Bruce Levine writes today that Bob Brenly's contract with WGN TV is up after this season and hypothesizes that he would be quite popular if he reaches the free agent market in the offseason.
One viable options for Brenly could be a spot calling Arizona Diamondbacks games. Brenly, a fan favorite who managed the Diamondbacks to a 2001 World Series title, could stabilize a shaky situation on Diamondbacks broadcasts.
Arizona’s current game-calling duo of Mark Grace and Daron Sutton have had rough seasons away from the booth. In June, Sutton was suspended by the Diamondbacks for “insubordination,” according to a report by ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. Grace is taking an indefinite leave of absence from his job after his second drunken driving arrest in 15 months this week.
Brenly is closing out the final year of a four-year contract he signed before the 2009 season. Industry sources insist that he is the highest paid color commentator on local baseball broadcasts, making in excess of $900,000 a year.
It's interesting that Brenly has gotten this far into the last year of his contract and it seems no serious extension discussions have occurred (though it's possible our crack squad of local beat reporters happened to miss that information).
It is also interesting that Kerry Wood signed his contract last season for an absurdly under-market value which spurred all sorts of rumors that there is an under-the-table agreement with Wood for future services with the Cubs. The assumption followed that it meant he would step into a broadcast position whenever he wanted it. At the time, everybody directly involved adamantly denied any handshake agreeement, but there were rumors in the Tribune Tower's halls that those denials were bold-faced lies. I don't know what's true, but here we are with a potential broadcast position opening up next to Len Kasper and Kerry Wood is newly available after his retirement in May.
At the time people were kibitzing about Wood potentially joining a broadcast booth, it was pretty much assumed he would join Pat Hughes on the radio with whoever replaced Ronnie being more of a placeholder (which then turned out to be Keith Moreland). But now Brenly could be heading out the door.
There's any number of reasons why Brenly might want out. The Cubs absolutely suck and don't look to be getting any better any time soon. That has to be difficult to broadcast every damn day. We barely bring ourselves to be able to watch a few innings at a time and write a post every once in a blue moon. He's got to sit there and act interested every night. Say what you will about Brenly, but that can't have been easy the last few years.
Lastly, he does have a son coming up through the system. Whether Michael Brenly ever reaches the majors or not, I'm sure that is still his goal, and Bob, as a father probably wants to believe that is a real possibility. So he may be preparing to extricate from a situation where he'd have to cover his own son on a semi-objective basis, when he's really just want to root him on like the proud dad that he is.
He may just want the biggest pay day. It could be that simple. Or it could be a combination of any of those reasons or there may be other reasons I haven't thought of. Maybe Len has the worst smelling farts and he can't take it anymore. Maybe he knows Soriano will be gone by next season and he'll be at a loss for words without his favorite target to criticize. Maybe he's near an extension and nobody knows it.
It does seem awfully coincidental, though.
I would dance the Dance of Joy if Brenly went bye-bye.
RIP Neil Armstrong.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Brenly isn’t great, but look at the collection of complete morons that make up the stable of MLB color guys. There’s a good chance somebody worse would replace him.
@ PFD:
I almost don’t care. His commentary is so biased, the broadcast can be utterly unwatchable at time.
Brenly isn’t bad at all if you listen to him as infrequently as I have the last three years. It’s years when you’re watching every game that his annoyingness becomes apparent. I agree he is a lot easier on the ears than many if not most of his peers.
Kerry Wood has fuck-all broadcasting experience.
Neither did Santo, but that was radio.
He could be good. He seems like a good speaker, but I have no idea if he could deliver insights for one full game, let alone every day for six months.
Brenly should go for the big bucks if they are out there, but he is already the top paid guy. Hard to see a smaller market matching that salary, even if he’s a known commodity there (like AZ).
He sounded pretty good doing playoffs on TBS. These guys who broadcast every day know much more about the full rosters of all 30 teams than the guys who broadcast once a week, and it showed.
Has Kerry Wood given any indication that he’d like to be an announcer at some point? I hope Brenly is gone and if Wood wants the job AND he’s the best guy available then I hope they sign him. However, I want the Cubs to hire the best color commentator available.
