Opinion: Twins TV Hits a Grand Slam with All Analyst Broadcast

[Western SD Fan]

I'll try to summarize all of the comments I have made about this the last couple of days in this thread.

1.  I like this as a change of pace and, as @Riverbrian has pointed out, is the wave of the future and we need to embrace it if we want viewership to continue to rise, especially for the Twins are depending on MLB.TV for their production and distribution.  As people have developed fatigue for the number of streaming services which they have to pay for, the ability to continually make a production more entertaining is a must.

2. The goal would be to tighten it up, so it is closer to the ManningCast that we see on Monday Night Football.  A bit more analysis would really elevate this broadcast, such as a better explanation for why Lee was picked off 3rd last night would have helped.

3. Wednesday's broadcast was already an improvement over Tuesday's as they weren't all in the booth at the same time for much of the game.  The idea of getting to have analysts in different parts of the stadium was a great experience to watch and listen to how they see the game from various parts of the ballpark.

4. We got to see first-hand the outsized influence that Plouffe has on the organization.  His antic of handing out $20's got Tom Pohlad out of his suite to sit down with both Plouffe and Span in the corners and interact with fans during the game.  I challenged this thread to find me another front-facing owner who has done this, in any sport, in the last five years.  So far, I have not received a response on this one yet.  This isn't to defend the Pohlads in what they have done to this team, just pointing out that he is willing to step down from his ivory tower, even for a moment, to interact with fans.  I also believe Plouffe is the only person in the Twins organization with a pulse on the fanbase due to his position with Jomboy Media.

Ultimately, this will be a win for future viewership. I would like to see Molitor in the booth for one of the games, maybe not all of them.  I understand the concern of toning down the jocularity as they would defer to him as an expert.  I think the broadcast would win though as we would get to hear from both a manager's perspective as well as a player.  I think hearing from what the manager expects in a situation vs what the player is experiencing would be a great insight to the broadcast.  There are two series which this broadcast setup would be perfect for:  this series in front of the Twins HOF weekend and the upcoming Player's weekend, provided the Twins are at home.

[rdehring]

Loved it, but as others have said wouldn't be good to do more than 3-4 series a year.  Might also make sense to change one of the four on repeat performances.  Would love seeing Cuddyer, Hunter, Smalley or even Nicki Punto.

Reading the Strib this morning, the manager is sold on Roden being a very good hitter.  Could not be happier for that young man last night after what he has been thru the last 12 months.  Have a feeling he is going to be a very good player for the Twins.  Hopefully, for a long time.

[terrydactyls]

I am old.  And I liked the format.  Once a year, I fly back to Minnesota and spend a couple days with high school and college teammates (hockey) from over 60 years ago and it is a blast reliving (or being reminded of) amusing things that happened back in the days of playing goalie without a mask).  Having not played baseball beyond high school, I would like to hear about the difficulty of moving from the infield to the outfield,  RF to LF, or SS to 3B.  I've never done it so a professional's view is appreciated.  I do agree with some that a little more current situation broadcasting would be nice, but almost everything you need to know is on the screen at all times.

[1985Fan]

I’m an old timer that grew up listening to Twins on the radio with Halsey Hall, Ray Scott, and Herb Carneal. They were great broadcasters that also brought baseball stories to the game to entertain listeners. Baseball stories and legends are one of the reasons I fell in love with the game and the Twins. My Grandfather used to listen and join in with his memories of past players.
Think of some of the colorful past announcers like Harry Carey, Joe Garigiola, Joe Morgan, and Bob Costas that added stories into the broadcast. Great entertainment. 
Today’s broadcasts, especially Twins broadcasts, lack that element. It’s pretty sterile watching games today with all the stats and analysis. These guys reminded us that baseball is fun, even funny and that there are colorful personalities playing and associated with baseball. Loved it, let’s have more “color” and humor in the broadcasts in the future please.

[Natron]

If you're watching the game, I'm unclear on why you would have to go to the app or radio to find out what happened regardless of who was saying what, unless you've truly never watched a baseball game and didn't know how the game is played (shoutout to those TwinsDaily.com fans from Burkina Faso). I understand those who may not care for this kind of commentary, and I totally understand that it's not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but some of the hyperbole here is silly. 

[LewFordLives]

As others have said, I think it's a fun change of pace, but it's better as an occasional novelty. At some point I just want to watch the game and not listen to a bunch of people talk over each other.  

I do like the fact that the Twins have multiple analysts throughout the season. I like getting the different perspectives and fresh stories.

[Aggies7]

I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll fight to the death for your right to say it. Or something.

