Hark! The Harold Angels Sing

Harold Reynolds was fired by ESPN yesterday, according to the NY Post (thx to diarists on Minor League Ball for the heads up, and I see that Rain Delay also has a blog entry up on this).

I watched almost all of Harold's career in a Mariners' uniform up close and in person. The man was a "meh," fringe major leaguer (career OPS+ of 83, peaking with an empty .300 BAVG in 1989 to go .300/.359/.369), who one year lucked into the stolen base title (Rickey was hurt for half the season, and finished with ONLY 41 SB, sandwiched between 87- and 93-SB seasons). He was an "All Star" for a pretty miserable M's team in the same situation that recently got Mark Redman named as an All Star. (Actually, if you compare Willie Bloomquist's career thus far with Harold Reynolds...now imagine that George Argyros owns the team again, and Wee Willie is FORCED to become the starting second baseman for over EIGHT consecutive seasons.)

Wake up! It's just a nightmare!!

But I digress. I long ago quit watching Baseball Tonight with regularity, in large part because I find Harold and John Kruk to be two of the least intelligent baseball analysts I have ever heard. In particular, HR annoys me due to his claimed "insider" status, combined with a seemingly innocent utter lack of baseball intelligence. It embarrassed me that he represented to most of the nation the history of our Mariners.

Regardless, I do not actually dislike the MAN, even if I assert that both of his two most recent careers have exposed him as a failure. Shoot, I had even learned how to ignore him (a la Ron Fairly) in the unlikely event that I turned on Baseball Tonight (still love that music, plus the highlights, even if the content of the "analysis" blows). Someone, I'm confident, will miss you, Mr. Reynolds. Just not me.

Now please stay far, far away from the Seattle broadcast booth. Dave Valle, Dave Henderson, and Jay Buhner is MORE than enough punishment to dish out to Seattle fans without adding another awful broadcaster.