Suburban kid wrote:
Yeah, this is my concern. He’s also not given any indication he wants to announce as far I’m aware. My guess is he takes some sweet job in the front office in which he gets paid a small amount to stay home with his kids. A few times per year he’ll show up to Wrigley and be present for a week or so in spring training.
@ mb21:
It’s too bad there isn’t a younger clone of Vin Scully around.
Demp pitched another good game. Or the Twins just suck.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
It could go either way.
“Maybe Len has the worst smelling farts and he can’t take it anymore.”
This is one of the greatest sentences I have ever read.
Jed Jam Band wrote:
You must read a lot of Steve Rosenbloom if that’s the best thing you’ve ever read, but thank you.
I have no idea if Wood wants to broadcast or not, but that was the assumption when everyone was convinced he had an under-the-table deal. Now there is suddenly a potential opening with no real provocation. Maybe Brenly has gotten too big for his britches and WGN doesn’t want to deal with him anymore and that’s why they seem willing to let him get to the end of his contract. Maybe they have an extension in the works. I have no idea. But if we assume there is a reason he’s being allowed to reach the end of his contract, it seems awfully coincidental that Wood is available.
Wow. ESPN3 is showing Roger Clemens’ game at 7. I’ll have to check this out.
1st AB for Roger: strikeout swinging.
2 strikeouts through 1. Unfortunately, they’re having technical issues with the radar gun, but they’re working on it.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Does this mean those guys have to go back to Japan to save face because they struck out against a 50-year-old? Albeit a 50-year-old legendary pitcher, but still, the dude is old.
Fastest pitch he’s thrown so far: 88 mph.
@ Aisle424:
I could see Wood getting some radio gig, but a tv one would be very surprising to me.
3 IP for Roger. 2 strikeouts, 1 hit, no walks.
Now he leaves after 3.1. That was fun-ish.
@ mb21:
Seems to me that if they want Wood to broadcast, then they’d put two color guys in the booth, like it was with Brenly and Santo on the radio eons ago. (Which I found pretty entertaining by the way.) Putting a batter/fielder with a pitcher to me is a good move because you can get insight on both sides of the ball, if the play-by-play guy can manage them both. It would give Wood experience without having to carry the whole broadcast. Maybe they put him with Dernier or the guy Moreland beat out (who I should know, but have forgotten).
(dying laughing)
I know Vitters splits, but
(dying laughing)
A-Gone left the yard in his first at-bat in a Dodger uniform.
@ Aisle424: It was more the idea that I enjoyed. I mean, can you imagine, having to leave your job because your partner/colleague/cubicle-mate has terrible farts? Anyways, it was also tinged with a bit of sarcasm. And, for the record, I HATE Steve Rosenbloom and all the stupidity he embodies.
I hate it when players I like get put in front of a microphone on a regular basis.
SVB wrote:
Ugh, Dave Otto should be kept far away from the mic. He’s an even bigger cliche spewing machine than Zonk.
@ Berselius:
I wasn’t advocating for Otto (thanks for reminding me of his name), just guessing what the Cubs’d do. I sort of recall reading in the papers that he was pretty popular. Personally, I’d bring Lou Boudreau back, but he’s probably been dead for 10 years already.
By the way, can you explain what “slowing the game down” means? See comment 23. Or should I “Ask OV?” I thought that meant having Steve Trachsel pitch, but surely that’s not what Sveum is talking about. Even though I’m sure Trachsel is as available as Horatio Ramirez.
@ SVB:
In the context of that quote I guess it means that if there are guys on base you want to keep the pitcher guessing and make it less likely for him to quick-pitch a guy. I don’t really know though, baseball is already kind of slow
@ Rice Cube:
All athletes seem to say “just need to slow the game down,” especially if things don’t go well. I have no idea what that means. Slow it down so you can think about it more?
Well, Mather was too slow to second, and got thrown out. Should have sped up his game.
@ SVB:
If it were possible for the Joe Mathers of the world to speed up their game, there would be no Joe Mathers.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
(dying laughing)
SVB wrote:
That’s roughly it. He doesn’t mean literally slowing down, but being able to think through your actions as if the game is going slowly.
Oh, so that’s how it is. Un-logged-in comments don’t get posted till a VP gives it the OK. Fuck that fucking shit.
@ SK in the office:
Or maybe not. My previous comment wouldn’t post, and when I tried it again, it said I’d already posted it. So I assumed it was in a queue for the moderator.
