Request for feedback: the upcoming season

Hey all.

HardballTalk is about to enter its fifth season of covering this wonderful little game, and because I’m both bored this afternoon and interested in some interaction, I’m asking for some feedback about anything specific you’d like to see as far as regular season coverage goes.

Not that we’re planning on any radical changes. Indeed, we’re basically of an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset around here. But if there are daily or weekly features you think that would make life great for you, make an argument for them in the comments or hit us up at the “Feedback” button on the upper righthand corder of the main page.

In the past we’ve done power rankings, but those got stale. We often do look aheads to the night’s action, but not always. We obviously do the morning And That Happened/Settling the Scores stuff. But if there’s anything else you’d like to see from us, we’re listening. We may not do it because this ain’t a democracy, but we are listening. And stealing your ideas and claiming them as our own.

As the guy who does the And That Happeneds, a question/request for info: how many of you read it between 6AM and 8AM Eastern? How many of you save it for later? I ask because, as I often do at the beginning of the season, I’m thinking about how best to make that somewhat labor-intensive feature work for you guys and for me.

One thought I had was pushing it a tad later — say 8AM Eastern or so. Doing so would make my evenings much easier as I usually begin composing it as the games finish up. But it’s not just a convenience thing. If I started working on it in the morning when I woke up, I’d be able to see more highlights and read after game quotes before writing, and that may lead to a bit more insight, jokes and stuff. If the real point is having a post — any post — up at 6AM for you guys to crack wise in, I could maybe do something highlighting one specific/fun/random thing from the previous night as a placeholder until ATH is done. Just spitballin’.

I’m really kind of agnostic about it all. On the one hand, I know a lot of you read that post first thing in the morning. On the other hand, I sometimes worry that fatigue and things make it lose some momentum in the middle of the season.  I’m really just looking for your comments.

Thanks, all. Sixteen days until Opening Day!