Notes: Maddux finally faces Braves, announcing trio retained | ajc.com
The rumor has been that the Dodgers were interested in bringing in Sutton as part of a restructuring of their announcing team. The Braves picked up two-year options on Caray, Van Wieren, and Simpson, but not Sutton — they say they’re interested in negotiating a new deal with him. If he does go, I wonder if they have someone already in mind to take his place.
Good News. Clemens is listed as the starter for tomorrow’s game. The Astros can’t take any chances. The Giants-Dodgers game is a 4pm start, so the Astros have to make sure they win. That’s good for the Braves.
The upside for the Astros is starting him tomorrow instead of using him in a Monday playoff game would get him into the playoffs quicker. The downside is if they happen to lose and the Dodgers play their scrubs (which they most likely will since they clinched), then he would not be available for said Monday playoff game, and they would have to burn Oswalt most likely to get past the Giants.
Either way, I’m liking the Astros chances of getting in and subsequently the Braves’ chances of going to the NLCS.
I’d hate to see Don go . . . he might actually be my favorite of the bunch. He knows the game, he really knows pitching, and you hardly ever hear him say the stupid things that broadcasters typically say.
I heard an interview with Don this winter and when asked if he would leave the Braves if the Dodger’s called him to be Vin Scully’s replacement he answered yes without hesitation. I want the Braves to look into Al Lieter. Has he announced his retirement from pitching? He was fantastic as a guest announcer in last year’s playoffs.
Don gone? Who will tell me 8,000 times a year that “not all outs are on good pitches and not all hits are on bad pitches”?
From the Dodgers side, who is he replacing? The Dodgers go with a one annoucer system, and Vin, Ross Porter and Rick Monday have been around a while. Vin is, of course, the best in the business. I haven’t heard that he’s retiring. Porter is very annoying, the kind of guy who will tell you with a straight face that Beltre is hitting .420 on Wednesdays against non-division opponents as if it’s somehow a meaningful stat. Monday is fine, but only works about three innings a night, persumably when Porter is off looking up more stats to bore us to death with.
I guess to get Don to leave, they would need to promise him some serious TV time which would mean either 1) Vin retiring which would be a national disaster or 2)Vin being forced to share the booth with Don which is also a very bad idea since anytime Don is talking everyone would be wishing Vin was talking.
Probably best for all if Don stays put. Although if he’s got LA on his mind, maybe he could hook on with the Angels and end the long national nightmare that is Rex Hudler…
The ONLY thing that would reconcile me to the Dodgers’ letting Ross Porter go (as it seems they are doing) would be to hire Don as his replacement. They’re dropping Ross because of his salary, though, and I’m sure it would take more than he makes to hire Sutton. If he leaves, I hope he at least goes to another (besides the Braves, that is) team I like.
After seeing this, I’m wondering if Don might be gone:
http://www.ajc.com/print/content/epaper/editions/today/sports_14f5c94ac0ee22950052.html
Chicago Tribune reports today that the Braves are talking to Chip Carey about joining the broadcast team. That is unfortunate. If the Braves hire Chip, there would be two broadcasters (the father and son) with good voices but little or no analytical ability.