Eck is done in the NESN booth after the season

Archer1979

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Good for him. Bad for us. His color commentary in the booth has been a highlight in the post-Orsillo years.
 

joe dokes

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Like we need another reason not to watch....Maybe he'll visit the booth when the sox are in CA.
 

Kliq

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Losing Remy and Eck now. That's a tough one, and I don't have a ton of faith that NESN is going to find a suitable replacement.
 

DonBuddinE6

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The Eckian terminology -- the cheese and salad and pairs of shoes -- was off-putting at first. But once I focused on what he was saying instead of how he was saying it, he was a joy.

Now we're left with a broadcast booth (and a team) that's an embarrassment.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Good for Eck. Hope he has many more years to enjoy his family.

I've never been his biggest fan in the booth. I find his "Eck-isms" tiresome. But he certainly is and has been better than some of the alternatives. His absence will be noticed.
 

mikeot

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Not a surprise, I think he misses Remy and maybe felt his own mortality. I don't even remember the last game he did so it almost felt like he was cutting out this year.
Maybe so, but I get that he wants to return to his native Cali and be with his grandkids. Many thanks, Eck.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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Shit, this stinks. Has to have been difficult from him without Remy. Hope he is in good health and that this is just him stepping away at the right time. As a kid who grew up in the 90’s, i never thought I’d grow to love Eck, who I just hated as an A (who didn’t).

This season hasn’t been the same without Jerry, and this truly signifies the end of that era. Sad.
 

JCizzle

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Good for Eck. Hope he has many more years to enjoy his family.

I've never been his biggest fan in the booth. I find his "Eck-isms" tiresome. But he certainly is and has been better than some of the alternatives. His absence will be noticed.
I can appreciate your perspective on that. Eck-isms aside, his passion for the game comes across when he broadcasts, which is more than you can say for a lot of analysts.
 

8slim

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It's remarkable that Eck's been doing this gig for 20 years and never drifted into self-parody, as sooooo many color guys do. He's a treasure, and has made this run of Sox greatness all the more enjoyable.

NESN won't bring in a suitable replacement because there's no one quite like Eck.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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They should bring in Pedro. Too bad he'd never be interested in an 80+ game schedule let alone a 150+ one.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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This sucks. The thing that I like most about Eck is that he obviously likes and cares about the game; and he's not afraid to say what's on his mind. That honesty and enthusiasm, especially when paired with corporate robot Dave O'Brien, is what makes him such a great announcer. I'm going to miss him next year.
 

dynomite

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Devastated but happy for Eck. Man. I adore Eck in the booth. I even liked the pairs of shoes and salads and sneaky cheese. Baseball is a grind — 162 games are a lot, and Eck made the broadcasts seem effortlessly entertaining and fun and informative. He was honest without being mean. Those broadcasts with him and Remy were about as good as a Red Sox broadcast could be in my opinion.

It continues to emphasize how hard it is to find the right matchups for a booth that we all spend more time with than many of even our close friends and family throughout the year — parts of 162 games, 3 hours a day? Doesn’t help that Dave O’Brien was well suited to the radio and has never translated to TV.

I have hope for Youk — Eck didn’t immediately turn into the Eck we have now, and Youk retired less than 10 years ago (his last game against the Sox in 2013 JBJ was in the lineup, for example). Hopefully he’ll get more comfortable with his new role and open up a bit more. But it won’t be the same.
 

brs3

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Eck & Remy were such a wonderful pairing. On more than one occasion they'd be talking about the same event in their lives from totally different perspectives, and it was so refreshing.

I think if Youk is given time and has the interest, he has a lot of potential. If they can find a retired pitcher with the same interest, it could be fun to see how a new generational pair would work.

Thanks, Eck!
 

SoxFanInPdx

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In the back of my mind, been wondering what the effect of Remy's passing has had on Eck. Been a while since he's been doing games consistently. Happy for him to enjoy the rest of his life. Sad that he won't be in the booth anymore as he's the only shining spot on it these days.

Overall, what a miserable season on the diamond and outside of it with this organization.
 

A Bad Man

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I feel like immediately showering after writing this, but I think I’d prefer more Mazz to more Youk. This news really sucks. Eck has been my favorite Sox color commentator of my time following the team, which goes back to the mid 70’s.
Rock, meet hard place.
 

BigEazy

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Really sad about this. I understand his decision totally but this is a gut punch coming hot on the heels of losing Remy.

I don't mind Youk and hope he can grow into the role as he gains more experience. The rest of the booth is a mess.
 

InsideTheParker

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never drifted into self-parody
I like him A LOT, but I have to disagree with this. He has a style of commenting that cracks me up: 1) So and so does that a lot; 2) He really does. Always the second statement to bolster the first. There are other examples, but I would need a re-exposure to remember them. I find them funny, but they are so "Eckish" that they amount to self-parody.
 

dynomite

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I don't mind Youk and hope he can grow into the role as he gains more experience. The rest of the booth is a mess.
It’s an interesting contrast especially with the memorialization of Vin Scully. The rotating cast of characters makes sense for this first post-Remy season, but NESN needs to find a quality replacement team and stick with it.

Part of the problem for the past few years — with Remy’s absences and Eck taking time off — has been a rotating cast of characters in the booth, whose voices were unfamiliar and who felt and sounded like they were just dropping by the booth. Only in traveling with and being around the team over (at least a majority of) the full season I think can an analyst really get to know guys, and fill in the play-by-play with the “color” that color analysts are paid for. Castiglione does this so well on the radio.
 

