Great get for the Cubs. Still sad Len left, but this is about as good as we could have hoped.

Yeah, this is good.

I watch a fair bit of CWS and Sciambi is good - like Kasper, he has a knack for not getting in the way of the game while being interesting enough between actions to avoid muting the sound. I'd still have preferred keep Kasper, but from all indications, it was simply a matter of Kasper wanting to move to radio and I don't know that I'd want to lose Pat Hughes either (however, Coomer.... well...)

Yes, this is the best the probably could have done and is definitely the one silver lining to what likely is going to be (and has already been) a pretty shitty winter for the Cubs. He's really good at a lot of things and have always felt he'd be great to have as the daily guy. Sounds like he's still doing ESPN stuff, so we'll have some sort of substitute every now and then.

it was simply a matter of Kasper wanting to move to radio and I don't know that I'd want to lose Pat Hughes either

Yeah, as much as I liked Len, there's simply no way I would have been willing to part with Pat in order to keep Len around, even if Hughes only has a few more years left before retirement.

Can’t say that I’m a fan of Sciambi. Far too much non-game related byplay with his color man for my taste. Perhaps the ESPN producers think that humanizes their talking heads, and it could be different when he’s on his own in local media. I don’t suppose Sciambi will be taking Rick Sutcliffe with him? That would be a win for the national broadcasts.

Jon Sciambi sounds like a bad fake name Jason Giambi uses.

#5: "non-game related byplay" is one of the keys of a successful local broadcast team. I agree it's not great on national broadcasts but for local, these guys are together 162 games a year over several years with the same people tuning in. If things don't get "personalized", they'll sound like robots before their first season is over. There's just not that much to say about a baseball game day after day after day, only so many "insights" to Kris Bryant, etc. If these guys can't joke, can't nerd out on restaurants or music or whatever, can't go into "say, did you see that story about ..."

Faked or not, IMO one of the main features of a successful broadcast team is that they seem to like each other. You're seated next to these two people for the entire game for every game -- you only want dry commentary? When you think about it, TV sports is gogglebox. Who do you want to watch watching the game?

I love this. Len leaving was a gut-punch, but Sciambi has been my favorite ESPN guy for a while. He should pair nicely with JD, since he like Len also mixes in the off-beat discussions throughout the game that made some of those Cub games during the lean years tolerable.

#5: "non-game related byplay" is one of the keys of a successful local broadcast team. I agree it's not great on national broadcasts but for local, these guys are together 162 games a year over several years with the same people tuning in. If things don't get "personalized", they'll sound like robots before their first season is over. There's just not that much to say about a baseball game day after day after day, only so many "insights" to Kris Bryant, etc. If these guys can't joke, can't nerd out on restaurants or music or whatever, can't go into "say, did you see that story about ..."

Exactly. Some of Len and JD's best moments were when the Cubs were down 11-2 in the 7th or something, and they'd just start riffing on things.

I just learned A) Len Kasper is the same age as me and B) He was born in the city I now reside in. Eerie.

Also, given the age of the site, there ought to be a thread from when he was hired in 2005, but the oldest I could find is this one from 2008.

I just learned A) Len Kasper is the same age as me and B) He was born in the city I now reside in. Eerie.

It's spelled Erie.

It's spelled Erie.

Primey.

Can’t say that I’m a fan of Sciambi. Far too much non-game related byplay with his color man for my taste. Perhaps the ESPN producers think that humanizes their talking heads, and it could be different when he’s on his own in local media. I don’t suppose Sciambi will be taking Rick Sutcliffe with him? That would be a win for the national broadcasts.

ESPN definitely forces the non-game related stuff in, but like others have said, that makes sense in local broadcasts. You can always tell the talking points ESPN uses for their national broadcasts, and you can also tell them checking them off when they hit on them.

He has a personality, seems both smart and curious, and knows what he's talking about. With an excellent color guy - JD is leagues ahead of Sutcliffe - he's even better (IMO, a good example of this is college bball games he calls with Jay Bilas - Sut brings everyone down).

Deshaies is a completely different partner than Sutcliffe. Deshaies jokes a lot but it’s all very dry, while Sutcliffe is a louder, hot-foot type of color guy. Sciambi is a naturally funny guy, but being more of a straight-man I think he will fit in well with the long-established tone of post-Caray era Cubs tv broadcasts: focused on the game, homer-y, strong with the critical analysis. Sure, we will probably hear all kinds of Gen Xer tangents, but that was very true of Kasper as well. Sciambi will have his job cut out for him matching Kasper in terms of the play by play and analytical comments, but from what I’ve seen I think he is up to the task. I’m very happy about this.