Matt Shepard Out as Tigers PBP, Jason Benetti In.

[oblong]

Now that Rod has a job I think it’s possible Mario came back. Slim but possible. If they brought him back and not Rod then they open themselves up to a lawsuit I believe. And throw in the race angle. Just not worth the hassle and both were at fault even if one was more at fault. In that situation you just move on.  

[Tenacious D]

There are plenty of PBP candidates out there.  Mario would be the safe pick, but perhaps not the best.

[chasfh]

5 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Yeah, I see him on Twitter.  He is a pleasant guy but he's like a labrador receiver.  Everything thing that happens is the greatest thing ever.    

That makes him the perfect minor league play-by-play guy.

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Impemba is OK.  No need to bring back Allen.  He is better than Monroe, but that's not saying much.  

Not a fan of Mario. We can do better.

I like someone’s suggestion about stealing Len Kasper, especially since he’s a native, but he left Cubs TV to do White Sox, radio, because he wants to do radio. But considering the disarray that organization is in, and depending on his contract, maybe he can be had.

[gehringer_2]

I'm sure it would be a futile attempt, but I'd still take some of Cabrera's money and make a pass at Tirico -  just because you never know.

[casimir]

9 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Self inflicted wounds IMO. Matt knows baseball, he could have acted and talked like he knows baseball and he might have made it work - at least better than he has done. When all Shep does is play the fool to the ex-player, you never get an actual discussion or counterpoint view on anything - and when the ex-player has nothing to offer but stock phrase platitudes like Monroe, you don't get very good baseball analysis. 

Maybe it was noble of him to take on the mantel of trying to make poor to mediocre color guys look better, but his first responsibility was to the listener, not his partners.

Can't argue that.  The slobbering up to Jack Morris in particular was painful at times.

[Toddwert]

stop living in the past people ...Mario was ok but we can do way better 

[alex]

FWIW, I was 'OK' with Shep.

Of course with things like this and sooo many others, there is no pleasing everyone.

Agree with Oblong, that a Mario re-hire may be more complicated.

Hopefully we will find the next 'personality' that will fit the role and do well for most of the Tiger fan base ⚾ 🎙️

[casimir]

Do the Tigers gain anything by removing Shepard and replacing him with Impemba and his prior incident?  Was Impemba that much more of a game caller that they take on the possible headache associated with him? 

Morris was a World Series winning franchise hall of fame pitcher who could actually add some sense to a broadcast (although not nearly as often as he could/should have).  His mouth got him nontendered from the booth.

[Biff Mayhem]

3 minutes ago, casimir said:

Do the Tigers gain anything by removing Shepard and replacing him with Impemba and his prior incident?  Was Impemba that much more of a game caller that they take on the possible headache associated with him? 

Morris was a World Series winning franchise hall of fame pitcher who could actually add some sense to a broadcast (although not nearly as often as he could/should have).  His mouth got him nontendered from the booth.

For the record, I am not for bringing Impempba back, I just think it will be the choice made because of familiarity amongst fans. There will be a short-lived "where's Rod" but that will go away. As Oblong stated, Rod has been with the Marlins for two years and the fan base seems to like him so it definitely reduces the controversy of hiring the white guy back but not the black guy.

[casimir]

1 minute ago, Biff Mayhem said:

For the record, I am not for bringing Impempba back, I just think it will be the choice made because of familiarity amongst fans. There will be a short-lived "where's Rod" but that will go away. As Oblong stated, Rod has been with the Marlins for two years and the fan base seems to like him so it definitely reduces the controversy of hiring the white guy back but not the black guy.

Oh, I know.  You're Wimpy or bust.

[TheWordIsBird]

Thom Brennaman redemption tour? I’ve always enjoyed him on the call in any sport, but particularly his time in the baseball booth with the Reds. Of course, he also comes the type of baggage that most organizations would shy away from in this current landscape. I wonder if he’ll ever see a MLB or NFL booth again. 

[chasfh]

8 minutes ago, casimir said:

Do the Tigers gain anything by removing Shepard and replacing him with Impemba and his prior incident?  Was Impemba that much more of a game caller that they take on the possible headache associated with him?

