Rob Dibble fired as Nationals television analyst

Rob Dibble made headlines twice last month for controversial comments about female baseball fans and Stephen Strasburg’s elbow injury, and today MASN and the Nationals announced that he’s been let go as the team’s television analyst. I’ve written quite a bit about Dibble recently, so I won’t rehash all my points again, but suffice it to say there are a lot of happy Nationals fans right now. Ultimately telling Strasburg to “suck it up” and “stop crying” when it turned out he had an elbow injury that requires Tommy John surgery is what cost Dibble his job, but even setting aside the various controversies he could have just as easily been fired for simply being a terrible announcer. Dibble was a Hawk Harrelson-level homer, except without any of the charm, story-telling ability, clever phrase-turning, or worthwhile analysis. He was just all grunts and low-brow machismo, and no real baseball fan tunes into a game to hear that garbage. I’m sure he’ll land on his feet with another prominent gig, because “loud” and “controversial” can generate ratings, but for now at least he’s no longer in the same profession as Vin Scully.