Is ESPN Looking to Buy Baseball Prospectus?

A couple weeks ago there was a rumor circulating around one the ESPN offices that, after the election ended, the WWL was going to have a serious conversation with stat-boy guru Nate Silver about the possibility of a buying Baseball Prospectus. Maybe it was just one individual spouting off to some of the young fivethirtyeight-loving interns within earshot, but maybe there was something more to the theory? It's been no secret that ESPN (and many other media outlets) have courted BP in the past, as adding its unique brand of number-crunching and reportage would definitely give all of its properties some sabermetric street cred. But right now, according to Silver, there are no plans moving forward and this whole thing should be regarded as "nothing more than a juicy trade rumor." ESPN wouldn't directly comment either, but did insinuate that the person talking about such a meeting with Silver was entirely full of shit. But then there's Will Carroll, one of the BP's head writers, who at least added this to his polite "unable to comment at this time." "We're excited about the future of BP, really proud of what Nate's done, and happy with the new College Basketball Prospectus book. " One day, all of these BP boys will be very, very rich. Whether their paychecks will be stamped by Norby is still to be determined. But running this rumor through the PECOTA vehicle has the chances of this takeover happening anytime soon at a measly 2%. How Nate Silver Can Rule World [Gawker]