Jason Benetti & Steve Stone back - options picked up

[South Side Hit Men]

Have the Sox announced their signings or replacements?  It has been crickets since Jose Abreu sat out to watch the Sox lose 10-1 during Game 162, and Steve and/or Jason said boo about the dumpster fire they once worked for.

Prolific tweeter Steve Stone completely shut the f*** up 2 1/2 months ago on Twitter.

 

 

https://twitter.com/stevestone/with_replies

Last Sox related tweet by Jason Benetti

 

Silence like a cancer grows.....

[Dick Allen]

Jason is still doing the occasional Bulls game on NBCSC. I would imagine they will both be back. I think Stone told someone he was very close to signing, but he probably is waiting on Jason. 

[Lip Man 1]

This is from my interview with one of several sources regarding the State of the Sox:

Broadcast announcer issues

“It’s happened a lot, even to guys like Ed Farmer, where they thought they had a deal with the Sox only to be told it was changed. There were screaming matches in the hallway at the stadium with guys yelling at Sox officials because they were so angry over what happened.”

“I remember hearing Ed Farmer say, I work for Jerry Reinsdorf not the White Sox.”

“Jason Benetti’s deal with the Sox is up, the Sox hold the option for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He went to Fox to negotiate that deal with them after he was told to do it and then come back to the Sox and they’d work something out. Jason wanted to get the deal done with the Sox first and then go to Fox or ESPN or whoever. Turns out when he came back to the Sox and said that he needs 40 days off so he can do the Fox work he was told, ‘no, that’s not happening.’ So I don’t know what’s going to happen to him or Steve Stone.”  

“The radio guys would b**** about the TV guys; the TV guys would b**** about the radio guys. Steve Stone was not well liked.”

“The broadcasters would go to JR and talk with him about what was going on and it finally got to the point where JR said he doesn’t want to hear about this anymore.”

“The folks in charge of broadcasting at the MLB offices can’t stand to work with some of the Sox officials.”

 

[pcq]

When Steve isn't shilling for Sox org he lectures the fans about their opinions. The other one can go anchor the Pinochle Special Olympics on Oprah. 

[South Side Hit Men]

Thanks for the updates @Dick Allen @Lip Man 1.

Just find it odd that Steve who tweeted nearly daily, including many attacks on Sox fans and select Sox players, has gone silent for 10 weeks. Wonder if someone talked to him about his tweets, or whether he came to the conclusion to remain silent while he is working on a new contract.

Jason doesn't tweet as much, but his podcast with Len Kasper hasn't been released since August 1st, though they didn't record an episode last offseason.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sox-degrees/id1570294857

Thought there would have been a tweet by Jason and Steve regarding 10D. Len Kasper previously had a semi active account, but he hid/deleted all but one tweet (related to his band), so perhaps the Twitter silence is a new Sox media policy for 2023.

 

[ron883]

f***, your posts are the best @South Side Hit Men. From the formatting to the inclusion of a music video in most posts. I love it. 

[Heads22]

Kasper seems like a perfectly nice human being, but if he replaces Jason for 2023 I'll be hoping for more national games where I can listen to Adam Amin on FS1 or something like that.

[Tnetennba]

5 minutes ago, Heads22 said:

Kasper seems like a perfectly nice human being, but if he replaces Jason for 2023 I'll be hoping for more national games where I can listen to Adam Amin on FS1 or something like that.

I will chose the radio option for as long as Kasper does tv. 

[Heads22]

Just now, Tnetennba said:

I will chose the radio option for as long as Kasper does tv. 

So, I never listened to Sox games with Rooney doing them, only Farmio and Kasper. Kasper is fine on radio for me, but I' a masochist and I miss Farmer and DJ and their weird ass chemistry.

 

Watching Sox games in central Iowa since going to college in 2005 has been such an adventure. The cable provider in town has never carried whatever you called the channel the Sox were on, so the only times I got to watch for the longest time were WCIU games that were occasionally picked up in standard definition on sub channels of local channels.  It wasn't until a couple years ago where I either logged in with a friends NBC Sports login or YouTube TV login that I've been able to watch most games. Where I live I'm unable to get DirecTV.

The frustrating thing is I'm willing to pay for MLB.tv! If it wasn't blacked out I'd happily give them money! 

The long way of saying, make sure Jason and Steve are back.

[Tnetennba]

2 minutes ago, Heads22 said:

So, I never listened to Sox games with Rooney doing them, only Farmio and Kasper. Kasper is fine on radio for me, but I' a masochist and I miss Farmer and DJ and their weird ass chemistry.