E5 Yaz

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Maybe NESN and the Sox will look at the situation and decide it's the perfect year to clean house, and replace O'Brien with Monaco while they're at it.

As for Eck, clearly the most unique analyst in the Sox booth since the early years of Ken Harrelson. I really enjoyed him, and truly missed him this weekend in KC ... just to hear what he would have said. You soft-pedaled it; I imagine Eck would really have said what goes on among teammates during a lost weekend like that.
 

8slim

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I like him A LOT, but I have to disagree with this. He has a style of commenting that cracks me up: 1) So and so does that a lot; 2) He really does. Always the second statement to bolster the first. There are other examples, but I would need a re-exposure to remember them. I find them funny, but they are so "Eckish" that they amount to self-parody.
I find Eck's style quite genuine. Sure he has certain catchphrases and verbal stylings, but I never feel like he's forcing them, or doing them as schtick.

As an example, it's taken Tony Romo all of 3 seasons to become a self-parody. What was genuine in year 1 is now expected and very conscious.
 

snowmanny

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As others have said, genuine, funny, charismatic, words come easily for him, remembers a lot of relevant (and less relevant) stuff, loves baseball, had the credentials, works great off the others in the booth, seems to always have fun. You'd think that it would be easy to find color men like that that but it turns out it is incredibly hard. Odds that the next main guy will be as good as Eck (or Remy) are very low.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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I think part of what makes him such a great color guy is he is clearly comfortable in his own skin, he’s credible, and he’s confident- all the qualities that made him a great player. It also seemed pretty clear that he didn’t need the job and want trying to impress anyone, which probably helped make him so good at it and is really difficult for new guys coming in.
 

EvilEmpire

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While I'm happy that the Sox are having a crappy season, I'm sad that they broke Eck and he's done. I enjoyed him in the booth. One of the best color guys around and you could count on him to be honest about what he was seeing.
 

Mystic Merlin

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While I'm happy that the Sox are having a crappy season, I'm sad that they broke Eck and he's done. I enjoyed him in the booth. One of the best color guys around and you could count on him to be honest about what he was seeing.
Sounds like he was planning to walk away regardless, he was doing fewer games as it was.
 

mauidano

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I totally get him moving back to California to be closer to his kids and grandkids. He has most definitely earned it. We wish him well and are grateful for his time he spent in the booth.

Please for the love of God, do NOT give any more air to Mazz or Bradford.
 

Mueller's Twin Grannies

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The question isn't so much who will replace him as it is will they go with the three-man booth with DOB, Youk, and Millar/Mazz?
 

canderson

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I think part of what makes him such a great color guy is he is clearly comfortable in his own skin, he’s credible, and he’s confident- all the qualities that made him a great player. It also seemed pretty clear that he didn’t need the job and want trying to impress anyone, which probably helped make him so good at it and is really difficult for new guys coming in.
To me what makes him great is he calls it as he sees it. He's a homer, but his homerism doesn't blind what happens on the field. He'll praise a Red Sox player and tear him apart equally if its warranted. It's rare and refreshing.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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To me what makes him great is he calls it as he sees it. He's a homer, but his homerism doesn't blind what happens on the field. He'll praise a Red Sox player and tear him apart equally if its warranted. It's rare and refreshing.
Agree; and I think that comes from his credibility and confidence. He didn’t really care what anyone thought about him, which I think is pretty rare. But he can also get away with a lot more than a Youkilis or certainly an O’Brien or Mazz can. Guess that comes with being a HOFer.
 

rmurph3

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Not a lot of positive support for Youk here. I think he merits some time to grow in the role, but I would still be interested in taking a run at Ron Darling this winter.

Related... if $ is an issue (as it seemingly always is with NESN), does the launch of the streaming service mean they'll actually be willing to invest in the product here?
 

sezwho

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To me what makes him great is he calls it as he sees it. He's a homer, but his homerism doesn't blind what happens on the field. He'll praise a Red Sox player and tear him apart equally if its warranted. It's rare and refreshing.
Yes, that approach combined with terrific energy, charisma and deep understanding of the catcher/pitcher/hitter duel is so refreshing.

To be honest, I liked what I saw initially but was genuinely skeptical it would work as a more than an occasional appearance/change of pace. Wrong, so wrong and he’ll be missed.
 

jose melendez

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I was watching the other day and thinking how much the game suffered from the lack of a consistent and compatible team. O'Brien was tolerable with Eck or Remy, but with the other lightweights is useless.

I like the idea of cleaning house and getting a good team and letting them work. God, breaking up Remy and Orsillo was dumb.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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I was watching the other day and thinking how much the game suffered from the lack of a consistent and compatible team. O'Brien was tolerable with Eck or Remy, but with the other lightweights is useless.

I like the idea of cleaning house and getting a good team and letting them work. God, breaking up Remy and Orsillo was dumb.
But they are always competitive, so they will let Eck go and then hire some low ceiling, likely to get a sore throat guy on the downside of his career who won't make it to the All Star break and will have to be replaced by Steve Lyons as the only free agent out there
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Eck is the best. I get that all the lingo can be a bit much, but it’s been so fun to bond with my kid over.

“I can’t believe I was a pair of shoes!”

“Yeah, try swinging at the curve next time, kid.”