Slow the game down. Don’t do anything stupid just because you have a rally going. Don’t act on impulse. Think about the situation. It can help to actually slow things down by calling time out, stepping out the box, taking pitches, drawing pick-off throws, etc. This can put more pressure on the opposing pitcher and keep momentum on your side, meanwhile giving you time to think and prepare.
@ mb21:
Yeah, they need to take an objective stance. How many plays by play above replacement is KW expected to be worth? Are we taking Bob’s aging curve into consideration?
@ SK in the office:
Isn’t thinking about a physical activity one of the worst things you can do? Isn’t this why they’re always saying a dude had to get out of his head?
@ josh:
You can’t just run (or not run) unthinkingly as a base runner.
That example you mention is almost always used about a slumping hitter. That’s about the ongoing slump, not a specific situation.
@ josh:
I think he’s referring to flow
which is kind of like slowing the game down but it’s really more the mental state of being focused and prepared to make decisions, react to events as they happen and all that jazz. Baseball, like all sports, have their cliches as shorthand for more complex concepts.
@ SVB:
What is this in response to?
Not that anybody really needed to analyze it to figure out it was a huge win for the Red Sox (Dodgers trade), but here are the numbers someone else put together on The Book Blog: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApDc5PGsBzgVdE5UdWJQdHRQc3lyNTI0UFhCUnozbGc#gid=0
@ Suburban kid:
oh we’re talking about baserunning. Yeah that makes sense. Seems like hitters run into problems when they think too much. Baserunners and fielders more, it’s more like they need a plan, but still need to train their bodies how to react according to the plan (knowing it’s a run on contact play and executing that are two different things, one’s physical one’s mental).
@ mb21:
Saw one commenter on some web page that was lamenting that the Red Sox had been ruined by Ben Cherington now.
@ josh:
“Ruined”? This trade makes me wonder not-so-slightly whether the Cubs hired the wrong guy (dying laughing)
I still like what Theo and Jed are doing, but Cherington’s miracle was epic.
Mobile Rice wrote:
I’ve had that same feeling the last couple of days.
@ mb21:
I still think the Cubs are in better hands than in the last few seasons of Hendry, and there are plenty of smart guys and well-respected baseball minds in the front office, but goddamn that was a great trade for the Red Sox. It’s like they pulled the ultimate Jedi mind trick.
The 2013 Cubs: Still lusting after the Red Sox front office
@ mb21:
I guess I left out the link. It was the recap on yesterday’s game, either from the Daily Herald or MLB.com. Sveum was talking about when Mather got thrown out at 2nd during the double steal attempt.
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, the Cubs are definitely in better hands than they were before, but like you said, that was just a ridiculously good trade for the Red Sox. It’s the worst trade I’ve ever seen a team make (Dodgers) and I can’t even think of another one that’s even close. As someone who isn’t a Dodgers fan it’s just ugly. If I was a Dodgers fan I’d probably be thrilled because their odds of reaching the postseason increased significantly.
@ mb21:
I think if I were a Dodgers fan I’d be like “YAY” this year and then “FUCK” the next five or six years.
@ Rice Cube:
Yep. Same with Soriano. Loved it when it happened. Hated it a few years later.
Of course this could just be that Cherington had a better team to fire sale with than Theo and Jed. I’m still very impressed though. As a Giants fan I’m also very upset with the Dodgers for being so retarded (dying laughing)
@ Rice Cube:
He had a better team, but those are contracts that no team should want a part of. Red Sox management wanted no part of them, but Theo gave them out anyway. I never thought it possible they could trade those two and the idea you could package them together is just crazy good for the Sox.
@ mb21:
It’s like Colletti and Cherington were at a barbecue, and Colletti asked for a cheeseburger.
“Oh sure,” says Cherington. “I’ll give you the patty that the dog had in its mouth for a while after it fell on the ground. And I’m all out of sliced cheese, but I have plenty of spray cheese in a can.”
“Sounds good,” says Colletti.
“Would you like me to top it all off with some expired Cookies BBQ sauce?”
Colletti thinks it over for a few seconds. “Eh, fuck it, why not?” he says, and hands him a $20.
@ GBTS:
Actually this would probably be more accurate if Colletti’s pregnant wife demanded that he get her a cheeseburger, pronto.
