by The general perception among many Mets fans is when team COO Jeff Wilpon tries to fix a perceived problem, he generally creates a public relations mess in the process, and then blames the media for misconstruing his intentions along the way.
Wilpon’s latest gem is a Steinbrenner-esque foray into the team’s broadcast booth, where discussions to shake up the very popular team of Howie Rose and Josh Lewin are currently being pushed by the younger Wilpon.
The sources who spoke to Capital say there’s a desire from Wilpon to incorporate an ex-player into the booth, a change from the pure-announcer backgrounds of Rose and Lewin. It’s hardly a revolutionary idea, and in fact the ex-jock formula has worked exceptionally well for the Mets on TV, with the extrordinary, anti-homer combination of Gary, Keith and Ron.
But it flies in the face of how the Mets have typically deployed their radio announcers for the half-century they’ve been around.
What’s interesting about this development is that a week ago, after rumblings of a possoble Lewin exit from the Mets radio booth, I asked around the industry and was told the following:
I should be sleeping, but have heard in addition to @CliffFloyd30 the folks @WOR710 also plan on chatting w @TEAMFRANCO45 for role in booth
— Mark Healey (@MHealeySports) January 21, 2014
Seems @WOR710 is far more supportive of a classic PBP man / former player as color announcer dynamic for booth…
— Mark Healey (@MHealeySports) January 21, 2014
This is not to suggest that Howard Megdal’s story is incorrect; far from it. I trust his work as much as I do my own. It’s just that whomever is doing the pushing and pulling, the idea that changing the dynamic in the broadcast booth is a problem that needs to be fixed — and in a highly public fashion — is well, ludicrous.
Even more so when one hears things like former GM Steve Philips’ name being mentioned as a possible Lewin replacement. When it comes to Jeff Wilpon sometimes, you just can’t make it up.
