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From the Enquirer:
After one year on Reds’ radio broadcasts, Jim Kelch will move part-time into the television booth.
The former Louisville baseball announcer, who joined Reds radio full-time last year, will replace Paul Keels as the secondary Fox Sports Ohio play-by-play announcer when not on radio.
Two groups will be happy with this, the Kelch fans and those that dislike Keels.
I am very happy to hear this. Keels knew nothing about baseball. That was clearly evident listening him last year. It was painful. I’m not the biggest Kelch fan, but he certainly is much better than Keels.
Excellent! It means someone will actually be doing play-by-play.
Glad we won’t have another season of Keels. He might be the worst in Reds history. He needs to stay with sports that don’t have so much free space.
@Mark in cc.:
You must be too young to remember Gordy Coleman on WLWT-TV.
ESPN IS REPORTING THAT VOTTO HAS AGREED TO 3 YEAR, $38 MIL CONTRACT!!!!!!!
That’s what I came to say. Does anyone feel like explaining the arb rules to me? Didn’t we have him for that amount of time anyway? Is this because they thought he would get more in arbitration or just to keep him happy? Thanks
@jrob45601: He was stuck here the next three years anyway. Sounds like he doesn’t want to stay here any longer than he has to. Enjoy the next three years, then it’s Yonder time.
Since I am in both groups, I am very happy with this decision.
as much as welch would always swoon about how keels new SO much reds history, it got difficult listening to him after he would mix up the names of the players fielding balls for the third time in a game.
@WishboneD: Basically if the team and the player fail to come to agreement on a contract it goes to an outside arbitrator. The tricky thing with that is both sides have come in with a number for the contract. Let’s use Votto as an example. The Reds likely would have come in with a 6-7 million dollar range. Votto’s agent would likely come in with a 10-12 million dollar range. Now the two sides have to argue against each other to prove they are right. The teams have to put down their player to the arbitrator to get their way and this makes bad feelings against each other. By buying out these three years (even though they already would control him) they avoid having to put down their best player, alienate him, and have to face the media storm if the ugliness goes public.
IMO, this deal takes the ugliness away, it gives Votto three years to not worry about a contract and see what kind of direction the team goes in. For the team, this allows them to give respect to their best player and shows good faith in negotiations for when his free agency approaches. So this is basically a deal for both sides to play nice, show respect, and feel each other out until the next negotiation begins in two-three years.
@gonz: I remember Gordy Coleman playing first base. That was painful enough to watch.