kaysingleton

25) New York Yankees – 1.93
-Michael Kay (play by play)
-Paul O’Neill (analyst)
-Ken Singleton (play by play/analyst – select)
-John Flaherty (analyst – select)
-Al Leiter (analyst – select)
-David Cone (analyst – select)
-Lou Piniella (analyst – select)

Most popular grade: F (24% of voters)

Analysis: No team had more votes cast than the Yankees, who had nearly 100 more grades dished out than their nearest competitor (Baltimore). Lots of people like New York’s analysis while not being fond of Michael Kay, but pretty much everyone preferred them over the John Sterling/Suzyn Waldman radio duo.

Reader Comments:

“Cone is horrible on YES. He ruins Yankee broadcasts every 5 seconds by bringing up sabermetrics.” -MThreeRozansky

“Cone has terrific sabermetric & pitching insight, Singleton has been terrific for decades now dating back to his Expos broadcast days, and O’Neill’s rapport with Kay is hilarious because he just does not give a sh*t.” -crazydudenyy

“Yankees have a good stable of color guys but Michael Kay brings that whole ship down” -ekt8750

24) Miami Marlins – 1.95
-Rich Waltz (play by play)
-Tommy Hutton (analyst)
-Craig Minervini (play by play – select)
-Jeff Conine (analyst – select)
-Preston Wilson (analyst – select)

Most popular grade: C (28% of voters)

Analysis: If you graph the vote tallies for the Marlins, the result resembles a man shrugging – I think that just about sums up the public’s view on the announce crew. The disastrous state of this team probably affects public perception of the Marlins broadcasters.

Reader Comments:

“I’m a Marlins fan and love Rich and Tommy. They’re smart, interesting, know a lot about the game. The only reason I gave them a B is that they have too many inside jokes, that could be a little disarming for people that don’t watch the game night in and night out. ” -danzyl66

“Rich/THut grade out to an A+. They are entertaining, know their stuff, & don’t take themselves too seriously.” -@iTdatCANEdUDE

23) Houston Astros – 2.00
-Bill Brown (play by play)
-Alan Ashby (analyst, play by play – select)
-Geoff Blum (analyst – select)

Most popular grade: C (40% of voters)

Analysis: The Astros received the fewest votes of any crew, which isn’t surprising given CSN Houston’s woes. If anyone cared about the Astros and/or received CSN Houston on their cable provider, maybe Brown and Ashby would get some more love.

Reader Comments:

“Bill Brown and Alan Ashby have great chemistry for the Astros, and Geoff Blum provides a lot of insight many analysts don’t provide.” -DanielOrmsby

22) Texas Rangers – 2.02
-Steve Busby (play by play)
-Tom Grieve (play by play – select, analyst)
-Mark McLemore (analyst – select)

Most popular grade: C (29% of voters)

Analysis: The Rangers’ C grade was the lowest raw number of any team’s most popular grade. The comments about Busby and Grieve ranged from “awful” to “serviceable” with some fans saying the broadcast crew was much better with Josh Lewin.

Reader Comments:

https://twitter.com/Caleb_McCaig/status/456580911014756353

https://twitter.com/blangford95/status/456578661852798977

21) Atlanta Braves – 2.06
-Chip Caray (play by play)
-Joe Simpson (analyst)
-Tom Glavine (analyst – select)
-John Smoltz (analyst – select)

Most popular grade: B (23% of voters)

Analysis: Only the Nationals, Red Sox, and Yankees crews got more A votes outside of the top ten than the Braves. Analysts Glavine and Smoltz got rave reviews, while the regular duo of Caray and Simpson fared quite worse.

Reader Comments:

“Chip Caray is the worst play-by-play announcer in the game. Joe Simpson is one of the worst homer analysts in the game.” -DanielOrmsby

“Chip Caray alone is worth an F and repeated use of the mute button.” -@Southern_Philly

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About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.