The Future of the White Sox TV Broadcast Team

[JoshPR]

I kinda enjoy listening to Conor Mcknight. Scriffen is a little too much and I swear he makes up a lot of his I asked him stories

[Y2Jimmy0]

Sox should go and grab Wayne Randazzo from the Angels 

[WBWSF]

I don't understand the hate for Sciffen. I think he's more than  competent at what he does. It has to be difficult to some degree to announce for a team that keeps losing 100 games a year. Every now and then I watch a Cubs game. I think  their main announcer (Boog  Scambi) is brutal and boring. I've often wondered what the Cubs fans think of him. I read an article in the Sun Times a couple of weeks ago about Steve Stone. Evidently Stone left the Cubs on bad terms with the previous ownership. The writer said  the present Cubs ownership should kiss and makeup with Stone. Sounds like a good idea and maybe Stone will go  back to announce for the Cubs.

Edited August 4 by WBWSF

[Lip Man 1]

2 hours ago, WBWSF said:

I don't understand the hate for Sciffen. I think he's more than  competent at what he does. It has to be difficult to some degree to announce for a team that keeps losing 100 games a year. Every now and then I watch a Cubs game. I think  their main announcer (Boog  Scambi) is brutal and boring. I've often wondered what the Cubs fans think of him. I read an article in the Sun Times a couple of weeks ago about Steve Stone. Evidently Stone left the Cubs on bad terms with the previous ownership. The writer said  the present Cubs ownership should kiss and makeup with Stone. Sounds like a good idea and maybe Stone will go  back to announce for the Cubs.

Stone isn't leaving his good friend JR and he left the Cubs on "bad terms" when he was severely critical of the team on air when they were urinating away a wild card spot in the final weeks of the 2004 season if I remember correctly. Dusty Baker publicly went after Stone who didn't appreciate it. 

[southsider2k5]

3 hours ago, WBWSF said:

I don't understand the hate for Sciffen. I think he's more than  competent at what he does. It has to be difficult to some degree to announce for a team that keeps losing 100 games a year. Every now and then I watch a Cubs game. I think  their main announcer (Boog  Scambi) is brutal and boring. I've often wondered what the Cubs fans think of him. I read an article in the Sun Times a couple of weeks ago about Steve Stone. Evidently Stone left the Cubs on bad terms with the previous ownership. The writer said  the present Cubs ownership should kiss and makeup with Stone. Sounds like a good idea and maybe Stone will go  back to announce for the Cubs.

He's really not though.  It's completely obvious that baseball isn't his first language.  He has no feel for the game, and for the little things that happen with in it.  He brings nothing extra to the game, and really doesn't seem have the ability to make a partner better either.  Granted he is better when someone like Beckham or Pleasac is in the booth with him (instead of Steve Stone, but It is really telling when another dude with no PBP MLB experience steps into the booth and sounds way better in Connor McKnight.  I get it is hard to fall in a pile of s%*# and come out smelling like roses, so it isn't easy to make the Sox sound good right now, but that shouldn't be what his job is.  His job is mostly to tell us what happening.  The color guy should be the one adding to that story.  The Sox main booth is currently one of the worst in baseball/

[77 Hitmen]

5 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Stone isn't leaving his good friend JR and he left the Cubs on "bad terms" when he was severely critical of the team on air when they were urinating away a wild card spot in the final weeks of the 2004 season if I remember correctly. Dusty Baker publicly went after Stone who didn't appreciate it. 

Yes, I don't remember the year, but that's what I remember happening.  It wasn't just Stone, but his partner Chip Caray (Harry's grandson) who left after criticizing the Cubs.   Caray does PBP for the Cardinals now.  I can't imagine Stone going back to the Cubs.....or the Cubs wanting him back at age 78.

[Falstaff]

Whatever happens in the booth is one thing, but Our Chuck & Ozzie pre-post is a must. Adding the Big Hurt would be fantastic.

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Falstaff said:

Whatever happens in the booth is one thing, but Our Chuck & Ozzie pre-post is a must. Adding the Big Hurt would be fantastic.

Budget cutting…

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, 77 Hitmen said:

Yes, I don't remember the year, but that's what I remember happening.  It wasn't just Stone, but his partner Chip Caray (Harry's grandson) who left after criticizing the Cubs.   Caray does PBP for the Cardinals now.  I can't imagine Stone going back to the Cubs.....or the Cubs wanting him back at age 78.

https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/October-2007/Stone-in-Exile/

[caulfield12]

8 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Stone isn't leaving his good friend JR and he left the Cubs on "bad terms" when he was severely critical of the team on air when they were urinating away a wild card spot in the final weeks of the 2004 season if I remember correctly. Dusty Baker publicly went after Stone who didn't appreciate it. 

