Globe Shuffles Things Up, Adds Massarotti

The Boston Globe this afternoon announced in a memo a number of changes to the sports department. Adam Reilly has the memo outlining the moves.

The biggest is the addition of Tony Massarotti to the Globe in “a newly created position as he will become the face and voice of boston.com sports.” He will also contribute to the print edition of the paper. Massarotti starts his new job the first week of September.

Amalie Benjamin was officially named the Red Sox beat writer, replacing Gordon Edes, who recently departed for Yahoo! sports.

BSMW favorite Chad Finn also gets a promotion to a newly created position, that of “sports news reporter for boston.com.” Finn will be keeping the page updated throughout the day with “fresh and interesting items.” He will also begin this job in the first week of September.

The paper also announced that Corey Allen will be replacing Finn’s role as part-time copy editor.

Some interesting moves here by sports editor Joe Sullivan. The Globe takes Massarotti away from the Herald, and with Rob Bradford having already left for WEEI.com, this move further weakens the baseball staff at the tabloid. Massarotti loses his WEEI gigs, though he had already scaled them back considerably over the last year. The Globe needed a new columnist/voice under the age of 50, and they get that in Massarotti. I just hope that this sort of stuff doesn’t come over with him. Now that he’s not going to be writing for a tabloid that often uses sensationalism to sell papers, hopefully Massarotti’s style will stick to the analytical, smooth style that comes through in most of his columns. Besides, the Globe already has one Dan Shaughnessy.

Benjamin has her fans on the Red Sox beat, and this move was expected all along. She’s not spectacular, but is competent and enthusiastic for the job. Nick Cafardo likely didn’t want the full-time travel that goes with the job.

It will be most interesting to see what Finn does with Boston.com, and what, if any, design changes are in store for the site. It will be good to have more writing and content from Finn, who has certainly paid his dues, and now is being rewarded with what could be his dream gig. Finn’s obvious love and passion for sports, coupled with his humor make this a very good promotion for the Globe and boston.com.

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In New York sports media news, Neil Best reports that Mike and the Mad Dog is no longer, as Chris Russo has left WFAN.