Who do you prefer as the Twins Color Commentator

[stringer bell]

The Twins will have Marney Gellner doing television play-by-play this week in Chicago and San Francisco. For those of us lucky enough to get Bally Sports, having Cory Provus has been a nice addition to the broadcasts, but having Marney on play by play should be fun, as well.

Speaking of the broadcasts, the Twins have switched out as many as six ex-Twins as color commentators. Each provides a little different view of the game and I've found all to be pretty good, but if any of them did 160 games, I would probably get tired of their style and their takes. Which brings up the question, who is your favorite (if you have one)?

[Squirrel]

18 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

The Twins will have Marney Gellner doing television play-by-play this week in Chicago and San Francisco. For those of us lucky enough to get Bally Sports, having Cory Provus has been a nice addition to the broadcasts, but having Marney on play by play should be fun, as well.

Speaking of the broadcasts, the Twins have switched out as many as six ex-Twins as color commentators. Each provides a little different view of the game and I've found all to be pretty good, but if any of them did 160 games, I would probably get tired of their style and their takes. Which brings up the question, who is your favorite (if you have one)?

You should open the poll so we can make more than one selection. I don’t want to choose all, but I don’t want to choose just one of them, either

[Linus]

Perk and Morneau for me. Really the only two I don’t want are Span and Plouffe. Denard adds nothing (nice guy) and Plouffe makes each broadcast seem like a frat party. 

[USAFChief]

I lean Perkins, with Morneau second. But I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of either. I'm glad for the rotation of several options, even if I don't really care for a couple options.

Provus is top notch, though. He was really really good on radio and is great on TV too.

[ashbury]

Concur with the consensus so far.  I don't hate any of them and I doubt I would like to have any one of them for all 162 games.  Plouffe has been a pleasant surprise.  Hawkins is enjoyable and in some ways is my favorite but once in a while he unleashes a comment that (while it didn't offend me personally) he might have left unsaid.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Smalley is my least favorite but he's okay. The rest I like quite a bit, all for different reasons.

[DJL44]

Abstain, I only get to watch the nationally televised games.

[mrtwinsfan]

1 hour ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Smalley is my least favorite but he's okay. The rest I like quite a bit, all for different reasons.

Smalley is my least favorite but he's okay.  but to me -- not ever okay,  similar to that Other ALL-STAR  Laudner  both are way past there time, and it shows!

[stringer bell]

I can tell Roy is a different generation, but it’s my generation. He’s a baseball guy though and he knows hitting. I don’t mind him in short intervals.

Perkins seems the most willing to be critical and I like that. I like the perspective of LaTroy, because he played for a whole bunch of teams. 

[Vanimal46]

I’ll give Trevor Plouffe some love. I listen to him on the podcast Talkin’ Baseball and I enjoy his takes. 

[Vanimal46]

3 hours ago, USAFChief said:

I lean Perkins, with Morneau second. But I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of either. I'm glad for the rotation of several options, even if I don't really care for a couple options.

Provus is top notch, though. He was really really good on radio and is great on TV too.

It’s amazing how much Provus propped up our radio team. It’s gone from one of the best to possibly the worst with Atteberry and Gladden. 

[2wins87]

Pretty much all of the above.

I think the best broadcasts are often when there are two color guys, sometimes you get some good back and forth between a former hitter and pitcher or just interesting baseball conversations. I don't think that will become the norm for $$ reasons.

I always liked Perk and he's grown on me more lately.

Smalley is the most old school but he generally has very few "get off my lawn" takes so I enjoy him.

I can see how Plouffe or Hawk's personality would not be for everyone, but I have found them both to be generally entertaining.

There is honestly nothing about Span being on the broadcast that I remember.  I'm not even sure if I listened to the broadcast on games he did, though I think I must have at least a little bit.  Probably needs to be on a few more times before we can really judge.

[lecroy24fan]

Where's the option for anyone not named Smalley?

[Craig Arko]

Jim Kaat.

[Linus]

I know this is supposed to be about the color guys but I want to compliment Provus. He is hands down the best announcer in our market. To me he is a modern day Herb Carneal - a true pro who you can enjoy all summer and never get tired of him. I can listen to Kris Attebery and Tim Laudner for three minutes and I have to turn it off. 

