Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal broke on Twitter last Sunday night that the Red Sox were signing LF Hanley Ramirez, and his "near-midnight scoop was not the only reminder" of how the social media platform "has changed the process of covering professional sports, particularly baseball," according to Chad Finn of the BOSTON GLOBE. But it was "literally the latest reminder that proper coverage now requires close to around-the-clock monitoring." The days of "waiting until the next morning’s newspaper to get the scoop is as much a quaint baseball relic as a complete game from a starting pitcher." Technology has "allowed fans’ desire for real-time information to approach the insatiable."Asked how often he checks his phone for texts and Twitter updates, Rosenthal said, "Every waking minute. That part of it is really disturbing, actually." Finn noted when CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reported Monday that the Red Sox were also on the verge of signing 3B Pablo Sandoval, there was a "sense that the report preceded his opportunity to tell his former team he was leaving." ESPN's Buster Olney said of Twitter, "It's a great tool for getting information and a great tool for dispensing information. ... But let's face it, accuracy is a natural casualty when you're dealing with a 140-character reporting. I do think there are a lot more mistakes made because it's fire first, ask questions later." Rosenthal: "There's a level of inaccuracy there that is different than what those of us of a certain age grew up with. And that's bothersome to me. But fans don't even care." Finn noted a handful of MLB reporters were asked if they "could do their job without Twitter, and invariably they cite one who actually does." The N.Y. Times' Tyler Kepner speculated it "would be possible," because SI's Tom Verducci "doesn't have it and he's better than any of us" (BOSTON.com, 11/25).
