Theo Epstein Resigns

XM MLB reports at 5:23PM that Theo Epstein is cleaning out his office. Reports were gleaned from Boston tv stations, and finally the Boston Globe. The Globe, part owners of the Red Sox, had been reporting that Theo would stay. This angle did not work. Time for Theo to move on.

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Baseball Lives on XM MLB

Thanks to xm 175, we still have baseball--for me, that's only 1p-6p daily, for Charley Steiner's show, then Dibble and Kennedy. The others--Mark Patrick, Chuck Wilson, Gray, and Lane, are all no-talent bumblers, and shouldn't be on radio at all. Steiner had a lot of guests today:

• Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com
• Tony Massarotti, The Boston Herald
• Harvey Araton, The New York Times
• Alan Schwarz, ESPN.com
• Dan Graziano, The N. J. Star Ledger
• Bob Nightengale, USA Today Sports Wkly.

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Baseball Calendar

OCT. 27-NOV.10 Free Agent Filing Period NOV. 7-11 GM Meetings, Indian Wells, Calif. NOV. 16-17 Owners' Meetings, Milwaukee, Wisc. NOV. 19 Reserve lists filed for Majors & Minors DEC. 5-8 Winter Meetings, Dallas, Texas DEC. 5-9 MLB Players Assn. Exec. Board Meeeting, Henderson, Nevada DEC. 7 Last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to their former players who became free agents DEC. 8 Rule 5 Draft DEC. 19 Last day for free agents offered salary arbitration to accept or reject the offers DEC. 20 Last day for teams to offer 2006 contracts to their unsigned players 2006************* JAN. 5-15 Salary arbitration filing JAN. 8 Last day until May 1st for free agents who rejected arbitration offers to re-sign with their former teams JAN. 18 Exchange of salary arbitration figures FEB. 1-21 Salary arbitration hearings

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Welcome back Rob & Kevin

Rob and Kevin are finally back together from 3-6PM on The Show. Very good to hear them. They say Brian Cashman will be on today.

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Technical difficulties

Tuned in today at 1pm to hear The Beat with Charley Steiner. He had Jayson Stark and John Rooney on tap; Rooney the long-time White Sox announcer who will not be continuing with the team after this season. The XM phones weren't working, so Steiner couldn't hook up with anyone. So, for awhile we heard replays of earlier interviews. At 2PM, Rooney came on, was happy to be part of the celebrations, but disappointed that he'll no longer be with the White Sox. Later, Charley had Jerry Crasnick from ESPN.com, who predicted that Theo and Lucchino will get back together. Steiner's XM producer, Brent, showed a great example of the loss of professionalism in broadcasting today. During the extended time trying to hook up the phones, he was childlike, giggling, not helpful, and vague. This shows you how management thinks. Steiner was trying to run a professional operation. Whomever Brent reports to doesn't care about that kind of thing.

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We're listening closely

They've been quite busy this week bringing us all the games and lots of interviews--those of us listening to XM channel 175 are listening closely, and appreciate the words and expertise. I've sent a couple of my usual emails to them this week. I doubt anyone sees them or cares, so that's why I started this blog. I sent one in about the previous post, re: Rob Dibble gagging and having to go to a break after hearing Charley Steiner say how great Rivera is. I sent one in today, my 2nd or 3rd on the subject of the new host they seem to love, Chuck Wilson. I have to turn the radio off when he comes on. He should not be on radio at all, and certainly not on a sports station. The worse problem is that someone thought he SHOULD be on the air. That such thinking prevails in management ranks today is what's really frightening.

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I can't take it

I'm listening to The Show on XM MLB--today with Rob Dibble and Orestes. They had Charley Steiner on for a few minutes earlier, now Kevin Kennedy has joined. They spoke about the closers on last night's Astros-White Sox game. These guys will normally avoid mentioning Mariano Rivera's name like the plague. Although, everyone knows Mariano is the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history, most of these pundits would rather drink a gallon of Drano than say so. But, today, I give all gratitude to Charley Steiner, who brought up how the long, successful path of Mariano becomes more astounding as we go along seeing the humanity of other closers in the post season. Not saying Mo is perfect, but the disrespect he gets from most of these guys is disgusting. Dibble practically choked, could not and would not say a word in response.

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