More Keith

[Benjamin Grimm]

Newsday is reporting that Keith Hernandez has signed a new SNY contract. The article quotes Keith as saying he'd like a three-year contract, but it doesn't confirm the length of the actual deal that he's reportedly signing.

https://www.newsday.com/sports/media/keith-hernandez-sny-mets-games-s03mvulh

[Frayed Knot]

If it is three years I suspect it might be his last. He'll be turning 75 just as the deal is ending.

[Benjamin Grimm]

He says he wants to be like Ralph Kiner. Stay in the booth, but for fewer and fewer games as he ages.

[whippoorwill]

Hubby just asked me the other day if he was rehired yet.

Thanks for the post!

[whippoorwill]

They should have a Keith’s Korner. Or do they?

[Centerfield]

He says he wants to be like Ralph Kiner. Stay in the booth, but for fewer and fewer games as he ages.

 

I read the new contract is only for 91 games. So while it's more Keith, it's also less Keith.

[Edgy MD]

I guess he and Ronny have in recent years each been signed up for about 2/3 (108) of the games?

[Frayed Knot]

The number that sticks in my head is an even, round one hundred.

Assuming that that's correct, 91 is essentially three fewer series over the course of a season.

So, slightly less Keith.

[ashie62]

And more Gelbs I would imagine

Is Daniel Murphy on board?

[Gwreck]

And more Gelbs I would imagine

 

Gelbs has never replaced Keith before and I doubt they’d start now.

[Gwreck]

Awful Announcing reporting that Keith said on Laura Albanese’s podcast that it’s a reduction from 110 to 91 games.

[Edgy MD]

The thing they have to figure out is how to use the alternatives. Because, while neither Todd Zeile nor Jerry Blevins qualify as morons (I reserve judgement on Anthony Recker, it kind of stinks that the only times they work is when they are the only analyst in the booth, which is like coming up with two strikes against them.

I DEMAND a three-person booth every night. A pitcher, a hitter, and a civilian.

[Frayed Knot]

I actually prefer two man booths most of the time.

GKR is, in my mind, the exception because the two analysts know each other so well and are comfortable enough not to feel the need to compete for voice time.

[Edgy MD]

Hey man, if you want Jerry Blevins hung out to dry by himself, it's your funeral.

And Jerry's.

[Frayed Knot]

If Blevins turns out to be a stiff then I don't want him in a two man Or a three man booth. K & R work well together but either is also strong enough to work just with G.

iow, I don't want aa three man booth just to have three, nor if its purpose is to cover up for whatever deficiencies exist in one or both of the color men.

Even networks, who generally operate under the principle that more talking is never enough talking, have, for the most part, gone away from three man booths.

And saving money can't be the only reason as they still think five or six man panels at half-time are needed where everyone gets about 30 seconds each to blurt

out whatever genius they have to say about the battle between two 2-7 teams you've been watching.

If you don't happen to hit upon a trio that works well together then the competition from each to 'get their two cents in' between each play/pitch often leads to a

cacophony of blather full of sound and 'hot takes' but also one which contributes more to cluttering up the broadcast rather than enhancing it.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Confession: Much of the time I'm only half listening to what the guys are saying.

[Lefty Specialist]

I saw GKR in a forum in Morristown last night. They were great, as you would expect. They talk together so easily it was almost like watching a game. The moderator (an admitted Red Sox fan) would ask a question and they would just go on and on. In 90 minutes she asked like 5 questions. Ron and Keith worship the ground Gary walks on.

They hated the way the '25 season ended, night after night of bad pitching. They are cautiously optimistic about 26 but think the Braves will be better. They think the Phillies have taken a step back. They were all surprised the Diaz deal didn't get done. Keith lamented the loss of Alonso, Gary thought they were never going to re-sign him. They all love the Bichette signing.

They all like the pitch clock and hate the extra-inning rules. (Join the club.) They said they had to change the way they do a game because of the reduced time between pitches. And when asked about Pete Rose, Keith and Ron chose their words carefully but think he should be in. Gary seemed a pretty firm no.

A lot of fun, and a reminder that P & C are two weeks away....

[Frayed Knot]

Cool!!

[Benjamin Grimm]

I would have asked why they continue to keep a manual scorecard. All the information they need is readily available elsewhere.

[SteveCohenStan]

less Keith is good. The Kiner roll is all he's good for now, blather on a good story for a while, then shut up.

[Edgy MD]

It's pretty good to hear Gary be firmly against Keith and Ron on at least one divisive issue. He too often wants to be down with the cool kids even if he occasionally snorts at how proudly uninformed Keith stays on some issues. And, I guess, part of Ron wants to be as cool as Keith also, even as he is twice the mind.

The problem with Keith (and Ron to a lesser extent) is really about growing old and wanting the hegemony you flourished under in your youth to be the dominant and defining one as you grow older.

It never occurs to too many of us that our lives and the lives of countless others would have been better if we hadn't slopped up the self-serving myths of awful self-promoters like Pete Rose and Steve Garvey and the future President Trump.

[Edgy MD]

FUN FACT: Pete Rose did not invent, or even really reinvent, the head-first slide. It had been around since at least the 1880s when we have reports of the St. Louis Browns doing it. Johnny Bench was a practitioner of it early in his career, and he says he picked it up from studying Enos Slaughter, who entered the league in 1938.

But Bench dropped it from his game, out of deference to Rose. He figured it was Pete's brand, or something. One of the true all-time greats — probably the best ever at his position — actually took a facet out of his game because he didn't want to dim the light on a self-promoting teammate working a hustle.

Why do we do that?

[Benjamin Grimm]

My main gripe about the current team is how Gary keeps telling us about stupid statistical quirks. Something like, this is the first time since 1929 that an outfielder born under the sign of Sagittarius had three doubles on a Tuesday while also stealing a base and throwing a runner out at second base.

[Edgy MD]

Well, Gary presenting ephemera, while Keith responds with "Yeah, well, I don't know why anybody cares about squares and square roots — what's the point?" provides contrast. And in contrast, you can get both drama and comedy.

[SteveCohenStan]

My main gripe about the current team is how Gary keeps telling us about stupid statistical quirks. Something like, this is the first time since 1929 that an outfielder born under the sign of Sagittarius had three doubles on a Tuesday while also stealing a base and throwing a runner out at second base.

 

for me it's when they go on innings-long rants about "players these days" doing things like shifting, or one-knee down catching, even though all the data and even the anecdotal "all the teams are doing it, maybe they know something you don't?" evidence suggest they should probably stop tilting at windmills.

[Edgy MD]

I have no problems with those discussions, and I have no reason to believe "all the data" suggest these are closed issues.