Bert will be back in 2017 and 2018, but with even fewer games

[kydoty]

http://www.startribune.com/bert-blyleven-back-as-twins-tv-analyst-but-doing-fewer-games/398739201/

 

Bert Blyleven has been a Twins TV analyst for more than two decades, but in that time he’s seen his role reduced. Based on a two-year contract he agreed to recently, that role will be even smaller in 2017 and 2018.

Blyleven is slated to do 80 games on Fox Sports North in both of those years, which would represent a reduction of 20 games from recent seasons.

 

Twins President Dave St. Peter confirmed that Blyleven and play-by-play voice Dick Bremer will both be back in 2017 and 2018. He said the Twins and FSN proposed the 80-game package to Blyleven — which the Hall of Fame pitcher accepted — and are “jointly considering multiple options” for the other 70 games expected to be televised by FSN.

Roy Smalley, Jack Morris and Tim Laudner — all former Twins players, as is Blyleven — served as FSN analysts in 2016.

[jimmer]

As long as we're getting a POBO, a new GM and maybe a new AGM, it'd be nice to get a completely new TV Broadcast team too.  Maybe a team that doesn't make people want to mute the TV or look for the opposing team's broadcast.

[Craig Arko]

I'd go for Paul Allen and Sid Hartman.

[mickeymental]

paul molitor?

[Thrylos]

I'd love to see them hire someone who actually gets the big picture of baseball like Doogie Wolfson or Phil Mackey.  Maybe Brandon Warne is interested.  Or even Seth Stohs.

 

 

[notoriousgod71]

Less of Blyleven means more of Laudner and Smalley.

 

Boo.

[ScottyB]

Give Cuddy a chance.  He's always been interested in broadcasting.

[theBOMisthebomb]

Bad news. Dick and Bert are symbolic of much of what is wrong with this organization and it would have been nice to start over. Get a broadcasting team that understands (today's) game. Plus, Dick's lame stories of his hometown are so bad they cannot be listened to by a sane person. Audra Martin is a joy and should be the full time sideline reporter.

[TheLeviathan]

Short snippets of Cuddy have me intrigued by him as the color guy.

[Ben B]

They could've just filmed 80 games of the Twins media guide sitting on a table and it would've provided as much insight as Bert. 

[Halsey Hall]

I've had all I can take of Bert.  He talks like we are all 10 years old and forgot what he said yesterday.  Nuts!

[twinssporto]

Move Dan Gladden over from the radio to tv broadcast team. 

[theBOMisthebomb]

Move Dan Gladden over from the radio to tv broadcast team.

 

How about some new blood instead? This franchise needs a complete makeover and a new identity. The announcers are cosmetic changes, yet are at least a start. Gladden seems outdated the little of him I have heard and gets criticized for not giving the score frequently enough. Let's get a fresh start, we cannot sink any lower on so many levels.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I don't think Blyleven is that bad. He's not that good, either.

 

I'll take him over Gladden for sure.

[NCtwinsfan]

Meh, I'm ok with Dick'n'Bert. When it comes to watching the games on TV, I am not really looking for a lot of statistical depth and analysis from the booth. I usually get my fill of that here on TD before the game. I am guessing it is probably intentional, and the broadcast is targeted at the casual fans, I get it. For me, an important part of the commentary is to make the game seem more exciting. In a losing season like the past years, I find them hard to listen to because there is usually not much to be excited about. I know some dislike the homer-ism, but I actually appreciate it. I want to listen to someone that is passionate about their home team (which is hard to do at 59-103). I definitely like the sideline reporter team of Marny and Audra. Audra's accent takes me back to Minnesota every time. 

 

What I don't care for is the repetitive phrases and themes. I don't need to hear any more about "downward plane" or "my birthday." Over 162 games, yeah there will be a lot of repetition, but still, it is the same thing every year. If I had to listen to Hawk say "Can o corn" or "He gone!" every game, I might lose it.

When the Twins aren't terrible, I don't mind, and even enjoy listening to the Twins broadcast team. But I do understand the desire for a more modern approach to the game, and would not be opposed to someone with a fresher approach.

[USAFChief]

I'm to the point where I really, really find Blyleven hard to listen to.  He has not said anything new, or interesting, in years.  I can literally predict the quips in advance, partly because that's all he ever says. He hasn't done any actual "analysis" in at least a decade. 

 

 

 

 

 

[jimmer]

The Broadcast team has been going through the motions, kind of like the FO and team did this decade :-)

[Seth Stohs]

Yeah, I used to talk about muting it, but i don't anymore. 

 

1.) I think Bremer does a really good job. He knows the game, and he knows his audience. He has to work really, really hard to get the most out of Bert. I have a ton of respect for what he does.

 

2.) 80 games of Bert is plenty. I get annoyed by the reading from the media guide, and the fact that I don't know that he's added anything different in the last several years. But, it's not end-of-the-world, and I certainly can understand why it would be entertaining to those who aren't die-hard, casual fans who don't live-and-die with each game and read analysis throughout a day about the team on sites like this one.

 

3.) I hope this means more Smalley. He can get wordy, but I love the analysis that he provides. 

[jimmer]

Bremer is absolutely horrible.  I can't believe ANYONE thinks he still belongs in the booth if he ever did to begin with.

 

As a team, they are likely the least prepared I've ever listened to and they can't fact check at all.

 

There are only 30 broadcast teams.  Only the best should occupy those booths and there are few worse than our normal combo.

[gjjtolson]

80 games? Sounds like a 5 inning start.

[Doomtints]

I disagree with some of the statements here about how the broadcast team is terrible and this being something the Twins must fix.

 

The Twins have bigger problems that they should be spending time on.  Dick and Bert can do the job and the point of the broadcast team has never been to cater to diehard baseball nerds such as us.  We feel we know more than them, so what?  We're a minority.  

