Former MLB GM vs. MLB Analyst: ONLY ONE WILL SURVIVE

I can't and won't bother to authenticate the below screenshot that intrepid Redditor heckleberryfinn claims to have found on his computer. I don't particularly care if it's real, nor should you. Because:

It doesn't matter if it's real because those are two things both would actually say! Let me give you a secret: one of those guys breaks news and one of them doesn't. And I totally respect and look up to both, even if I think both are really, really wrong, very, very often.

The thing is with breaking baseball news, there's two ways to do it as far as I can tell:

1. You know clubhouse/front office personnel.
   
2. You know agents and/or players.

In both cases, one way to keep that information flowing from your insiders is to pander to them. And I'm totally ok with that. It's just a healthy thing to recognize when you're reading analyses from newsbreakers and insiders.

The other thing that I'm mostly discounting here is that Bowden actually believes what he's saying and not just amplifying what Bell's agent said or whatever some Miami official told him. 'Leadership' is one of those things my saberfriends have a hard time quantifying, and rightfully so. But that's not the only reason you should be wary when you read a headline like that.

I know this is all very meta but it's something we see a lot when we're running the rumor mill here at MLB Daily Dish, and one thing I want for you guys as readers is to be continually savvy and to know what you're looking at when you see it.

#crackerjacks