Cabrera Trade: Boom or Bust?

And now for something completely different...

Trading deadlines are boom or bust times for Twins fans: Shannon Stewart in 2003 — boom. Baylor, Brunansky, Gladden in 1987 — big boom. Luis Castillo in 2007 — bust.

That's what makes the Twins most recent move, trading for Oakland shortstop Orlando Cabrera, so interesting — it's hard to classify it as earth-shatteringly spectacular or absolutely abysmal.

Cabrera's upsides are obvious: A veteran middle-infielder, batting a reliable .280 (and a red-hot .377 over the last month), and a solid presence in the Twins lineup's troublesome two-hole. But more than his ability to plug holes in the lineup, he's evidence that the front office actually listens to its players, who were obviously disenchanted about the lack of necessary deadline deals in years past.

What makes the trade interesting are his downsides — both of which really aren't his fault:

First, given the recent signing of Mark Grudzielanek, Cabrera's downside is the fact that he's a middle-infielder. Playing both Grudzielanek and Cabrera necessitates benching or sending down Nick Punto, Alexi Casilla, Brendan Harris, and Matt Tolbert. And even if you're not the biggest Punto, Casilla, Harris, or Tolbert fan, the removal of any or all of the above from the lineup means the Twins are down a "Piranha" in their lineup (Grudzielanek doesn't have great speed and isn't a threat to steal, but isn't a threat to bomb the ball out of the park).

Second, given the recent struggles of the Twins staff, another Cabrera downside is the fact that he isn't a pitcher. The team probably needed to land a starting pitcher, and given the fact that both the White Sox (Jake Peavy) and the Tigers (Jarrod Washburn) landed starters, the Twins most glaring wound remains open and unhealed.

Like I say, the mere fact that the Twins made a deal at all is remarkable, and somewhat exciting in itself. But it's hard to get really charged about the deal unless the team's fortunes really turn around.

What Good Television Means

One of the first lessons I learned in this internship at KTTC-TV, first vocalized to me by veteran staff photographer Chuck Sibley: Get out there and report. There's only so much you can report from behind a desk in the newsroom.

Last Sunday, working as a photographer with reporter Fanna Haile-Selassie, I went out to Hartland, Minn., to cover a devastating fire from the day before. We had no interviews set up, and nothing but the most basic information: an address and directions.

We arrived, got the requisite exterior video, interviewed next-door neighbors, and then quickly shot a stand-up Fanna was going to put into her story... Soon after that, things went into motion. A volunteer firefighter stopped by, in his civilian clothing -- we grabbed him for a quick interview about fighting the fire. Suddenly, a piece without official sound... had a byte from a firefighter who was there, instead of a PRO from the fire department.

Then, another neighbor came and told Fanna and I that the family was coming. They were driving down from Medford, Minn., where they were staying, to salvage what they could. When Joe and Jaime Leibeg arrived, they looked tired and worn-out, but not beat-down or emotional. They looked like they had been through an ordeal, and they had. Their house had almost completely burned down -- the second floor was a total loss, most of the first floor was severely damaged.

We approached Joe and began talking to him before he entered. He agreed to let us follow him into the house, and we attached a wireless microphone to his collar. I took video as he spoke with Fanna about driving home from work at Diamond Jo's, a casino just south of the Iowa-Minnesota border, after getting a frantic phone call that his house was on fire. Then, Joe, Jaime, and Jaime's mother all entered through the front door, with Fanna following close behind, holding the camera. We got most of the following on camera:

Jaime's shoulders started heaving with sobs no sooner than she crossed the threshold. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she sniffled and sorted through the rubble.

At first, it looked like Joe was overcome by the acrid smoke inside the house. If you've ever been to a burned-out house, the outside of the house smells like someone's having a barbecue inside. Once you're inside, the barbecue smell of the burned wood clogs your lungs and burns your throat. There's soot everywhere. And it looked like it had gotten in Joe's eyes... But in fact, this young, tough-looking man had lost it too. He cried as he grabbed what photos he could and took them out of the house. We one shot of Joe turning around, looking the pile of furniture and damage in his living room, and just shrugging in dismay and disbelief.

Joe's mother, Levonne, gave a gut-wrenching play-by-play as they entered and started going through the house.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God, Jaime!" she said. "Oh, my God, Jaime, there's water coming down-- is that water coming down?" That was the hardest part for me.

Joe got most of their wedding photos, and pictures from their children's youngest days. Thankfully. As they scavenged for what they could, Joe walked up behind Jaime.

"Are you okay?" he asked, likely not 'okay' himself.

They embraced, holding each other as they shook and sobbed.

I motioned to Fanna, asking her if she had enough. She nodded discreetly and turned back to Joe and Jaime, thanking them. They were apologetic, but we thanked them softly as he gave us back the microphone.

This is what television is all about: It's about making very real, and very immediate, the intensity of the emotions in that house, as they searched for what little they had left. We tried to do justice to Joe and Jaime's story, and we think we did in the final product. And while it felt wrong for us to be there, though it felt like we were imposing on personal space, or invading on the most private of moments, I realized that this is what makes television news a powerful medium. There's no medium that captures emotion in the hardest of moments like television does, and it's something that it's purists cannot forget as there's more focus on crime blitzes and soft features.

And it's something convergence journalists must remember as they try and take televisions best attributes and adapt them for multimedia presentations.

Web-tastic Elements

My first job at KOMU-TV was as a web editor — back in the good old days when the only thing reporters had to do for their web story was walk a brochure over to the web desk and say "Scan this and post it," and they got their 10 points for having a "Web Extra" for their story.  You name it, I probably scanned it:  brochures on MoDOT projects, how-to guides, letters from congressional leaders... All the while, I thought to myself, How does this advance the story?  You're forced to ask yourself that question every time you have a reporter hand you a Post-It note with a URL on it and snarling, "Here's my Web Extra."

Things have changed somewhat since then.  Of course, reporters now have to write their own web story in addition to providing links and extra content, so they are, at minimum, guilted into putting together a halfway decent Web Extra.  But that doesn't mean the cop-out Web Extras don't appear, and I have to admit that when a shift is going poorly, the first thing on my mind is my broadcast story — that's the one that can't wait when 10 o'clock rolls around.

In my final reporting shift before my summer internship/sabbatical, I think I came up with a very effective web extra.  Granted, there are so many extra layers I want to add to this web extra, but it's effective, and it serves a purpose.  I took the raw interview video of my 10-minute sit-down with Columbia's new superintendent, and posted it on KOMU.com.

Now, in a way, I committed my own cardinal sin:  I posted raw interview video.  Often, I find that reporters post their raw video for important things like news conferences that nobody cares about without a human side, or human elements that make no sense without newsworthy content.  But in this situation, I think it's very appropriate to use raw interview video:  There are a lot of people in Columbia, Mo., who really care about how their education system works.  A 50-second mini-pack isn't going to inform them about how their new superintendent sees the world, or what he plans to do on key budget issues.  I think there is a genuinely-interested niche audience out there for this video, and I posted it and teased it heavily in my broadcast versions for this purpose.

Cop-out Web Extras make my skin crawl — and it makes me sick to my stomach every time I have to submit one.  But I think we have to remember that every time we post a Web Extra, we need to have our audience in mind.  Unless we do, then it just looks like we posted a link to fulfill an editorial requirement.  That's not going to drive page views, or increase a news website's interactivity.