Felt like i was watching rock n jock softball on mtv.  i switched over to the radio broadcast 

[bean5302]

I suspect the play by play vs. analyst broadcasts would appeal to different demographics. In the day and age we have, there are a lot of folks who enjoy the "react" videos which go off topic, etc. There are also going to be a lot of purists who want the full play-by-play, pitch-by-pitch details where it just feels comforting and "right."

[LA Vikes Fan]

Hey, was that Tom Pohlad showing up with more 20s for Plouffe and Span to give out fans who are actually in attendance? Same guy then showing up in the booth with a large hot dog? It's almost like this guy understands he is running an entertainment company and is trying to connect with the customer. Since when did that become a thing for the family? A guy who actually cares running the team? Who knew? That must've been an imposter in a Tom Pohlad costume.

Seriously, really smart, savvy move. Gotta give the guy credit for that. Little things like that can start to change the narrative about the team and about ownership. Good for him.

[amjgt]

I'm torn on this one. 

I'll always applaud trying new things and I certainly wouldn't call this any sort of failure. It was fun and novel. I think day 2 worked better for a couple reasons.

a) Having 1 day under your belt helps
b) It wasn't all 4 of them in the booth the whole time. 4 in the booth was too many.

It's interesting, I think this is a better format for some of these guys and a worse format for others. I think this was better for Plouffe and Morneau. For Plouffe it was his natural environment. For Morneau, I think he's a very thoughtful guy with good stories and analysis, but my biggest knock on him is that his stories become novels and his analysis drones on. This format doesn't allow that and I think that was good for Morneau

For Perkins, I think he's really good ay being the 2nd guy in a 2-man booth. That's his sweet spot. Of these 4 he's the best with Provus (IMO) but also of these 4, he'd probably be the first guy I'd pull out of this 4-man booth.

For Span... he's got the least experience of all of these guys (by far), so I think he's still figuring out what kind of broadcaster he will be. I thought he did a fine job, but getting this specific type of experience isn't going to allow him to hone his craft. 

At the end of the day, my biggest complaint is that they completely lost track of the game at several key points. I don't mind you wandering away to talk about Hacky Sack or Lord of the Rings if you can bring it back to the game when you need to.

Yesterday there was a point where they didn't know Cleveland has made a pitching change. Not great. Then in the 8th inning when Cleveland was walking our entire lineup, one of them was like "oh... man.... we just tied it up." I don't need them locked in for 9 innings but I need them more locked in than they were. The Manning cast works as "not very locked in to the game" because if you're someone that wants a traditional broadcast, you can just flip over the ESPN's main feed and also, when things get amped up in the game, they DO lock in.

So, as a one-series thing? Sure. Fun concept. But I'd make a few tweaks.

[Church of Kreidler]

I've found it to be a blast! As others have mentioned, it's like being at the game with your friends. I certainly wouldn't want it to be every series, but for three games of 162? I can cope.

[Aggies7]

They should do one series of Dick and Bert. Just one three gamer 

[Vanimal46]

4 minutes ago, amjgt said:

The Manning cast works as "not very locked in to the game" because if you're someone that wants a traditional broadcast, you can just flip over the ESPN's main feed and also, when things get amped up in the game, they DO lock in.

In regards to the Manningcast, it's a case study for when a novelty item stretches themselves too far. Their ratings have been declining consistently since their debut in 2021. They were the pioneers of the surge in alternative broadcasts, but over time, people will still gravitate towards the traditional broadcast no matter the sport. 

[Aggies7]

56 minutes ago, Natron said:

If you're watching the game, I'm unclear on why you would have to go to the app or radio to find out what happened regardless of who was saying what, unless you've truly never watched a baseball game and didn't know how the game is played (shoutout to those TwinsDaily.com fans from Burkina Faso). I understand those who may not care for this kind of commentary, and I totally understand that it's not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but some of the hyperbole here is silly. 

A lot of times, the game is on in the background for me. I’ll be making dinner or looking at something on my iPad. It’s nice to be able to hear what’s going on rather than anecdotes or goofy stories. 

[D.C Twins]

Fun article Seth, especially those of us out of market that don't regularly watch the games

 

[Seth Stohs]

2 hours ago, strumdatjag said:

The split-screen during the game got annoying.   Show the game.   We don’t have to see the “analysts”.    
Many times, the yapping lingered long after an important play.  “By the way, a minute ago blankety-blank happened…”. 
I like this better during Spring Training games.   The banter about the good old days and interaction with fans works better when the game on the screen matters less.  
The Tom Pohlad bits last night actually worked somewhat.  I would have liked the group asking him whether the Twins will be buyers or sellers at the deadline.

for a change, I didn’t mind it.  But let’s have no more than 4 games a season of this. 

This is good feedback... about 'seeing the analysts" all the time. That's certainly fair. We've heard plenty of each of their voices that we know who is talking. 

And it wouldn't matter who asked Pohlad that question... he's not (and shouldn't) answer it. 