No, he was not.

Beyond any problems Mario may have had that led to his departure in the first place, my main issue with his work is his lack of personableness (personability?), as well as his inability to provide any actual baseball insights during the broadcast.

Everything Mario says about the actual game in progress is either a basic description of the pitch or play that just happened; a reciting of the batting or pitching line the player has achieved during the game thus far; or a snippet from the media notes about the team or the player in question. Practically everything else Mario says during the broadcast is either a live read promotion, a throw to the field or studio announcers, or a forced attempt at banter. I don't fault him for the live reads or throws or even the attempted banter, but the bare bones description-only nature of his game commentary is where he really lacks. Mario apparently neither talks to the players, which Jim Price or Rod did, nor digs into the numbers, like Dan does, which leaves only the dry recitation of what he sees in front of him or reads from his notes. Mario is perfectly competent, technically, but I get no sense that he's at all engaged with the game going on in front of him.

tl;dr, Mario is not a baseball guy so much as he's a professional announcer. I'd prefer an announcer behind the mike who's also a baseball guy. 

[oblong]

20 minutes ago, chasfh said:

No, he was not.

Beyond any problems Mario may have had that led to his departure in the first place, my main issue with his work is his lack of personableness (personability?), as well as his inability to provide any actual baseball insights during the broadcast.

Everything Mario says about the actual game in progress is either a basic description of the pitch or play that just happened; a reciting of the batting or pitching line the player has achieved during the game thus far; or a snippet from the media notes about the team or the player in question. Practically everything else Mario says during the broadcast is either a live read promotion, a throw to the field or studio announcers, or a forced attempt at banter. I don't fault him for the live reads or throws or even the attempted banter, but the bare bones description-only nature of his game commentary is where he really lacks. Mario apparently neither talks to the players, which Jim Price or Rod did, nor digs into the numbers, like Dan does, which leaves only the dry recitation of what he sees in front of him or reads from his notes. Mario is perfectly competent, technically, but I get no sense that he's at all engaged with the game going on in front of him.

tl;dr, Mario is not a baseball guy so much as he's a professional announcer. I'd prefer an announcer behind the mike who's also a baseball guy. 

Mario was a pro in the sense that he could easily go do a basketball game the next night and not miss a beat.  You didnt notice him.  Which to some could be a plus.  On TV though you don't really need someone to always tell you the action as you can see it, of course the flip to that is a lot of people today watch TV by "having it on while playing on their phone or reading a book".  But in that scenario do you need to hear everything?  Banter with your PBP is important.  That's why the players only broadcasts didn't bother me.  SOmething different

[Biff Mayhem]

24 minutes ago, TheWordIsBird said:

Thom Brennaman redemption tour? I’ve always enjoyed him on the call in any sport, but particularly his time in the baseball booth with the Reds. Of course, he also comes the type of baggage that most organizations would shy away from in this current landscape. I wonder if he’ll ever see a MLB or NFL booth again. 

Thats a tough one. Great broadcaster for sure. (The Tigers march to the world series!) but that slip was a big one.

[Biff Mayhem]

2 minutes ago, Biff Mayhem said:

Thats a tough one. Great broadcaster for sure. (The Tigers march to the world series!) but that slip was a big one.

I still get goosebumps. Even though Dickerson's call is the all-time winner, this is still a fantastic call and memory.

 

 

[chasfh]

2 minutes ago, oblong said:

Mario was a pro in the sense that he could easily go do a basketball game the next night and not miss a beat.  You didnt notice him.  Which to some could be a plus.  On TV though you don't really need someone to always tell you the action as you can see it, of course the flip to that is a lot of people today watch TV by "having it on while playing on their phone or reading a book".  But in that scenario do you need to hear everything?  Banter with your PBP is important.  That's why the players only broadcasts didn't bother me.  SOmething different

I didn't mean to imply that I would have preferred Mario overexplain what his eyes see, which I guess would be just a supercharged version of a dry recitation of the action on the field. And I also didn't mean to imply that I don't want him to have discussions with Rod. I like it when TV announcers talk in depth about the strategies and tactics of what they are seeing on the field, or about how our players or other players or other teams have been trending lately, or about the big picture issues or changes in the game. That's exactly what I like in a broadcast.