2007 is when it all fell apart with the team and Stone/Skip Caray on the plane…

[ron883]

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

2007 is when it all fell apart with the team and Stone/Skip Caray on the plane…

Since you love correcting everybody. 

2004***

Chip Caray***

Edited August 5 by ron883

[spiderman]

On 8/4/2025 at 9:17 AM, WBWSF said:

I don't understand the hate for Sciffen. I think he's more than  competent at what he does. It has to be difficult to some degree to announce for a team that keeps losing 100 games a year. Every now and then I watch a Cubs game. I think  their main announcer (Boog  Scambi) is brutal and boring. I've often wondered what the Cubs fans think of him. I read an article in the Sun Times a couple of weeks ago about Steve Stone. Evidently Stone left the Cubs on bad terms with the previous ownership. The writer said  the present Cubs ownership should kiss and makeup with Stone. Sounds like a good idea and maybe Stone will go  back to announce for the Cubs.

Stone is going to end his career with the White Sox. I doubt he's changing teams. Maybe after he retires, he shows up in the Cubs booth for a few innings, but not for a job.

He's already doing less games as the season goes along. 

Schriffen is a cheerleader who tries way too hard to be excited over what has been a horrific team during his time here. Just be honest - don't try to sell us on things that aren't happening. I don't need to hear how great the clubhouse is or how hard everyone is working when the team is likely to lose 100 games for 3 seasons in a row. I also suspect that he'll sound better with an improved team to call, but he needs to relax and just call the game. No screaming and yelling, no exaggerating of what's happening, etc.

[caulfield12]

15 hours ago, ron883 said:

Since you love correcting everybody. 

2004***

Chip Caray***

See, you know too much about the Cubs lol...and no more Abreu to criticize.

Maybe criticized Dansby Swanson for missing 1B yesterday.

[southsider2k5]

So when was the last time that Schiff and Stone did a game together?

[southsider2k5]

17 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

So when was the last time that Schiff and Stone did a game together?

The entire Seattle series was Beckham and Schiff.  

Yes, I am now curious enough to keep track.

[wegner]

6 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

The entire Seattle series was Beckham and Schiff.  

Yes, I am now curious enough to keep track.

I missed every game in Seattle and now I feel pretty good about that.

[pcq]

Beckham and his insights lol. What a doofus. Another 3B (and 2B) failure.

[Lip Man 1]

4 hours ago, wegner said:

I missed every game in Seattle and now I feel pretty good about that.

The Sox players themselves apparently missed every game in Seattle too!

[caulfield12]

Beckham made a comment about Getz (who will be on Friday second inning for All Access Friday) saying to him that the booth should have been more focused on the game in the middle innings yesterday when it seemed like an early blow out (and they were talking about all kinds of nonsense).

[nrockway]

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

Beckham made a comment about Getz (who will be on Friday second inning for All Access Friday) saying to him that the booth should have been more focused on the game in the middle innings yesterday when it seemed like an early blow out (and they were talking about all kinds of nonsense).

I can't imagine what he would've said about Jason. The team could be on pace to win 100 games and in the midst of a close game and he'd be giving us his opinions on the collected works of Charles Baudelaire or something and what it means for Luis Robert's slugging percentage.  

Interesting comment though.

Schriffen evidently signed a "multi-year" contract which I interpret as "three". I'd give him another year before forming a real opinion I guess. He could be a lot better if he tried to understand the sport even a little bit. I think he makes "better" points this season, but it isn't really close to other PBP guys. Other teams' PBP announcers seemingly have more knowledge on our players than Schriff does. I can't imagine he watches other teams' games. Or our minor leaguers. This guy could be hyping up Braden Montgomery a lot more, but does he even know he exists?

It's a day job and not a passion. If he can't make it a passion, they should find somebody who actually loves baseball. McKnight is like that, but his voice is so bad. I mean, no offense, it sounds 'fine' if he was just some dude, but you can't expect me to listen to that guy 100+ times a year. Maybe he could write notes for Schriffen though. 

 

tl;dr: get Brooke Fletcher in the booth yesterday

Edited August 8 by nrockway

[caulfield12]

4 hours ago, nrockway said:

I can't imagine what he would've said about Jason. The team could be on pace to win 100 games and in the midst of a close game and he'd be giving us his opinions on the collected works of Charles Baudelaire or something and what it means for Luis Robert's slugging percentage.  