I agree with those who say that it has to be somewhat limited. So far, they've limited it to one series per season.  However, if things go ugly again after the trade deadline, then maybe a second series because we'll need to be entertained. 

[amjgt]

3 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

This is good feedback... about 'seeing the analysts" all the time. That's certainly fair. We've heard plenty of each of their voices that we know who is talking. 

And it wouldn't matter who asked Pohlad that question... he's not (and shouldn't) answer it. 

I agree with those who say that it has to be somewhat limited. So far, they've limited it to one series per season.  However, if things go ugly again after the trade deadline, then maybe a second series because we'll need to be entertained. 

My biggest problem with the split screen was that it meant the strikezone box went away. I'm sure that's a solvable problem, but I'd like them to attempt to solve it :)

[Maybe Next Year]

2 hours ago, Jim H said:

I turned it over to the Cleveland broadcast. I like to know what is going on in the game I am watching, not what happened in the clubhouse 15 years ago.

 

I absolutely loved the broadcasts! The stories and good-natured ribbing was fun to hear. There was also a lot of insight as to what they thought the pitcher would throw, the batters thought process, base stealing, hit and run etc... As for not knowing what was going on in the game all you had to do was watch your television screen. Baseball isn't that difficult to understand. 

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

My eyes can tell me what's happening in the game. It's why I watch the games. To see what's happening. I don't need an announcer to tell me the ball is in the air to left field.

That only works if they aren’t cutting away from the game feed to show video of the announcers. That happened way too many times yesterday. If they do a split screen it becomes unwatchable on a small screen like a laptop or mobile phone.

[chpettit19]

16 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

That only works if they aren’t cutting away from the game feed to show video of the announcers. That happened way too many times yesterday. If they do a split screen it becomes unwatchable on a small screen like a laptop or mobile phone.

That's totally fair. I by no means think it's a perfect broadcast, but I turn the volume on normal games off because I have no interest in the play-by-play. I don't know why they feel they need to show the guys sitting in the booth or in outfield corners. Brings nothing to the broadcast. But I'd far prefer hearing players having a back and forth on strategy and telling clubhouse stories, etc. than have a play-by-play guy telling me what my eyes already are.

[CRF]

Didn't love it...didn't hate it...wouldn't mind it every once in a while. I certainly wouldn't want a whole season of it...I think I'd go bonkers. A bit too much goofing around for my personal tastes, but a few series every year to give Provus a little vaca would be fine. I'm really watching the game anyway, not particularly paying a whole lot of attention to what the improv foursome was doing. I thought the handing out $20's was kind of ridiculous. If Tommie-Boy wants to give away money, then spend it on FA's, not fans wanting more beer money. Does anyone know...will the fab 4 be doing the Halo series too? 

[amjgt]

3 minutes ago, CRF said:

Didn't love it...didn't hate it...wouldn't mind it every once in a while. I certainly wouldn't want a whole season of it...I think I'd go bonkers. A bit too much goofing around for my personal tastes, but a few series every year to give Provus a little vaca would be fine. I'm really watching the game anyway, not particularly paying a whole lot of attention to what the improv foursome was doing. I thought the handing out $20's was kind of ridiculous. If Tommie-Boy wants to give away money, then spend it on FA's, not fans wanting more beer money. Does anyone know...will the fab 4 be doing the Halo series too? 

I'm almost positive that it was just for this Cleveland series. I'm pretty sure they said that.

[DJL44]

10 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

That's totally fair. I by no means think it's a perfect broadcast, but I turn the volume on normal games off because I have no interest in the play-by-play. I don't know why they feel they need to show the guys sitting in the booth or in outfield corners. Brings nothing to the broadcast. But I'd far prefer hearing players having a back and forth on strategy and telling clubhouse stories, etc. than have a play-by-play guy telling me what my eyes already are.

Like someone else mentioned, I am not able to keep my eyes glued to the screen for every second. The play by play helps me know when to play fetch with the dog and when to pay attention to the screen. I suppose I could turn on the radio, but it is completely out of sync with the video feed.

[amjgt]

21 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

That's totally fair. I by no means think it's a perfect broadcast, but I turn the volume on normal games off because I have no interest in the play-by-play. I don't know why they feel they need to show the guys sitting in the booth or in outfield corners. Brings nothing to the broadcast. But I'd far prefer hearing players having a back and forth on strategy and telling clubhouse stories, etc. than have a play-by-play guy telling me what my eyes already are.

I'm going to partially disagree with you here. 

I also mute the broadcast sometimes. Like you said, I'm watching. My ears don't need to tell me what my eyes are seeing. I'm not generally muting it because I don't like the play by play. It's usually because the color guy is annoying me or they are doing some other silly thing like Audra talking to a fan.