What I was trying to get across was that Mario, with Rod, did almost none of this. Mario would dryly recite the action, Rod would provide cliched commentary, every once in a while they would share a chuckleheaded jocularity between them in a way apparently meant to show an easy camaraderie that to me was unconvincing, and they spent the rest of their time doing live reads or throwing to people outside the booth.

Of course, Matt Shepard was much worse than Mario on these and a bunch of additional measures, but just because Mario is the taller m***** doesn't mean we have to re-hire him for the circus.

[gehringer_2]

11 minutes ago, chasfh said:

What I was trying to get across was that Mario, with Rod, did almost none of this. Mario would dryly recite the action

Agree in the main here. Not a huge fan of Mario either and would as soon they do better, but TBF, in their last few years part of this was because of the tension in the box. Mario would not engage with Rod because he believed Rod wasn't pulling his weight, and since they didn't get along, there were few conversation points from out side the game call. I clearly remember Mario doing the occasional game when Rod was out, and he came across as almost a different person. Gibson could really draw him out. You can fault the Fox management keeping two guys together that were holding each other's better selves down, and both of them for being too stubborn individually to get out of a situation that was stunting their professional performance before it eventually blew up on them.

Edited October 4, 2023 by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

Just now, gehringer_2 said:

Not a huge fan of Mario either and would as soon they do better, but TBF, in their last few years part of this was because of the tension in the box. Mario would not engage with Rod because he believed Rod wasn't pulling his weight, and since they didn't get along, there were few conversation points from out side the game call. I clearly remember Maria doing the occasional game when Rod was out, and he came across as almost a different person. I fault the Fox management keeping two guys together that were holding each other's better selves down, and both of them for being too stubborn individually to get out of a situation that was stunting their professional performance before it eventually blew up on them.

It was more than just the last few years that Mario dryly recited the action. That was always his jam. I don't think he would be any better coming back and working with, I don't know, Morris or Petry or Monroe.

I think the organization would benefit from a clean break from that past and going with a broadcast team that is new to Tigers TV. The team on the field itself is going in a new direction and is showing signs of turning things around. Things are looking up, and moving forward, not backward. How about we get a TV broadcast team that itself is not stuck in the past?

[gehringer_2]

3 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I think the organization would benefit from a clean break from that past and going with a broadcast team that is new to Tigers TV. The team on the field itself is going in a new direction and is showing signs of turning things around. Things are looking up, and moving forward, not backward. How about we get a TV broadcast team that itself is not stuck in the past?

The disappointing thing to hear was 'all the analysts will be back.'  If they run the same production but just replace the PBP voice they are already capping their potential improvement.  

[chasfh]

1 minute ago, gehringer_2 said:

The disappointing thing to hear was 'all the analysts will be back.'  If they run the same production but just replace the PBP voice they are already capping their potential improvement.  

I missed that part of it. Maybe Mario has a chance after all ... 😭

Thank god for MLB audio overlay.

[chasfh]

Apparently MLB has known this was coming for a long long time ... 😉

[KL2]

1 hour ago, TheWordIsBird said:

Thom Brennaman redemption tour? I’ve always enjoyed him on the call in any sport, but particularly his time in the baseball booth with the Reds. Of course, he also comes the type of baggage that most organizations would shy away from in this current landscape. I wonder if he’ll ever see a MLB or NFL booth again. 

Only if we sign NIck C

[RandyMarsh]

I never liked Brennamen even before the comments with the lone exception of his Maggs HR call  when he was filling in for Buck on Fox. I loved that call but otherwise he always just gave me a bad vibe for some reason.

Edited October 4, 2023 by RandyMarsh

[CMRivdogs]

TBH I have not played close enough attention to folks in the booth lately to form an opinion outside of the Tigers broadcasters.

I just want someone who is able to carry on an intelligent conversation. I assume we're talking TV so I really don't care for detailed PBP (like radio) and I don't want anyone who is over the top