What our FanGraphs partnership means for THT Fantasy readers

If you are reading this, there’s a good chance that you have already read about the big news. That’s right: Hardball Times has joined forces with FanGraphs. But, what does this mean to our THT Fantasy readers; how will this affect you?

In regard to your day to day experience as readers of both THT Fantasy Hardball Times and RotoGraphs, the transition will be all but seamless. In fact, this marriage opens up new avenues of collaboration and exciting ventures that will do nothing but benefit our readers.

This is not like your local bank being acquired by a mega bank. Think of it more like Wrestlemania 1988 when Randy “Macho Man” Savage and Hulk Hogan merged into a tag team (the aptly named Mega Powers) that realized a fantasy that many of their young fans had only dreamed of previously. … Fill in the role of Miss Elizabeth here using your own imagination.

I’m dating myself, aren’t I?

Anyway, the point is that this is nothing but good news for the readers of both sites. Fantasy-wise, we will continue to exist on our independent sites, largely under our own pre-established branding. It is anticipated that all of our existing regular features, such as Waiver Wire, Trader’s Corner, Fluke Watch, and of course Brad Johnson’s Daily Grind will continue to be published here as always. Additional columns from the rest of our staff will continue to run and continue to touch on a variety of topics. FanGraphs will continue to churn out the quality, timely fantasy content they are known for as well under their RotoGraphs blog.

This year, the two sites collaborated to launch the THT vs. FanGraphs Fantasy League sponsored by Fantasy Squared. Expect more collaboration in the future. Both sides will begin actively brainstorming and exploring additional initiatives of a more interactive nature that could provide new services and engagement opportunities for our readers. Stay tuned; I’m sure announcements are to come.

The general vision of the sites-wide partnership stipulates that over time the general skew of the Hardball Times content will focus on more research-based and historical pieces, while FanGraphs will prioritize current events stories and analysis. This same skew may be represented in our respective Fantasy sections as well, but that is most likely an evolution to occur over time and should have little to no impact on either THT Fantasy or RotoGraphs through the conclusion of the 2012 season. Throughout the sites, you may begin to see some cross-posting as well.

Overall, this marriage is a win-win for the staffs and readers of both groups. We, as a consortium of writers, now have twice the depth of knowledge, experience, and horsepower to draw from to generate, form, and execute ideas and initiatives. At the same time you, as readers, can still access our content the same way you are used to and will be the beneficiaries of new and exciting future projects.

So, sit back, relax, and treat tomorrow just as you did today and we’ll take care of the rest. If you have additional questions, concerns, or ideas for joint ventures that you would like to see from the two groups, feel free to drop any of us a line and let your voice be heard. Another thing that will not be changing is the way we value input from our readers.