BUT

There are times I don't mute the broadcast. Like when Molitor is on. I could listen to him all day. I don't know what it is. When he's talking, I'm locked in and listening. Perkins gets closer to this than the other color guys, but still not on the Molitor level. The other side of the spectrum is Morneau. Awesome Twin. Great dude. But when he's talking it might as well be the Peanuts teacher talking. My brain completely tunes it out and it just become noise. 

So, the fact that we are muting the broadcast, to me, doesn't say that we don't need broadcasters because I have eyes.... it means we need more consistently good broadcasters. And specifically here, I'm talking about the color analyst position. I think Provus does a perfectly good job as the PBP guy

[Bodie]

It is not as bad as the Google ad featuring "baseball sounds" that does nothing but transport me back to covid baseball for a minute (not just 30 seconds)!

[chpettit19]

8 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Like someone else mentioned, I am not able to keep my eyes glued to the screen for every second. The play by play helps me know when to play fetch with the dog and when to pay attention to the screen. I suppose I could turn on the radio, but it is completely out of sync with the video feed.

And that's totally fine. That's how you ingest the game. I'm not saying everyone should watch or listen to the game the same way. What I enjoy isn't going to be what everyone else enjoys. The comment you originally responded to was more about the other poster's claim that this take was just Seth being the always positive guy (which does tend to be and I've certainly not enjoyed all of his takes because of it). It was about how you can enjoy certain things that I find annoying and I can enjoy things you find annoying. Seth's take isn't "koolaid" just because the other poster doesn't like this broadcast. Because many of us do. And many of us dislike the normal one that that other poster presumably prefers.

We're all allowed to enjoy different parts of the game or broadcast. I get very little enjoyment out of the announcers on any sporting event. I would far prefer to listen to 2 or 3 players breaking down and discussing the strategies being implemented, what they'd do differently, why they'd do it differently, why the team did it how they did it, what the preparation is like beforehand, what day to day life as an athlete is like, all the behind-the-scenes stuff. I appreciate when the singular player in the booth gives their thoughts on things, but I want back and forth. I want multiple players. The debate on 3-0 red light vs green light was great. I want that all game long. Doesn't mean that's what everyone wants or that others shouldn't find the typical broadcast enjoyable or useful. It's just not my cup of tea.

[chpettit19]

14 minutes ago, amjgt said:

I'm going to partially disagree with you here. 

I also mute the broadcast sometimes. Like you said, I'm watching. My ears don't need to tell me what my eyes are seeing. I'm not generally muting it because I don't like the play by play. It's usually because the color guy is annoying me or they are doing some other silly thing like Audra talking to a fan.

BUT

There are times I don't mute the broadcast. Like when Molitor is on. I could listen to him all day. I don't know what it is. When he's talking, I'm locked in and listening. Perkins gets closer to this than the other color guys, but still not on the Molitor level. The other side of the spectrum is Morneau. Awesome Twin. Great dude. But when he's talking it might as well be the Peanuts teacher talking. My brain completely tunes it out and it just become noise. 

So, the fact that we are muting the broadcast, to me, doesn't say that we don't need broadcasters because I have eyes.... it means we need more consistently good broadcasters. And specifically here, I'm talking about the color analyst position. I think Provus does a perfectly good job as the PBP guy

Totally fine that those are the reasons you mute the broadcast. They aren't the reason I do. I simply don't enjoy the typical play-by-play/color guy broadcast. When I watch games I am sitting and watching. I far more prefer 2 or 3 players in the booth so they can discuss the different sides of strategies. I keep going back to the 3-0 red light debate they had late in the game yesterday. I really enjoyed it. I want that all the time. I don't have any need for Provus. 

That's nothing against Provus. When I've listened, he's done a perfectly fine job. I'm just not interested in hearing what I'm watching. I want the talk about how Span was a red light guy and Morneau wasn't. I wish they'd gone deeper at the end of it when Morneau was talking about how they had different jobs as well. Span was more typically a guy expected to get on in front of someone like Justin. They had 2 different thought processes. I love that stuff. And I have no need for play-by-play. That is why I specifically mute the broadcast.

[MNBearCat]

It's a good thing in moderation. I hope they don't get too high on their own supply and start rolling this out more than once or twice a season, but it is a fun change of pace during the season.

I think the real star of the show is Perkins; I always love hearing him whether as part of this or the regular TV or radio broadcasts. A mix of "fun" and good analysis.

[cheeseheadgophfan]

I LOVED it....

I'd love to see it 3-4 times a year.

The guys high-fiving each other after Rodan hit the game winner was awesome!!!

[bjorks]

Gotta love a 9th inning story about ordering 65 beers from room service at close and going to a casino in Wichita in the middle of the night on an off day!