[CRF]

For me...it's Perk #1, Morny #2, and after that, I could take a pass on all of them. I'd almost rather hear Dazzle than Hawk, Smalley, Plouffe, or Spannie. At least Danny is so bad that he's comical. None of them bring much to the broadcast. Agree with everyone on Provus...he's very good. Marney wasn't too bad last night either. I wouldn't mind her filling in every once in a while, if Cory 's gone.  

[Possumlad]

I'm likely in the (dramatic) minority, but I don't enjoy Provus nearly as much on TV as I did on the radio. He feels a bit stiffer & more forced on TV. Doesn't find the flow as naturally, and not all that organic or natural filling dead space. I enjoy his voice & actual play-by-play calls, but don't really enjoy his other commentary, repartee, or attempts at humor. Less of an issue on the radio, as more of the job is just calling & describing the action.

Perk & Plouffe are my choices on the color side, but I enjoy the rotation. Don't mind any of them in doses. 

[Aggies7]

On 7/9/2024 at 2:24 PM, Possumlad said:

I'm likely in the (dramatic) minority, but I don't enjoy Provus nearly as much on TV as I did on the radio. He feels a bit stiffer & more forced on TV. Doesn't find the flow as naturally, and not all that organic or natural filling dead space. I enjoy his voice & actual play-by-play calls, but don't really enjoy his other commentary, repartee, or attempts at humor. Less of an issue on the radio, as more of the job is just calling & describing the action.

Perk & Plouffe are my choices on the color side, but I enjoy the rotation. Don't mind any of them in doses. 

I said this exact thing yesterday and nobody agreed. Cory was better on the radio, IMO. 
 

I don’t enjoy the musical chairs on all the broadcasts. I could see maybe two color commentators to switch between, but the twins have an extraordinary amount and most are meh at best.

Also don’t need a week of Marney, sorry. She’s not bad but a week is a lot, I prefer Cory.

[ziggy]

Provus was really good at conversing with Gladden. It had to be painful. 

As far a color commentators I enjoyed Tom Kelly but he did not talk a whole lot. I liked Bert but after 10 years his schtick got long in the tooth. I'd like to see him back for 30 games a year. I'd like to see Kaat back for 30 games a year. Morney, Plouffe, Hawk and Perkins for the rest. So I guess my vote goes for variety. Smalley is knowledgeable but his stutter and how long it takes him to tell a story drives me nuts. Shouldn't an orator be able to spit out a story in an efficient fashion? But I am jealous of his hair.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

I prefer Morneau or Perkins...

I like all of them for the most part with the exception of Span - its like he's saying a lot but saying nothing at the same time.

Perkins and Plouffe on the broadcasts together are sometimes hard to listen to. I like them both individually but when they're paired up, there's just too many sidebars, inside joke type conversations and it becomes tiresome.

[jaimedude]

I like them all and that the Twins change it up. Latroy Hawkins and Glen Perkins knowledge of pitching and story telling I like. I find Hawkins and Perkins very relate-able and enjoy the baseball knowledge they convey. I like Plouffe but he could talk a little less. Span is new to the broadcasting  game so give him some time to learn the pacing and when to interact with play by play. 

[wabene]

22 minutes ago, jaimedude said:

I like them all and that the Twins change it up. Latroy Hawkins and Glen Perkins knowledge of pitching and story telling I like. I find Hawkins and Perkins very relate-able and enjoy the baseball knowledge they convey. I like Plouffe but he could talk a little less. Span is new to the broadcasting  game so give him some time to learn the pacing and when to interact with play by play. 

This is pretty much where I am. Span has already improved a little. I think he's worked less than 10 games in his career so far. 

Smalley does have better hair than me, lol, but his takes are almost Bertian (a word describing something that is like Bert Blyleven). The delivery is excruciating.

Morneau was always tough for me, but in small doses I do think he is better with Cory.

I've always liked LaTroy as a player, as a dignified role model and on color he doesn't talk to much.

I really enjoy three in the booth.

Shout out to Audra, likeable, 😀 she's just got good energy.

 

[TwinsCD]

I'd go Morneau 1 and Perkins 2 with Hawkins a distant 3rd.  But I think the broadcasts pop more when it's a 3-man booth and you have Morneau with one of the pitchers because then they can get into more strategy and counterpoints because of their differing focus.  However, you can't have both pitchers on at the same time and you can't have both Morneau & Span on at the same time (prefer they keep Span off completely as he didn't bring much in the Chicago series and his pointing out of Marney's mistake on Pablo's name was really awkward) because then you get just one side of the matchup's perspective.