will find an audience. It seems obvious, but it’s very true. Once I got that into my head I stopped worrying about stats and comments and just put the writing out there…hoping it would land somewhere. We’ve grown more since then.

What type(s) of blog platform do you use?

Wordpress

It’s a little corny to say, but I love the blog medium and am glad to be a part of it. I say this with some regret, but I think newspaper journalism is a sinking ship. Most of the people I worked with have had their contracts bought out or have been laid off, some more than once. I think for the immediate future we’ll see a continuation of what’s happening now — newspapers will be bought up and owned by fewer and fewer people, and the quality will continue to decline. Newspapers will be read for nostalgic purposes only, and most writers will become independent publishers. The word blog might go by the wasteside, but it’ll essentially be the same thing.

Website: Will Carroll Archives on Baseball Prospectus

Interview With: Will Carroll

When did you start writing?

2002.

When did you start writing for Baseball Prospectus?

Started at BP in 2003.

Have you thought about starting your own injury site separate of Baseball Prospectus?

No.

How have you been so successful gaining contacts in baseball?

I have a unique niche. I get to tell the story of the Athletic Trainers and doctors, people that work hard, have a huge impact on the game, but don’t get noticed. A high ranking executive at ESPN told me he didn’t think anyone cared about injuries aside from “play/won’t play” but I think people are just like teams. They want more, better, quicker information to make their own decisions.

Have you ever thought about going back to school and getting yourself a doctorate to shut up all the people that say you are not a real doctor when in reality you probably know these injuries better then 99% of the doctors out there?

Ha, no. I’m just a reporter. When I want a medical opinion, I’ll call one of the top docs in the world and see what they think.

How many different mainstream press outlets have you written for?

Wow, not sure. ESPN, SI, Fox, New York Times, Slate, and a ton of web sites.

Give us one player in baseball that is injured right now that will out perform his projections:

Jason Giambi

Give us one player in baseball that is injured right now that will under perform his projections:

BJ Ryan

What advice do you have for aspiring writers and bloggers out there?

Write a lot and find your own unique niche. And don’t write about injuries.

STN’s Take:

You have to like Will. He is a straight shooter and gets right to the point. For those of you that are really into fantasy baseball or like to know what is going on with every player on your team’s injury status, Will is a must read. His injury information is second to none. We have been reading him for 3 years and have used his info to make trades knowing that a player may be more or less injured then people think. His info is also good at the beginning of the season. He gives everyone a red light, yellow light, or green light. We use this information during our fantasy baseball draft to make a choice if two players are pretty close and we aren’t sure which one to pick.

Will’s information is so good we are surprised he is still writing for Baseball Prospectus full time and not a major media outlet…