@ GBTS:
My pregnant wife would’ve slapped me if I had given her the crappy GBTS cheeseburger special from comment #55.
@ Rice Cube:
congrats on your future spawn, rc
Not a bad day for the Cubs youngsters.
Volstad’s first win is in sight, you can just see it behind the steaming pile of garbage that is the Cubs pen
Sounds like Japan is the LLWS champ. They have some beefy kids on that team.
@ Berselius:
Thanks, but she was pregnant like 8 years ago (dying laughing) But back then, yes, she would not have appreciated a bad cheeseburger.
Volstad -> 6 full
Adolfo should get Player Of The Game honors for hitting into that DP and ending that awful Tom Dreesen interview.
(dying laughing) @ Rockies’ defense
@ Rice Cube:
Cargo made a brilliant throw, but was rewarded with an error when it went past the catcher.
This rain delay is obviously a conspiracy to prevent Volstad from getting the win. Somehow.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
I was talking about the subsequent ones. It sucks that CarGo got the error.
Does Marmol get an assumed save?
Volstad is living proof that if something is within reach long enough you’ll eventually reach it.
@ Rice in limbo:
Vin Scully announced today that he’d return for his 64th year of broadcasting next year.
64 years. Wow.
Shawn Camp got the default save since he was the last guy to pitch before the game was called.
Also:
http://bullpenbrian.com/2012/08/26/dodgers-red-sox-trade-theo-epstein/
Google + Twitter = where F’bomb is dropped the most in N. America.
http://www.newappsblog.com/2012/08/a-thought-on-removing-drugs-from-sports.html
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
MO, that was an interesting point of view. I mostly agree. In fact, my wife and I were discussing Armstrong this morning. The article I read in the local rag suggested that some of his titles would go to the 10th place finisher some years. This seems to echo the “They all doped” argument in your link.
How do you disincentivize the kingpins in MLB? How about the team loses the roster spot if one of the players is suspended (for the duration of the suspension). Thus Oakland is down to 24 men for the rest of the season and first 10 games of the playoffs or next year because of Bartolo Colon. Or you pull draft picks from the team.
I’m not surprised that the dopers caught this year had Bay Area ties (Byrd:Conte, Cabrera-Giants, Colon-A’s…). Seems that is an epicenter and the the Giants in particular aren’t really working to clean it up.
I liked this catch:
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=24245195&c_id=mlb
@ Rice Cube:
Good piece of hitting by DeJesus in the bottom of the 8th too. He seems to be heating up.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
the home run record was broken, MO. This is seriousl shit that has to be treated like serious shit. Kingpins? Thems the ones that hit the home runs. Duh.
@ SVB:
That’s actually the best idea I’ve heard yet.
@ mb21:
Yep, but MLB will never do that because the real kingpins of the steroid era are the ones who get to make the rules about who pays for the ignominy of the steroid era.
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Shadow-Scholar/125329/
@ GW:
That dude is a master sophist.
@ GW:
Since I teach ESL students, I’ve found a lot of suddenly transformed ability in writing in English. None so well hidden as the linked essay explains. Sounds like a really crappy job to me. 640 comments on the article. Our last thread was nothing compared to that.
Aisle424 wrote:
Back to the topic, I wonder why this was the assumption.
When I heard about an under-the-table deal to stay in the organization, my first thought was as a coach or front office guy. I know Wood would seem a good choice for broadcasting due to his popularity, but does anyone actually know what he wants to do for the rest of his life? Media is real different from on-field or front office roles.
I have no words…
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120804/ISSUE03/308049983/when-the-game-isnt-enough-10-great-distractions-at-chicagos-ballparks
@ Suburban kid:
I personally agree. Like I said, this could all be a simple coincidence, but i do find myself cocking an eyebrow that suddenly Brenly’s presence in the booth may suddenly come to an end.
Sullivan ran a piece yesterday where Brenly stated that his possible signing with Arizona is just rain delay filler or something like that. It could just be Posturing in the Media Time.
Aisle424 wrote:
Al has no mouth
.
.
.
.