Interesting comment though.

Schriffen evidently signed a "multi-year" contract which I interpret as "three". I'd give him another year before forming a real opinion I guess. He could be a lot better if he tried to understand the sport even a little bit. I think he makes "better" points this season, but it isn't really close to other PBP guys. Other teams' PBP announcers seemingly have more knowledge on our players than Schriff does. I can't imagine he watches other teams' games. Or our minor leaguers. This guy could be hyping up Braden Montgomery a lot more, but does he even know he exists?

It's a day job and not a passion. If he can't make it a passion, they should find somebody who actually loves baseball. McKnight is like that, but his voice is so bad. I mean, no offense, it sounds 'fine' if he was just some dude, but you can't expect me to listen to that guy 100+ times a year. Maybe he could write notes for Schriffen though. 

 

tl;dr: get Brooke Fletcher in the booth yesterday

Beckham and his sister in law would be at least interesting...she probably knows more about baseball from being Scott Fletcher's kid and Jake Cronenworth's wife than Schiffren does.

[2Deep]

LOL!

I don't understand all the criticism for John. He might not be perfect, but he’s not just another cookie-cutter play-by-play guy like so many others. I'll take someone with genuine passion and excitement over a generic announcer any day.

In fact, after listening to home team broadcasts from every team over the last three years, I can tell you there are plenty of terrible announcers out there. Personally, I find Boog and Deshais to be pretty bad.

Ultimately, I'm tired of the cookie-cutter approach and prefer an announcer who brings some unique energy to the broadcast.

Edited August 8 by 2Deep

[southsider2k5]

29 minutes ago, 2Deep said:

LOL!

I don't understand all the criticism for John. He might not be perfect, but he’s not just another cookie-cutter play-by-play guy like so many others. I'll take someone with genuine passion and excitement over a generic announcer any day.

In fact, after listening to home team broadcasts from every team over the last three years, I can tell you there are plenty of terrible announcers out there. Personally, I find Boog and Deshais to be pretty bad.

Ultimately, I'm tired of the cookie-cutter approach and prefer an announcer who brings some unique energy to the broadcast.

See, I don't think anything John does is genuine, and that is probably why it bothers me.  Both Hawk and Jason were genuine guys in their style.  John is just loud to be loud, even when the situation doesn't call for it. Each sport has it's own pace and tempo, and baseball is very rarely a game that should see PBP delivered at a 10.  To me it sounds like a guy who doesn't understand the game.

I find the most cookie cutter thing about him, is that he really doesn't have anything new or interesting to say, only what he is being fed to say.  For as bad as Hawk got by the end, he always had his very own unique style and path.   Schiff is just the dude in the crowd who cheers loudly to be noticed, but doesn't actually offer anything of his own.

[caulfield12]

He still announces like he's fighting to convince someone of something instead of just telling the story of what's actually happening in front of him.

Just listen to John Rooney for a week or two doing Cardinals games and the difference is night and day, or listen to some John Miller Giants broadcasts.

You don't see all the favoritism or closeness towards certain players that Schiffren buddies up to like Pham last year or Miguel Vargas swing changes crap when he's under .230.

Or rooting for Robert now like he's Scott Boras himself.  Sosa as well.

Just be more objective about the players as well as the various strengths and weaknesses of the team overall.

Don't blow smoke up our asses.

We can this year's team is "different" without being hammered over the head with it every single time there is a late but failed comeback.

John really needs to do some research on let's say the 2013 Royals to see what it really looks like when a legit team is coming around in the second half of a season.

This team is STILL years away without significant free agent spending.

Colson Hagen and Schultz all feel quite volatile in their career outcomes.  Volatile as hell, I would even argue.

Without a single star player, they're not going anywhere, even in the lowly AL Central.

[2Deep]

5 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

See, I don't think anything John does is genuine, and that is probably why it bothers me.  Both Hawk and Jason were genuine guys in their style.  John is just loud to be loud, even when the situation doesn't call for it. Each sport has it's own pace and tempo, and baseball is very rarely a game that should see PBP delivered at a 10.  To me it sounds like a guy who doesn't understand the game.

I find the most cookie cutter thing about him, is that he really doesn't have anything new or interesting to say, only what he is being fed to say.  For as bad as Hawk got by the end, he always had his very own unique style and path.   Schiff is just the dude in the crowd who cheers loudly to be noticed, but doesn't actually offer anything of his own.

What do you want him to offer?

He is the PBP guy......he needs to call the game with some excitement.  That is all I need from him.  Let the color guy give you interesting tid bits and nuance of the game.