Outside The Confines: The Athletic has new ownership

In the desert of baseball news we’ve experienced the past several weeks, this week we got something very big: The New York Times has purchased online sports journalism website The Athletic. Anyone who reads our links post is familiar with The Athletic, as we feature their content regularly. The site has been looking to sell for some time, but there were no confirmed buyers for a long time, and then today came the announcement of the Times purchase.

While The Athletic currently has over a million subscribers, they did post a considerable loss financially in 2020, which was what motivated them to look for outside investment to keep the platform running with more money behind it.

While it remains to be seen what this means for subscribers of The Athletic (or subscribers of both platforms), the $550 million sale is certainly something to keep an eye on over the coming months.

Here’s some more information about the NYT/Athletic purchase:

• Lauren Hirsch, Kevin Draper and Katherine Rosman write about the sale for the Times directly.
• Alex Weprin looks at the purchase for Hollywood Reporter.
• Matt Bonesteel (who, unrelated, has the coolest reporter name I’ve ever seen) writes about the deal for The Washington Post.
• Peter Kafka asks the big question: Why is the Times buying The Athletic?

Writers for The Athletic seem to be enjoying the opportunity to make jokes, though.

And here’s the rest of today’s links!

• Ben Clemens looks at some of the worst missed strike calls of the past season.
• Will Laws makes a case for Andruw Jones’s place in the Hall of Fame.
• Will Sammon brings us a reflection from Brewers pitcher Devin Williams about that infamous wall punch. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Jim Callis and Sam Dykstra try to look into their crystal ball to assess prospect predictions for this coming season.
• Phil Nevin, Bill Haselman and Benji Gil will join the Angels coaching staff, shares Alden Gonzalez.
• Luke Hooper takes a look at the Twins gamble on Jharel Cotton.
• Former Mets exec Zack Scott has been found not guilty of his DWI charges. Story by Michael Shapiro.
• Cody Stavenhagen reflects on the incredible impact of the recently passed Tigers’ coach Kimera Bartee. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Anthony Castrovince looks at the career of Pete Reiser and a Hall of Fame career cut short.
• Buster Olney believes the lack of surprise in who gets Hall of Fame votes is detrimental to the process.
• Ben Clemens determines that the AL reined supreme when it came to interleague play in 2021.
• Jim Bowden tries to find landing spots for the 25 top free agents remaining, when we’re finally able to see free agent signings again. (The Athletic subscription required)
• Coin collectors, and those who just love cool things, go get these.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.