Many of you have noticed that our long-running Offseason Outlook series is now a part of our paid Trade Rumors Front Office service.
I understand this change has been jarring for some, and I apologize for not providing a heads up. It is a permanent change, and next spring’s Offseason in Review series will be exclusive to Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers as well.
Our traffic declined in 2023 for the first time in MLBTR’s history, and ad rates have been falling for roughly seven years. I decided to create Trade Rumors Front Office in 2020 to close the gap on ad revenue that is no longer there.
Requiring a subscription to read the Offseason Outlook series was not a decision I made lightly. These posts take roughly three hours each to write, and the majority of them receive modest traffic. The ad revenue on the series was not close to covering the time required to produce it. I take great pride in our work on the Offseason Outlook series, and I think it’s worth paying for.
We have a couple of other time-consuming major original offseason features that also don’t pay for themselves, in our arbitration projections and our Top 50 Free Agents list. I have no current plans to put those behind the paywall.
I think we add a lot of value to news posts as well, particularly on write-ups of major signings and trades. News posts, which make up the vast majority of MLBTR, remain free. A portion of our more time-consuming opinion-based analysis has been exclusive to subscribers for over four years now. Other original work, such as our recent free agent preview by position, remains free to all.
It can be difficult to find a balance and make the math work. If you’re here strictly for the news, that’s still free. If you find value in our analysis and tools and have the means, then I hope you’ll consider a Trade Rumors Front Office subscription.
I have not raised the price on Trade Rumors Front Office in four-plus years, even as we’ve continually added benefits. It remains $29.89 per year. Benefits include:
- Ad-free browsing experience
- Exclusive weekly articles from Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco
- Offseason Outlook and Offseason in Review series covering all 30 teams
- Exclusive weekly live chat with Anthony
- GM-caliber tools such as our MLB Contract Tracker and Agency Database
- 100% money-back guarantee
MLBTR is approaching its 19th anniversary in November. It’s a privilege to do this for a living, and we value everyone who chooses to visit the site. I intend to continue running MLBTR as an independent small business for as long as possible. Enjoy the playoffs; we’re hard at work preparing for another exciting offseason!
pohle
understandable, thank you all for the free and fast news for so many years
herecomethephillies2018
As an avid fan of the site for over a decade who has yet to subscribe to Front Office but always intended to, this is the push I needed to sign up. Well done recognizing what you bring to the table that your competitors do not, and I have no problem paying for that.
rxbrgr
Great services for a great value
johnsilver
Great job all these years Tim. Dunno how many other old timers are still posting, tho can think of a small handful of usernames not seen for a very long time which used to see regularly here..
What would happen if the GREATEST baseball site on the net disappeared? To awful to contemplate.
DanM-9727
You may want to offer an introductory rate to Trade Rumors Front Office similar to other major sports publications like The Athletic. This way you give fans the opportunity to see the value in Front Office before committing to the $29.89 subscription price.
Joe says...
If you’re struggling to spend $30.00 for an entire year’s worth of content, no introductory rate is going change your mind.
Tim Dierkes
On my end it’s a lot simpler to consider the $2.99 monthly option to be an introductory rate. Someone could do that for a month or two and see if they want to go annual. You can turn off auto-renew.
I haven’t discounted to date because I feel like it’s a bit unfair to those who paid full price already.
The Ranger Fan
Tim
As a paid subscriber I greatly appreciate all the hard work and the exclusivity in getting informative articles, especially when they come out before a lot of the other platforms come out with breaking news. Thanks again.
Sid Bream Speed Demon
It’s already less than $3 a month dude. Just pay it or don’t.
wvredsfan
for basically $29 you get a lot of information and access to a lot of information… and since we are all baseball fans (Isn’t that why we’re here) it’s worth it… thank you
Bounty Hunters IA
I love this website and I check it multiple times every day of the year. I have no problem with the small yearly fee and I am happy to pay it for all the fantastic extra features. I’ll be a loyal subscriber for many years to come. For those who don’t want to pay the small fee they are missing out and great information and insight.
BaseballClassic1985
Not trying to be snarky, but maybe the site would have more traffic if the writing on it was more original. Every article is similar because there is seemingly a template that parrots the same meaningless analytics stats over and over.
I rarely read entire articles unless they’re about my favorite team because they’re so repetitive. I get it, you want a certain type of take on your site, but a little more originality would go a long way.
On that theme, I believe the decline in traffic also has to do with a loss of interest in the game in general due to the obsession of teams with analytics/statcast. The game is more boring than ever with a lack of action and a focus on things such as exit velocity, spin rate, etc, etc.
When I grew up, I loved talking about storylines, records being chased, rivalries, personal anecdotes about players, etc. Now it’s seemingly all about who’s got the best beard, the coolest sneakers, players bear hugging each other at 2nd base and who did the best pimp job after hitting a HR while they were down 7 runs.
