When you traffic in baseball-related trade rumors, you develop a sense of how true a rumor is likely to be. When an isolated reporter floats a rumor about a completed deal, you pay attention. But you don’t assume it’s done until you get the flood of reporters tweeting the same thing, usually citing the original guy as the source. It’s a common progression.
Ryan Dempster Trade Held Up?
On Monday, things started with this tweet:
Confirmed Ryan Dempster is coming to the Braves.Still trying to confirm details but Delgado could be on the other end of the deal
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 23, 2012
And that led to the follow-up confirmations.
Deal indeed done: Dempster to #Braves. No word on financial terms or players involved. @mlbbowman reporting Delgado could be part.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 23, 2012
BREAKING: @Cubs dealing RHP Ryan Dempster to @Braves, confirms @mlbbowman.
— MLB (@MLB) July 23, 2012
That last one was from the official MLB account, so this isn't just some intern sitting on a Blackberry. Except, hold on here. Everyone was pretty satisfied the trade was as good as done, and then ...
Just spoke with great source. No deal has been agreed upon. Talks ongoing. Nothing done yet.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) July 23, 2012
THERE IS NO TRADE dont know where this info came from!
— Dempster Foundation (@RyanDempsterFDN) July 23, 2012
Dempster just walked into #Cubs clubhouse. He's still here
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) July 23, 2012
That Dempster Foundation tweet comes from Dempster's personal account. That probably trumps the MLB account in this weird, 2012 version of rock-paper-scissors.
So forget everything you knew an hour ago. Ryan Dempster is still a Cub. For now.
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