Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson

[jamesdiego]

Ed leaves much to be desired in trying to find out what is going on in the game.  But in the end I like their weirdness on the radio.  DJ is a treasure, so much better than when he was with Hawk.  

I for one love the wittiness of Jason.  But I agree with already stated that I could do without hearing about who hit a home run off of Stoney 30 years ago.  

I kind of like the idea of switching things up and putting DJ on TV with Jason, that would be awesome.  And put the older fellas together on the radio.  No one gets fired, lifetime loyalty intact.   

I agree that Frank was awesome with the Hawk.  Hawk is much better to listen to every once in a while.  

[Jake]

I used to find Farmer and DJ to be kind of funny/charming, but listening to them this year has been a slog. I haven't been getting that same funniness from them.

There's a bug with the MLB.TV app on some Rokus where the stream is smoother if you use the radio audio feed instead of the NBCSN one so I've been getting them along with the video. They're terrible at describing what's happening in the game, but I almost forgive them since I usually have video.

What kills me is how often they are wrong about what's going on. You wouldn't know if you're listening to the radio, of course. The clearest example is that if they complain about a ball/strike call, I'd give at elast 3:1 odds on the umpire being right per Statcast, etc. It's like they judge it with the naked eye instead of using the monitor in front of them.

[elrockinMT]

3 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

I've personally never been a fan of Farmer.  Way too monotone for my liking. 

Should have listened to Bob Elson in the day if you consider Farmer monotone 

[Jack Parkman]

Farmer and DJ are the worst Radio team in MLB. It would be a better broadcast of they just played audio of Bennetti and Stone on the TV call

[The Ginger Kid]

Move Jason to radio with DJ (they'd have fun) and re-hire Rooney or Dave Wills but give him the TV spot with Stone Pony. Send Ed to Charlotte? 

[dakuda]

I stopped listening to the game on the radio when they once went 4 or 5 innings without telling me the darn score or who was winning.  That was it for me.  This was at least 6 years ago.

[Baker]

I agree with Greg on most points. The average man in the street is better informed than Ed Farmer. He belittles analytics, doesn’t know the farm system, or the rest of the league, and has this fake expertise in geography and Spanish. But he has a genuineness with his partner that I really enjoy. These 2 are the opposite of the snoozy corporate types you hear everywhere. I especially enjoy how they rag out the guys who don’t hustle, even our own. That’s rare now. 

[WBWSF]

1 hour ago, elrockinMT said:

Should have listened to Bob Elson in the day if you consider Farmer monotone 

"The Commander", Bob Elson was the 3rd announcer inducted into the HOF. He was heartbroken when the White Sox didn't rehire him after the 1970 season.

[Lip Man 1]

5 hours ago, Greg Hibbard said:

I went through the announcing thread, and it's mostly about Hawk and Jason Benetti. I really need to vent about this.

These days, I find our radio broadcast absolutely EXCRUCIATING to listen to. Every time I tune in, I feel like I'm listening to a White Sox game through the awful filter of two men constantly trying to 1-up each other in some stupid game that is for no one's benefit. My read is that they just have bad chemistry between them, but it oozes out of the airwaves. I simply don't get this. It doesn't make for an enjoyable broadcast, it's not technically good, and I can never get a score or an idea of what's going on except their inane competition about whether something was a good play or not, whether it was a hit or an error, who was right last week about some stupid thing, etc.

Does anyone else feel this way?

I wish we could do better.

 

If you go back and listen to the games where he worked with John Rooney, Ed was one of the sharpest and most insightful color analysts around. I can't tell you how many times he predicted something that was going to happen a pitch or two before it did. That's where his experience as a player and a scout really came into play.

That was his strength. But as someone who does play by play for a living at a lower level I can tell you he's not a PBP guy, that's just not his strong point.

D.J. is one of the nicest guys around, spent 20 minutes talking with him after a game. A real gentleman and he's gotten better but again he's not the best at what he does. Oddly enough, if you listen to the games he worked for Fox on the Game of the Week (like with Thom Brennermann) he was very good...a lot better.

The two just don't have a real chemistry unfortunately. Sometimes it just doesn't happen.

Don't look for any changes though, JR has a say in the announcers from what I've been told, he's actually interviewed some of them, and he likes them both. You know the story.

 

[Lip Man 1]

2 hours ago, elrockinMT said:

Should have listened to Bob Elson in the day if you consider Farmer monotone 

Not fair to compare the two, it was a much different time and announcers then had a dramatically different approach.

[Lip Man 1]

1 hour ago, The Ginger Kid said:

Move Jason to radio with DJ (they'd have fun) and re-hire Rooney or Dave Wills but give him the TV spot with Stone Pony. Send Ed to Charlotte? 

I know Dave and I can tell you as much as he still loves the Sox and his roots, that ship has sailed. The Sox had their chance with him, some in the organization were pushing for him but from what I've been told, they could never get JR to say, "yes." Dave got tired of waiting and I can't say that I blame him.

 

[Lip Man 1]

20 minutes ago, WBWSF said:

"The Commander", Bob Elson was the 3rd announcer inducted into the HOF. He was heartbroken when the White Sox didn't rehire him after the 1970 season.

It was time for a change. Happens to all of us in the business. Given the circumstances the Sox needed a dynamic new approach. Actually both Roland Hemond and Chuck Tanner wanted a young announcer named Al Michaels (yep...the same guy) who was doing the Triple A games in Hawaii. They pushed for him when they got the Sox job but owner John Allyn didn't think the fan base would go for such a young guy without a reputation. When Harry became available, he was the choice and history shows it was the right one for that time although Michaels would go on to get the Reds TV job and the rest is history.

[Heads22]

I've never heard a radio game from Rooney or before. I hated Farmer and DJ at first, but goddamn if that weird dynamic didn't grow on me. 

 

On the TV side, I think Jason makes Stoney better, and Stoney makes Jason worse. I think Jason really tries to draw out Stone's knowledge and does a better job than Hawk ever did. However, I think it makes Jason too deferential at time. To that end, Stoney accentuates the things that annoy some people about Jason (the sense of humor, etc.). Jason's a fantastic radio broadcaster (make time to listen to him do an NCAA tournament game sometime, he's reallllllllly good). I'd be interested to see how he sounds with someone other than Stone.