Today’s game is stale, and sites like this – and many others – continue to beat it into the ground by following the same analytics rubric ad nauseum.
Guarded Indian
I’m not going to pick apart your post as you are welcome to post it but I could not disagree more, the game is fantastic! Analytics in sports is a fact just like anything else in life like traffic patterns or Netflix viewing.
The fact that Detroit made the playoffs after selling their veteran players is just one reason this game is fantastic. Also, there is plenty of talk here about records being chased etc.
Cut Tim and the crew some slack, they do a great job, and I plan on subscribing over the weekend.
BaseballClassic1985
Oh really? You’re not going to “pick apart” my post? Lolz. You think the game is fantastic because you’ve probably never played an inning of competitive baseball in your life or you’re one of the floppy haired 16 year olds who think baseball was invented 5 years ago. Or, a combination of both.
Guarded Indian
I’m 48, I played competitive baseball for 12 years but keep trying. It’s my opinion and like I said, you are welcome to yours. Btw, making assumptions about my age or hairdo is really mature.
Tim Dierkes
If we diverted resources from news posts to original posts, our traffic would decrease. Something with Yankees Notes or whatever does better traffic than an original that takes a couple hours to write.
In terms of being a bit analytical, that’s been the case since Day 1 and has gone on 19 years. I’d probably rather stop doing this than change that.
“Now it’s seemingly all about who’s got the best beard, the coolest sneakers, players bear hugging each other at 2nd base and who did the best pimp job after hitting a HR while they were down 7 runs.” – not sure who is all about those things, but obviously not this website?
BaseballClassic1985
That was just a general statement on the game overall, not about your site.
I understand, it’s your site, do as you wish, it’s just my opinion that you’re only going to get so far with the repetitive articles spewing the same algebraic nonsense in every article. To each his own.
Sid Bream Speed Demon
So you don’t read the articles and yet simultaneously you know that they are all the same. Your user name and info should be purged.
BaseballClassic1985
Yes, I used to read full articles but stopped because it’s been the same monotonous stuff for years. Didn’t realize I had to spell it out, but apparently you have a 63 IQ. Purge this, snowflake.
Sid Bream Speed Demon
Your brilliant insight and calm, reasonable demeanor would surely be missed. If you are poor, rather than typing up a soliloquy on why you don’t pay, just say you’re poor. No one cares.
johnsilver
–“Now it’s seemingly all about who’s got the best beard, the coolest sneakers, players bear hugging each other at 2nd base and who did the best pimp job after hitting a HR while they were down 7 runs.”–
Tim, you hit right on the head what started going wrong with 2 other sports years ago and is now infecting MLB.. Let’s hope the bigwigs of THIS game will crush that nonsense and not allow this ancient game and allow “our” sport to become a laughingstock sideshow, as 2 other sports are now.
Another HR post by yourself and spot on.. As always.
FOmeOLS
Can you please hire Grant Brisbee? He’s the only worthwhile guy at The Athletic.
Squeeze32
I think the first part of this post is missing the purpose of this site. This isn’t a place where people necessarily go to looking for original thoughts about the game. MLBTR does provide those things on occasion, but my understanding that the main purpose of MLBTR is to be a one-stop-shop to keep up with the moves being made around the game in terms of players and front office.
There are plenty of other sites out there that provide analysis of the game. MLBTR has the market cornered in aggregating the news as it happens and puts it out in digestible bites. I don’t think that it would necessarily be advisable for them to distance themselves from that when it’s what got them here and remains what most visitors to the site return for.
BaseballClassic1985
There is a reason why traffic to this site, along with ad revenue, has been down. It’s because the site has become repetitive.
Anybody that reads this site regularly could pen any one of their articles. It’s just one template and the only thing that changes are the players names. “So and so had a slash line of .264/.312/398 for a WRC+ of 102, which is 2% better than league average” Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I agree with your point, but you’re only going to get so far with that business model.
FOmeOLS
You can pen one of these articles, with serious statistics and analysis, serious commentary, and at least a bit of wit?
If so, why aren’t YOU writing for free somewhere?
PaulyMidwest
Why are most teams having record attendance then? I personally love statcast and analytics and most baseball fans I know do too. I am forty so I don’t think it is an age thing. I just think some of you that don’t like analytics have an old time mindset but it is true that almost everyone who hates on analytics in my cubs fb group is over sixty. So who knows.
Cesarcharles
I’ve been reading mlbtr for years. Love it. Explaining to fans why certain articles are going to paid platform wasnt needed but it was classy and I believe your post was genuine. I just subscribed.
Keep it going and I hope traffic picks back up.
Go Cubs
danm-6
I appreciate sites like this that talk to you like this.
I’m a subscriber, and you just reminded me that this is probably the most affordable subscription I have. $2.50/month? For a site I read nearly every day? That’s a deal!
