There is nothing wrong with Dick Bremer

Dick Bremer, voice of the Twins throughout my life, was pushed out of his position as the play by play TV announcer of the Twins this season. There has been quite a bit of consternation over the move. Bremer is problem free, and unlike a lot of lifetime baseball minds, he was fully willing to learn new things and was good at conveying the value of the new statistics to the fan base. So what the heck, right?

This isn't a Hawk Harrelson situation, where Harrelson claims to have been fired, and most of the world can understand why. His homerism, while refreshing for White Sox fans, was also liable to get him in trouble, with a misguided comment towards an umpire or an opponent. It was time for the White Sox to cut bait, if not in 2018, then some time shortly thereafter.

Harrelson was pushed into retirement, while Bremer is moving to an advisory role with the Twins. While this was not Bremer's decision, this should be an indication that there isn't bad blood over the entire matter. I suspect that the move to remove Bremer from the booth is more tightly related to what will be the biggest story of the Minnesota offseason.

The Twins are between TV contracts this offseason, and really need to establish that source of revenue for the future. That future will need to be secured and stable. The Twins need to sell a similarly stable project. Bremer had been in the role for 40 years and is 67 years old. If the deal is 7 or 8 years, like national deals have been, Bremer would be in his mid 70s by the conclusion of the deal. Older if the Twins want a longer deal. Bremer was fine this year, but what about a few years from now?

The Twins don't have a problem with Bremer, nor Bremer with the Twins. Both recognize that Bremer may be ready to move on sooner rather than later, and while it wasn't yet for Bremer, the Twins needed to get ahead of the change so they can sell the media rights with a voice that will be there for the life of the deal.