The Strange World Of Scott Swaim

Prince Fielder has agreed to an eight year deal with the Washington Nationals, with an opt-out clause after three years. He is flying from his home in Florida to Washington to complete a physical. That is if you believe Scott Swaim. Swaim and his twitter handle @MLBinsideNews had the social media outlet buzzing last night after his allegedly breaking news that Fielder and the Nationals had agreed to a deal. [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MLBInsideNews/status/161301150983917568″]Even I was intrigued as I continually hit refresh on my Twitter account to see if it was true. It appears I wasn’t the only one that was interested as names like Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus and Jim Bowden, ex General Manager and current ESPN analysis, and 100’s of Nationals fans across the internet were asking if it were true. No other media outlet seemed to be breaking the news or confirming the story, according to Bowden he had left messages with the Nationals and Fielders agent, Scott Boras to get confirmation with no response. Did Swaim have contacts that no one else has?

With a further look into MLBinsideNews “breaking news” feed, Swaim claims he broke the news on the Albert Pujols deal, the Carlos Beltran deal, and Michael Cuddyer deal this off-season. [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MLBInsideNews/status/161314729502052353″] Is he the man to run to when looking for information? Not so fast, with a quick look at his twitter feed he claims Bobby Abreu is near a deal with the Tigers, could be true but no one else is reporting it, Matt Garza would also be a Tiger very soon, deal hasn’t happened. He has also apparently made claims of Evan Longoria asking for a trade from the Tampa Bay Rays.  Matt Linder, of TheOutsidecorner.com, found a blurb written by Mark Topkin of the St. Petersburg times disproving the Longoria claim using Longoria’s own words –

“I don’t have any idea where that rumor came from! It’s completely false,” Longoria told the Times via text. “I’ve said from the start I love Tampa, I love the direction we are heading as a franchise and there is no better place for me to continue to grow as a player and person.”

With all this coming to lite It is pretty tough to believe anything Swaim has said or claimed up to this point, although even with the lack of confirmation around the internet  he is still telling others to trust him.[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MLBInsideNews/status/161311147545473025″] There are also reports around Twitter and comments popping up around the interbet that Swaim previously used the handle @piodeportes1 – Pio Deportes is a Spanish language sports website but there is no proof he actually wrote for the site or that Scott Swaim is even his real name. His favorite trick was claim trades were very near completion and then delete them soon after his claims.[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/Kevin_Goldstein/status/161314146154057728″]

Jim Bowden also reported that the Nationals are working on a deal but nothing is done yet. [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/JimBowdenESPNxm/status/161330420435271681″]So who is Scott Swaim? He may be the world’s greatest baseball reporter or he could the guy in the corner of the bar who thinks he knows everything. For now no one knows but it does prove that Twitter is a pretty powerful tool, so there’s that.