Orsillo still doesn't know why Red Sox replaced him
Don Orsillo is no longer the voice of the Boston Red Sox, and five months following the decision to replace the veteran broadcaster was made, he still doesn't have an answer as to why.
"I really don’t know, still," Orsillo told Rob Bradford of WEEI. "I've read things in articles and things that have been said. I've heard terms like 'upgrade' and 're-energize' and both really kind of upset me, because obviously we had a lot of energy and I felt like we were quite good."
The New England Sports Network's controversial decision to replace the popular play-by-play man, who had held the role since 2001, was officially announced in late August. Orsillo, however, said he was first informed his time was coming to an end shortly after the All-Star break by Dave O'Brien - the man who is replacing him in the booth.
"My replacement actually mentioned to me that I would not be returning next year," Orsillo said. "He had heard that, and I said, 'I hadn’t heard that.' That was the first that I had heard of it. I tried to make some phone calls after he had mentioned it to me that I may not be returning, and I didn’t have much success in the early going getting some of those phone calls returned. As it turned out, he was quite right."
(Courtesy: MLB.com)
Orsillo acknowledged that the final two months on the job in Boston were some of the hardest of his career.
"It was a very long six weeks," he said. "August, really mid-August, when everything kind of broke - getting through the end of the year doing games on a nightly basis was very difficult. I mean having been here for 15 years in what was obviously my dream job - that was very disappointing and something that took me a long time to get over."
Much to Orsillo's surprise, however, it didn't take long to find employment. San Diego Padres owner Ron Fowler, along with president and CEO Mike Dee, flew to Baltimore to meet Orsillo, and the two sides worked out a six-year deal.
"You have a limited amount of choices, and very thankfully, the Padres were very aggressive and came to me in September," Orsillo said.