One of the better, longer-standing TV broadcasting pairings in MLB will be receiving a big change.
Reports say Don Orsillo, who has called Red Sox games on TV for NESN since 2001, will not be back next season. The team’s radio voice, Dave O’Brien reportedly will replace him.
Orsillo and Jerry Remy formed one of the more popular broadcasting teams in baseball, and Orsillo was considered so good he had scored some national gigs with TBS. Why would the team let him go?
According to industry sources, Orsillo was never a favorite of Joseph Maar, NESN’s vice president of programming and production/executive producer who arrived at the network in July 2012. Last year, Maar implemented the policy of having its broadcasters — Orsillo and analyst Jerry Remy, in this case — take in-season breaks.
A NESN spokesman said last year that the policy was implemented to keep broadcasters fresh, but it also serves another purpose: A week off during the season for its broadcasters means they must make up the week of work outside of baseball season, which is unusual given their grueling schedule from April through at least September. Orsillo, known as a team player among his colleagues at NESN, was resistant to this approach.
That’s some absolute BS for Sox fans who enjoyed Orsillo. I can tell you that he and Rem Dog were one of my favorite teams to listen to whenever I watched on the MLB Extra Innings package. This stinks for Sox fans. At least O’Brien is a good replacement.