 

Watching Sox games in central Iowa since going to college in 2005 has been such an adventure. The cable provider in town has never carried whatever you called the channel the Sox were on, so the only times I got to watch for the longest time were WCIU games that were occasionally picked up in standard definition on sub channels of local channels.  It wasn't until a couple years ago where I either logged in with a friends NBC Sports login or YouTube TV login that I've been able to watch most games. Where I live I'm unable to get DirecTV.

The frustrating thing is I'm willing to pay for MLB.tv! If it wasn't blacked out I'd happily give them money! 

The long way of saying, make sure Jason and Steve are back.

A vpn gets you right around that blackout, but you didn’t hear it from me😉. 

[Balta1701]

1 minute ago, Heads22 said:

So, I never listened to Sox games with Rooney doing them, only Farmio and Kasper. Kasper is fine on radio for me, but I' a masochist and I miss Farmer and DJ and their weird ass chemistry.

 

Watching Sox games in central Iowa since going to college in 2005 has been such an adventure. The cable provider in town has never carried whatever you called the channel the Sox were on, so the only times I got to watch for the longest time were WCIU games that were occasionally picked up in standard definition on sub channels of local channels.  It wasn't until a couple years ago where I either logged in with a friends NBC Sports login or YouTube TV login that I've been able to watch most games. Where I live I'm unable to get DirecTV.

The frustrating thing is I'm willing to pay for MLB.tv! If it wasn't blacked out I'd happily give them money! 

The long way of saying, make sure Jason and Steve are back.

Kasper and DJ have a decent set of discussions but I do miss the modern perspective of Benetti.

One thing I’ve noticed with Kasper though is he still announces like he’s on TV. He won’t give all the details about a play as though I just watched it, but since it’s radio I didn’t see anything, so I wind up waiting for them to double back and reexplain it or trying to check Gameday to figure it out. This happens fairly regularly.

[Tnetennba]

4 minutes ago, Heads22 said:

So, I never listened to Sox games with Rooney doing them, only Farmio and Kasper. Kasper is fine on radio for me, but I' a masochist and I miss Farmer and DJ and their weird ass chemistry.

 

Watching Sox games in central Iowa since going to college in 2005 has been such an adventure. The cable provider in town has never carried whatever you called the channel the Sox were on, so the only times I got to watch for the longest time were WCIU games that were occasionally picked up in standard definition on sub channels of local channels.  It wasn't until a couple years ago where I either logged in with a friends NBC Sports login or YouTube TV login that I've been able to watch most games. Where I live I'm unable to get DirecTV.

The frustrating thing is I'm willing to pay for MLB.tv! If it wasn't blacked out I'd happily give them money! 

The long way of saying, make sure Jason and Steve are back.

I agree that Kasper is far more tolerable on radio.  I too miss Farmio.  I can’t stand Len on tv and do not understand how or why anyone does. 

[Heads22]

4 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

A vpn gets you right around that blackout, but you didn’t hear it from me😉. 

Oh, I'm aware. Just expressing frustration that I can't literally give them my money.  I understand this is to protect RSN's like NBC Sports Chicago, but figure it out! Might even give you more money to watch MLB.tv premium! But without them figuring out a way where I can stream my favorite team without having to get something like Fubo....I don't want another streaming platform to watch the Sox. So until then I've got a buddys YTTV login.

[pcq]

If you did not like Ernie Harwell you would not like Len. Understated with a touch of mirth under the tongue. Len's voice is not quite the ideal timbre for the subconscious and subliminal forces that we all are subject too. There was a radio guy named Joe Who. Joe could tell you your locker combo from the vibrations of your voice. 

[tray]

I think both these guys will be back, but I don't really care.  They don't really add or diminish much to the broadcasts and by now, their shtick has gotten old.

[Heads22]

 

8 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

I agree that Kasper is far more tolerable on radio.  I too miss Farmio.  I can’t stand Len on tv and do not understand how or why anyone does. 

Again, I think he's fine. There is something for me - the fact that Jason's a Sox fan. It doesn't always make a difference, but I know he does actually care about the franchise. To that end, I've interacted with him twice, as well as knowing others that have, and he's truly a good dude. I do think he gets a little nerdy and weird at times, but my actual criticism with him is that he should work more on bringing things like new age stats and sabermetrics and be willing to present what he actually knows about baseball. He does dive into things like Baseball Savant and things like that - present more of that stuff in discussion to Stoney. He's very deferential to Steve and I understand why, but I do wish he'd actually present what he knows about baseball.

Just now, pcq said:

If you did not like Ernie Harwell you would not like Len. Understated with a touch of mirth under the tongue. Len's voice is not quite the ideal timbre for the subconscious and subliminal forces that we all are subject too. There was a radio guy named Joe Who. Joe could tell you your locker combo from the vibrations of your voice. 

I think it's much harder to be on radio than on TV, and he's still learning that. I've heard Jason do basketball on radio (NCAA Tournament) and he's very, very good at it.