[jimmer]

Watching a broadcast is the way most people digest baseball.  To have such a horrible broadcast team could turn a lot of viewers off, especially when the product on the field is also very bad.  With few exceptions, I find myself picking the other team's feed for games (because I have to get MLB Extra Innings to get Twins baseball).  

 

Would I rather watch and listen to Twins broadcast, yes.  Problem is, when it's so bad and predictable (saying the same things practically every game) along with getting easy things wrong time and time again it's just painful. 

 

Basically, Twins TV combo is good for playing drinking games if the point is to get hammered.

[Doomtints]

 

Watching a broadcast is the way most people digest baseball.  To have such a horrible broadcast team could turn a lot of viewers off, especially when the product on the field is also very bad.  With few exceptions, I find myself picking the other team's feed for games (because I have to get MLB Extra Innings to get Twins baseball).  

 

Would I rather watch and listen to Twins broadcast, yes.  Problem is, when it's so bad and predictable (saying the same things practically every game) along with getting easy things wrong time and time again it's just painful. 

 

Basically, Twins TV combo is good for playing drinking games if the point is to get hammered.

 

I would say that 95% of fans don't notice that things being said are "wrong."  The Twins would be smart to not pay attention to the baseball nerd minority. 

[jimmer]

 

I would say that 95% of fans don't notice that things being said are "wrong."  The Twins would be smart to not pay attention to the baseball nerd minority. 

Yeah, when I say wrong I don't mean things that are opinion, I mean stats they quote being blatantly and easily identified as wrong.  Like you hear it and KNOW it's wrong, then you go and check and see that it is.

 

But yeah, I think the Twins should just ignore smart fans when doing broadcasts.  Makes it easier to switch to listening to teams broadcasts who care to put a quality product in the booth.  Baseball has evolved, more is understood about the game than ever before, and it'd be nice to have a booth that reflected that.

[Doomtints]

 

Yeah, when I say wrong I don't mean things that are opinion, I mean stats they quote being blatantly and easily identified as wrong.  Like you hear it and KNOW it's wrong, then you go and check and see that it is.

 

But yeah, I think the Twins should just ignore smart fans when doing broadcasts.  Makes it easier to switch to listening to teams broadcasts who care to put a quality product in the booth.  Baseball has evolved, more is understood about the game than ever before, and it'd be nice to have a booth that reflected that.

 

I like your sarcasm.  

 

Maybe you're just more optimistic than I am.  I can tell you that when I talk to people who consider themselves big baseball fans and I start throwing around any advanced metric they have no clue what I'm talking about.  I have met exactly one person in my life who can talk about advanced metrics at all.  That's why I find myself on sites such as this where I can talk to people at a similar level to myself.

 

Hopefully everyone will reach a point where they know more about a topic than what they see on television.  We're at that point with baseball.  A new broadcasting team won't really change that.  Even if an analytical team was put up there, we'd disagree with them half the time.  We disagree with each other at least half the time!

[jimmer]

 

I like your sarcasm.  

 

Maybe you're just more optimistic than I am.  I can tell you that when I talk to people who consider themselves big baseball fans and I start throwing around any advanced metric they have no clue what I'm talking about.  I have met exactly one person in my life who can talk about advanced metrics at all.  That's why I find myself on sites such as this where I can talk to people at a similar level to myself.

 

Hopefully everyone will reach a point where they know more about a topic than what they see on television.  We're at that point with baseball.  A new broadcasting team won't really change that.

Oh, I didn't say they were messing up advanced stats.  I mean common, old school, been around 1000 years, stats that they can't get right.  Even about players on their own team or about the team overall.  

[Halsey Hall]

If I was paying Bert, I'd tape one game.  Then have Dick just push one of maybe 8 buttons to have Bert say his thing. 

[nicksaviking]

 

Bremer is absolutely horrible.  I can't believe ANYONE thinks he still belongs in the booth if he ever did to begin with.

 

As a team, they are likely the least prepared I've ever listened to and they can't fact check at all.

 

There are only 30 broadcast teams.  Only the best should occupy those booths and there are few worse than our normal combo.

 

I don't have a problem with Bremer. He's a complete homer but I'm guessing that's pretty much a requirement of any local play-by-play guy. He knows the Twins and he knows his broadcasting area like the back of his hand.

 

I'm guessing one of the biggest issues people have with the current broadcasting team is the lack of understanding of new school baseball ideas. I'd prefer to have on air discussions about those, but casual viewers like my mother would get bored very quickly and there are more casual viewers than there are viewers with Baseball Prospectus and Fangraphs bookmarked on their browsers.

 

While she probably wouldn't be great to replace Bert as a color person, I wouldn't mind Marney Gelner giving Dick a breather once in awhile, I'd like to see what she can do. She seems to be very in control and knowledgeable.

 

I used to like Bert, he was more blunt and still is, but he does have an air of mailing it in lately. It could be getting old for him but perhaps it's just all the losing.

[DaveW]

DickBert are fine, the hand wringing that goes over them is just so ridiculously over the top that it makes people look like a bunch of whiners.

The problem with watching a Twins broadcast is that more often than not you are going to see a terrible product on the field the last 5 years. Not even Vin Scully could make the 2016 Twins watchable.

 

[Vanimal46]

Fangraphs earlier this summer put together a crowd-sourced rankings of each team's radio and TV broadcasting crew.. 

Dick N Bert came in ranked #50 

I don't have an issue with Bremer. He's very professional, and overall a good call for play-by-play. 

Bert's bits on the air have worn on me, and it sounds like most of us. I'm not a big advanced stats person, so that's not a concern when I watch a game. I'm looking for analysis during a game, and entertainment first and foremost. Bert is just not entertaining anymore IMO.