@ Aisle424:
Since Wrigley is an old stadium in the middle of a neighborhood and not equipped with connected restaurants, mini-ball-diamonds for kids, etc. like Comiskey is, the reporter has to dredge up other stuff to distract you from the game, like talk to Al. At least he didn’t suggest watching the ivy green-up in May. I thought this was a funny comment:
In a way, this reinforces your point from the other day. Comiskey has more conveniences than Wrigley, and still people don’t attend Sox games. Imagine if they had cattle tank pissers there, then they’d only get 15,000/game. Also, I don’t follow Sox blogs, maybe they don’t have anyone like Al that has attended every game the last four years.
Fun fact of the day: Coors Field is the third oldest stadium in the NL.
GBTS wrote:
Wow. That really is true, isn’t it?
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2012/8/27/3270063/bryan-lahair-and-flashing-in-the-pan
@ GW:
I don’t know why, but this is shocking to me. I went to college more than a decade earlier, but I knew of few people who cheated though I’m certain the actual number was much larger. It never occurred to me to cheat. Why would I pay to take a class and then not do the work myself? There seemed no point in that. I took classes to be challenged and I wasn’t about to pass that challenge onto someone else.
@ Aisle424:
That was my thought too, but then I ran through the teams and it is. What about the American League? Skydome or whatever they call it is older. What about Camden? Wasn’t that 1992? The A’s play in an older park. Not sure about the Mariners or Angels.
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
@ mb21:
It’s much easier to cheat now, MB, and much harder to get caught. Colleges are rife with it. I have dealt with at least one plagiarism or exam heating case for 6 consecutive terms in my classes. And these are the ones that are inept enough to get caught. I assume for every palgiarism I catch, probably two slip by. Even the electronic catchers don’t catch all of them. A friend of mine just caught a kid plagiarizing (he stole a passge verbatim from a very famous paper), ran the kid’s essay through our electronic checker, and it came back at 17% suspicious. We usually don’t double check anything below 30%. It’s just too easy now. The speed of and ease of access to information makes it far easier to cheat than ever before.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’m just thankful I teach a subject in which it’s much more difficult to cheat. You can still use wolfram, etc. to plow through computational homework problems but the homework is only intended to prepare you for the exams anyway.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I get that and I realize people are different from me, but for me, I wanted to learn. I didn’t want someone else to learn the stuff I was paying to learn. The biggest reason I’ve been blogging about baseball for so long is because I want to learn and I do that from each and every one of you. The advantage of being here is that I get to learn about baseball, agriculture, chemistry, cooking and so on and so forth.
@ mb21:
I get that and I have students like that. But the lure of that almost untraceable and easily downloadable essay on Sunday night seems too much for too many.
@ mb21:
Yeah, I’m in that boat too. To other people, education is a means to an end. Which, of course devalues bachelor’s education, and makes a master’s degree more valuable. *shines his MA*
*Cries himself to sleep*
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Sunday night before the essay is due is when I always wrote my best essays.
Students are robbing themselves of a valuable life lesson: screw around until the pressure is overwhelming, then panic-work.
That’s the hardest thing about writing now. There’s no pressure.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
At least in my experience, of the people I know and have met during my 4 years, cheating has never been a HUGE issue, but I guess I’m not the one looking for it. What I think is a much bigger issue though, really. Is how almost everyone I know pops so many pills for exams with no regard for consequences. During finals week I’ll get at least 50 mass texts from people looking for Adderall. People legitimately think I’m weird because I haven’t used it before.
@ akabari:
Again, robbing themselves of an important life-skill. I never use pills and yet I don’t need to sleep much to (basically) function. Why the hell are people even going to college if not to learn how to work under artificial pressure and live without sleep?
@ josh:
Yeah, I’m largely a single draft guy, too, but I’m trying to break myself of the habit. But I think the problem for these kids, and I see it all the time when I confront them with their plagiarized papers, is that they don’t know how to be students. They don’t under why they are there, what they are supposed to be doing, or how they are supposed to do it. So I assign them a paper, tell them to use some number of sources, and I might as well have told them to explain the Fibonacci sequence in 5 sentences or less. So as much as their plagiarizing angers me, I also feel for them because they just aren’t prepared to learn by the American school system.
Minor shit up
http://www.obstructedview.net/minor-leagues/the-children-are-the-future-cubs-minor-league-update-sponsored-by-fingers-crossed-llc.html
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
That’s much easier to look up, you can explain it in one sentence (dying laughing)