Thorne, Bordick, Dempsey and Tom Davis amongst those let go

[Can_of_corn]

24 minutes ago, SteveA said:

I guess the question is - what percentage of the viewing fan base is really interested in analytics?  The people that tune in somewhere between 2 and 7 times per week to watch the Os?

It's entertainment after all.  How much of an audience is there for an analytic slanted broadcast?  And taking the pulse of a site like OH, which has a fairly sophisticated segment of the fan base, won't answer that question.

I'm not suggesting heavy analytic content, just basic stuff sprinkled in.

[Rojo13]

20 hours ago, Philip said:

I’m really sorry to lose Thorne, I loved him and sometimes remember his voice more than the play itself.

Bordick departing is a relief. Gosh he had an annoying voice and said nothing with it.

Disappointed that others who should be gone aren’t.

Thorne and Palmer together make watching every game of a 100 loss season worth it. He has fun. Yes, some geeks will say he gets names wrong or may be drinking, so what. So do I.

LOVED Dempsey as welll.n Such a homer, but so excited. His homerism is the whole reason why I still have MASN versus buying MLB.tv and getting the games through a VPN. I wanted to watch the pre and post-game shows.

As an announcer, I didn't love Bordick but feel bad for a man with a ton of kids getting a pink slip. Let's hope he saved some of the $27 million he made during his career.

I just read the Sun article. Thorne summed up why I liekd him perfectly. He got along great with Thorne, they told stories and had fun. Them having fun made me have fun.

“We became great friends and will remain that way,” Thorne said. “It was great storytelling. We had a tremendous crew that broadcast the games. We genuinely had a good time, worked hard, but enjoyed it, and that’s the kind of stuff I’ll miss. We had a situation where I think we provided a really good broadcast, and it wasn’t accidental. It was because of the people who were working it, and I’ll miss those relationships.”

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Rojo13
added last part from Baltimore Sun article.

[BohKnowsBmore]

I am really going to miss Thorne. Palmer seems to be annoyed with a lot of people in the booth, but he and Thorne seemed to have a great chemistry. And those beautiful, whisky-lubed pipes!

[BohKnowsBmore]

11 minutes ago, half hop said:

Can't believe Tom Davis is gone. Remember him sitting in foul territory at Memorial Stadium during games. Alas, time marches on.

Will Weis continue to purchase ad space? Were they even paying for the circular reads?

[drjohnnyfeva]

I'm gonna miss Thorne, Tom Davis, and Dempsey.  Enjoyed their delivery and enthusiasm as much as anything.  It's sad when the voices you get very used to are no longer there.  Tom Davis cackling at every quip Dempsey threw always cracked me up.

Would have rather done some creative accounting to defund and disembark Chris Davis instead of excising these more valuable pieces to the club.

[scOtt]

Haven't read the whole thread but Roch and Melewski both had columns up bright and early today, so it looks like they're both safe. They're probably pretty cheap too, compared to the names released. So they got THAT going for them.

 

 

Which is nice.

[Tony-OH]

15 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm not suggesting heavy analytic content, just basic stuff sprinkled in.

I feel like we saw that from Ben last year as the broadcast was adding in some statcast metrics like EV, distance, arm strength from the outfield, base running speeds, etc. 

 

[Tony-OH]

Only Thorne comes as a mild surprise but after hearing about his contract dispute with the team last year (something I did not remember hearing about last year), it really doesn't come as a surprise.

I'm disappointed that they could find a role for Olson who I thought was pretty solid at times on the radio. 

Saying that, the writing was on the wall after the changes announced before last year. With all the new blood being added, and the reduced roles for Bordick, Dempsey, Davis, Hunter and Johnson, it really should not be a surprise that they were being transitioned out.

A few thoughts on the departed and the people staying on:

As others had noted, Bordick had become insufferable to listen to during broadcasts, particularly when he was teamed up with Hunter because it was homerfest. His catch phrases and baseballisms "steaks for RBIs" did not become endearing and made it hard to listen to him. The thing is, his baseball knowledge, which is very high, shown through as the analyst on the post game show where he was able to focus on the analysis and not have to fill time by describing the exact action we just saw (Personal pet peeve of mine because the analyst should be adding analysis to what we just saw, not describe what we are seeing).

I personally enjoyed Thorne and it's sad to see him go. His pairing with Jim Palmer was a great telecast, even if he would annoy me at times by calling the wrong pitch types (something he was supposedly talked to about but kept doing). I'll miss Gary's voice, his intelligence, and his humor. 

As for the others, sometimes it's time to move on. Yes, they've been around a long time, but with the Orioles under Elias doing things in different ways here, perhaps some fresh voices are needed. 

As for the current crew, I'm interested in hearing about their roles for next year. I felt most of the new crew last year were pretty solid. I'm a big fan of Kevin Brown on TV, but his play by play on the radio needs some work and yes, he needs to work on his enthusiasm at times. Not Hunter level of course, but getting a Thorne level for excitement would be good. Saying that, Brown is really up on his statcast information and does a good job of adding those in at times and he has a great announcer voice.

Garceau got better as the year went on and became pretty solid. He's a 1st class guy who knows the history of the Orioles and teaming him with McDonald and Palmer should be good. 

Arnold was the big "surprise" for me as he was once teamed with Brown a few times on the radio and I enjoyed that duo. Hollander was pretty good in his couple of appearances and Newman really knows her baseball and is up on analytics, but I find her play by play to be uninspiring and hard to follow at times on the radio.

Announcers are one of those things that fans generally disagree on because everyone has their own tastes. Some like the homerisms and some like the more measured approach, but in the end, I think the Orioles broadcasts are heading in the right direction. 

Hopefully whenever Caleb Joseph retires they can bring him on as an analyst. He would probably be amazing in that role. 

[Moose Milligan]

If someone sees where Thorne winds up, post it here. As an MLB.tv subscriber, I'd turn into whatever team he's broadcasting for just to hear that voice.

 

 

[nevadaO]

Going to miss Thorne. Also grew up watching Tom Davis on the sideline on HTS with (usually) Mel Proctor and John Lowenstein in the booth. He was 100% Balmer.

I like the Brown/McDonald combo, but Garceau was meh. 

[scOtt]

Need I say more?

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

9 hours ago, scOtt said:

Need I say more?

[Sports Guy]

On 1/23/2021 at 10:25 PM, half hop said:

Can't believe Tom Davis is gone. Remember him sitting in foul territory at Memorial Stadium during games. Alas, time marches on.

Tom Davis, in a lot of ways, is the “saddest”’one to see go.  He has been a staple around the Os forever.  

[Frobby]

I am not going to get too nostalgic over any of these guys.  I just hope the younger crew, who in my opinion have done a decent job for the most part, continue to improve with experience. I expect they probably will.    

[jamalshw]

The only thing I find striking at all is that they're opting not to fund pre and post-game. Though, I wonder what the ratings were on those shows. If they were too low, it may be justified to just have a slightly longer lead in from the broadcast team and a slightly longer post-game banter. I, for one, rarely watched them so I won't miss that component. I like Thorne, but was find with Brown and company this year.

As for everyone else, it's always sad to see people losing jobs, particularly jobs they seem to love (which is the case for several of these guys), but in terms of enjoyment of the broadcast, I'm not all that torn up about it, but I'm sure other's opinions may be different.