Josh Lewin was so good and so popular as the Rangers’ play-by-play announcer that replacing him was a very tall task, but John Rhadigan probably thought he had at least a little job security.
Less than two months after stepping into Lewin’s big shoes Rhadigan has been fired, according to Richie Witt of the Dallas Observer.
In talking to some Rangers fans the consensus seems to be that Rhadigan was pretty shaky early on in what was his first play-by-play gig and has been criticized a lot by fans and media members.
However, when asked to evaluate Rhadigan’s performance as recently as two weeks ago Rangers president Nolan Ryan said:
Apparently “need to give him time” meant “we’ll fire him in 15 days.”
T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that Dave Barnett will move from the radio side to replace Rhadigan.
Can anyone recall another announcer being let go in the middle of a season for performance-related reasons rather than health problems or personal issues?