[Tnetennba]

8 minutes ago, Heads22 said:

Oh, I'm aware. Just expressing frustration that I can't literally give them my money.  I understand this is to protect RSN's like NBC Sports Chicago, but figure it out! Might even give you more money to watch MLB.tv premium! But without them figuring out a way where I can stream my favorite team without having to get something like Fubo....I don't want another streaming platform to watch the Sox. So until then I've got a buddys YTTV login.

Yeah, MLB has to get with the times and end blackouts for local streaming.  Cord cutting isn’t going away. 

[South Side Fireworks Man]

20 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

A vpn gets you right around that blackout, but you didn’t hear it from me😉. 

I use NordVPN and it didn't get me around the blackouts.

[HoosierSox]

If they are back can we get rid of the stupid nationwide cringe jingle. 

[Bossanoveralls]

I dig the jingle.

Hoping Steve and Jason are back.

[South Side Hit Men]

36 minutes ago, pcq said:

If you did not like Ernie Harwell you would not like Len. Understated with a touch of mirth under the tongue. Len's voice is not quite the ideal timbre for the subconscious and subliminal forces that we all are subject too. There was a radio guy named Joe Who. Joe could tell you your locker combo from the vibrations of your voice. 

I've listened to far more broadcasts than watched, and Ernie was one of the best. Len sounds like Kermit the Frog, but it didn't bother me once I got used to it. I do agree with @Balta1701 there were times, especially at the onset of his tenure where he didn't provide the details a radio announcer typically provides (which is why I listened while following the ST game thread and or the MLB game box score).

That said, I believe Len and DJ were more frank with criticism at times with TLR and strategy, vs. Stone's criticisms mostly centered on the usual suspects (Moncada primarily, Eloy defensively, and Ricky Renteria throughout 2020). DJ was absolutely livid the infamous May 5th game when Tony pinch ran Liam and then made a few other inexplicable moves, and I've never heard DJ upset over decades. He provided pointed commentary toward the terrible baserunning and defensive lapses, and at times poor plate approaches, throughout the past season.

Sox have had solid radio broadcasts the past two decades, and I love Farmeo, Rooney and DJ, plus Len does a good job. Harry and Jimmy were great back in the day. Too young to appreciate The Commander, though I did get his autograph at Northwest Federal Savings (plus Ernie Banks, and down the road Jack Brickhouse and Carol Alt). 

29 minutes ago, Heads22 said:

Again, I think he's fine. There is something for me - the fact that Jason's a Sox fan. It doesn't always make a difference, but I know he does actually care about the franchise. To that end, I've interacted with him twice, as well as knowing others that have, and he's truly a good dude. I do think he gets a little nerdy and weird at times, but my actual criticism with him is that he should work more on bringing things like new age stats and sabermetrics and be willing to present what he actually knows about baseball. He does dive into things like Baseball Savant and things like that - present more of that stuff in discussion to Stoney. He's very deferential to Steve and I understand why, but I do wish he'd actually present what he knows about baseball.

I think it's much harder to be on radio than on TV, and he's still learning that. I've heard Jason do basketball on radio (NCAA Tournament) and he's very, very good at it.

To me, Jason's broadcasting style is more suited to action oriented sports like basketball, football, MMA, video game "sports", etc. There are times to be excited, but for a baseball broadcast it would be better if he was more subdued and let the game speak for itself. That said, I appreciate his passion for White Sox baseball, and bet he would be a great guy to have a drink or meal with and shoot the s%*#, be it baseball or other topics. Stone is a top baseball broadcaster with good insight, but doesn't seem to be a congenial person, including toward former co-workers.

Jason would be able to shine with a different color partner that would allow him to be more open toward expressing his baseball thoughts and demanding to be acknowledged as "The Guru". Stone has become what he once despised (Hawk Harrelson). A more contemporary color commentator would result in a more natural sounding discussion/broadcast, without the need to lean on schtick or deference. 

[Heads22]

I don't need "subdued" for baseball though. He is good on baseball, though I agree he's best with a faster pace.

[GreenSox]

I like Benetti, think he's a good Sox announcer, and I hope he stays.

But he is an elite football announcer.

[soulfly]

Hopefully Jason is spending the off season working on some sort, any sort, of a half way decent home run call.

[oldsox]

16 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Have the Sox announced their signings or replacements?  It has been crickets since Jose Abreu sat out to watch the Sox lose 10-1 during Game 162, and Steve and/or Jason said boo about the dumpster fire they once worked for.

Prolific tweeter Steve Stone completely shut the f*** up 2 1/2 months ago on Twitter.

 

 

https://twitter.com/stevestone/with_replies

Last Sox related tweet by Jason Benetti

 

Silence like a cancer grows.....

Great song. Thanks.