Lou Piniella has no business being in a broadcast booth

by JonH on Oct 12, 2005 4:20 PM CDT

Lou Piniella took a step down my future managers of the cubs list last night on the Fox broadcast. I was pretty surprised Fox used the prime time playoffs to debut a new announcer. To me he came off as not terribly sharp and in my humble opinion didn't sound like he knows as much about baseball as Bob Brenly or some of the other former managers I have heard in the box.

I just hadn't seen any mention of him today and was wondering if anyone else had as negative an opinion of it as I did. Granted maybe he gets somewhat of a pass if it was his first game broadcasting. But once again the playoffs isn't the place for that.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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Note...

... I corrected the spelling of Piniella's last name in the original post.

by Al Yellon on Oct 12, 2005 4:39 PM CDT reply actions

he's not

terribly eloquent. And I don't know why after a comment he always threw it to "Timmy."

by socalbob on Oct 12, 2005 4:59 PM CDT reply actions

I didn't like him either..

mostly because of his voice. And because he made no good comments, if he made comments at all. He basically repeated what had already been said.

Cubbie blue always sPaRkLeS in my eyes.

by sparkles721 on Oct 12, 2005 5:22 PM CDT reply actions

My Favorite Pinella moment from last night...

"Finley's shifted to right center" (DEAD SILENCE)

and that was it...that was his color commentary.

by RobG @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Oct 12, 2005 6:08 PM CDT reply actions

I didn't think he was too bad...

but his voice was odd. To me, it sounded like the color commentary was occasionally done by the short bald bad guy from The Princess Bride.

by helen on Oct 12, 2005 7:22 PM CDT reply actions

The key to this whole thing...

... is why Fox thinks it's good to have a three-man broadcast booth, no matter who the three guys are. There's simply not enough air time for three people to talk; all it does is clutter up the airwaves, and take away from what's important, the ballgame.

by Al Yellon on Oct 12, 2005 8:55 PM CDT up reply actions

the only conceivable reason is that

the network (or any network) would re-capture the 3-man booths of several years ago which included weaver and palmer. 2 guys who clearly saw the game from different vantage points, were able to be articulate yet concise, and brought their own personal competitiveness/disdain into the booth. i have not watched every single inning of every single post-season in several years, but i do not recall a better setup than that. they were the proverbial "pair that beat 3 of a kind".

by dc60123 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Oct 13, 2005 11:51 AM CDT up reply actions

I think they feel the need for a 3-man booth

because they are hoping that someone can fill in the moments of silence after a horribly stupid comment by McCarver. If you notice on the telecasts whenever McCarver says something that is totally out of left field or just continues to beat a dead horse, Buck cannot bring himself to say anything.

If they replace McCarver with Piniella I would be happy, hell if they replaced McCarver with a screaming chimp I would be happy.

"You know what God told the cubs. Don't do anything until I get back!" Pete Rose

by Will71081 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Oct 14, 2005 1:20 PM CDT up reply actions

Big Name

This is where the Fox priorities are. They want a big name in the booth, rather than a guy who will provide good insite. Lou sounds like he's an illiterate. There have to be some managers who provide good acumen and sound professional, but they may not be the big names.

DmL

by dmlichte on Oct 13, 2005 1:34 AM CDT reply actions

To that End..

I'd nominate Bruce Bochy. Everything Ive heard of him has been well spoken and articulate. Seems to be fairly intelligent.

by mikew on Oct 13, 2005 2:57 AM CDT up reply actions

Another nomination

would be Al Leiter. I thought he was awesome. he reminded me of Steve Stone in his descriptions from the early days before he became "Pope of Basbeall."

by socalbob on Oct 13, 2005 11:34 AM CDT up reply actions

Is....

... Eric Karros working anywhere on the air this postseason? He was terrific last year.

by Al Yellon on Oct 13, 2005 1:33 PM CDT up reply actions

Not sure...

about now. But he was for the LDS. He was on a broadcast for ESPN.

Cubbie blue always sPaRkLeS in my eyes.

by sparkles721 on Oct 13, 2005 4:36 PM CDT up reply actions

My only problem with Al Leiter

was that when he had nothing to say, he would comment on how to throw pitches over and over again and then they would flash to the booth so he could show the grip.

Its okay if he does that once or twice but how many times do you need to see how to grip a curve ball or two seam fastball?

I think they replaced that part of the commentary with that horribly annoying talking baseball.

"You know what God told the cubs. Don't do anything until I get back!" Pete Rose

by Will71081 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Oct 14, 2005 1:22 PM CDT up reply actions

Scooter is so cute!

how can you say he is annoying? :)

Cubbie blue always sPaRkLeS in my eyes.

by sparkles721 on Oct 14, 2005 4:13 PM CDT up reply actions

Scooter should be junked ASAP

by BeerCub on Oct 16, 2005 12:13 PM CDT up reply actions

No!

but he's so cute! lol

I didn't really find scooter useful even though I was pretty dumb baseball-wise. I don't understand why they use scooter. I don't think that little kids really care about the kind of pitches that are used. Maybe older kids that play baseball. but still the use of scooter implies that many very little kids watch baseball. I don't care, I find Scooter funny.

Cubbie blue always sPaRkLeS in my eyes.

by sparkles721 on Oct 16, 2005 1:19 PM CDT up reply actions

Uh....

Perhaps before calling someone illiterate, you might want to spell "insight" correctly. :)

by andyrut on Oct 14, 2005 11:02 AM CDT up reply actions

Anyone else notice...

the other night, with a man on 2nd base with 1 out that the Sox needed to get him over. He then said a couple minutes later, that with 1 out they need to get him in. Not the sharpest tool in the shed and I agree with the original poster, he's definitely dropped a notch IMO now.

by SoBlueCal on Oct 14, 2005 11:02 PM CDT reply actions