Thanks Tim! Keep doing what you do.
SCH
Just subscribed. The whining post above was the nudge I needed.
Keep up the great work!
Doug S
Used to have The Athletic until they started dropping their beat writers from certain teams and have gotten too big for their britches. This is a far better value and don’t mind paying for it. Keep up the good work!
Joe says...
The Athletic isn’t nearly as good as it used to be even though I like the current Yankees beat writers. Even their comment section has gone to crap.
johnsilver
Joe– I subscribed to TheAthlectic 2y also, but let it expire. Wasn’t just the quality of sports writing which declined, it was the rancid, ESPN-esque political rubbish that was writtten into most of the articles that made one want to puke. Why spend 50. (then) a year for the same garbage could read on the NYT, or WP?
Joe says...
Johnsilver I’ve heard that complaint from others as well. I haven’t had that experience so much. I guess it’s which writers I follow. Ken Rosenthal is the only one I read that could be considered on that but he’s been the same writer for as long as I have been reading his work.
Spaghetti Marinera
I’m a satisfied subscriber, and support what you need to do to stay self-sustaining. You folks do good work, and I’m here for it every day.
I worked for a newspaper that gave its content away online for far too long. There was a lot of resistance to the paywall when it came, but eventually things settled down and a solid subscriber base emerged once people saw the value. You folks are professionals doing professional work, and professionals should get paid at professional salaries. Any path toward that end is justified and appreciated.
BigV
I joined this year. Money well spent I visit the site often. So much good info here. Thanks
bigalcathey
I have been reading MLBTR for probably 15 years and check it multiple times a day. I generally don’t pay for news but I’m gonna have to strongly consider this Front Office subscription. Does it just automatically bill credit card or PayPal every year?
bigalcathey
Also, it will be available on my phone and any computer? I guess there’s a login feature? I’m pretty technologically illiterate
Samuel
Mr Dierkes;
Although I have no statistics, I’d guess that a major reason your traffic is down is due to that I’ve been writing recently: Your site is all about statistics and statistics lie. It’s rotisserie league-oriented.
Basic marketing says that it costs multiple times more to find a new customer than to retain old ones. I’ve been on here on-and-off for at least 6-7 years. The customers that come onto the comment sections and bring up baseball issues that they see watching games in-person or on media devices, are blitzed and ridiculed by kids that cite one or two stats to play “Gotcha”. Multiple people up-vote their posts and pile on with responses. I’m one of the few here that push back. Most just leave.
There are dozens of sites available on the Internet that have breaking MLB news. It’s nice that your people write these endless paragraphs detailing a transaction, but it’s too much. What they’re apparently trying to do is to add perspective. But quoting what a player did in previous years by citing statistics provides no perspective. It doesn’t say what role the player had on the team. How he was used by the manager. Whether he was battling minor injuries. What pitches he was having trouble with hitting or pitching. How his coaches influenced him. good or bad. Etc. What comes off is a review of past rotisserie league seasons. Baseball is a game of subtleties. It’s round with circles within circles. Your articles make it flat…. and this is before we get to the part that every team that didn’t make the WS was handcuffed by cheap owners that didn’t spend enough money in free agency.
Your Chatroom is the best place to talk MLB on the Internet that I’ve found. But your articles set the tone. They appeal to kids that played the sport on a computer and/or followed it in rotisserie league. People that actually watch the games and would like to read what fans in other cities think about their teams seldom read posters that provide any information they can’t get looking at stats on ESPN’s website….
So they leave.
Sid Bream Speed Demon
And yet you remain.
Sid Bream Speed Demon
I have been a subscriber for years. For $30 bucks I get to enjoy a site that I visit multiple times per day, along with the PFR site as well. Do I enjoy baseball as much as 30 years ago when I was a kid? No, I don’t, but that has nothing to do with this site.
dougsolo2
Tim, I really appreciated the honesty in this post. Most Companies don’t provide any support for decisions to implement a paywall or to increase prices. They just do it. Thank you for being straightforward with us. That’s rare these days. I will strongly consider subscribing.
whatwouldyogido
Hey Trade Rumors Team! Have loved the content since what seems like the beginning of the internet. Would be willing to go to a paid version, if for no other reason than to show you love for so many years of free content, buuuuuut are you ever going to fix the glitch that causes whatever sound (music,podcasts, etc) playing on my phone to stop when I scroll an article in your app?
I cannot fathom paying someone to read articles in an app that has such an annoying bug that it seems like every other app ever has been able to overcome. I’ve gently brought this up for years. Please fix it. Not only is keeping a paying subscriber away, it keeps me from reading content that is free. I’m literally being annoyed by this bug right now. Please.
FOmeOLS
I signed up because good stuff is worth paying for…White Sox tickets, on the other hand…