As mlb.com beat-writer Bill Ladson reported on twitter this afternoon (not yet confirmed by the club), F.P. Santangelo will be the new color analyst on MASN for the 2011 season. Credit to Nats Inquirer for his new nickname, Frank the Tank, which I fully expect the entire universe to embrace. Anyway, F.P. joins a long line of Former Nats Great: Announcer's Edition; Paciorek, Darling, Sutton, Dibble, and (for a half-second) Knight. It should be noted that each of these announcers has yet to make it more than 2 years in the booth...
We are a baseball blog so we care about baseball, and only sometimes about how someone speaks and whether they are controversial. So lets take a look at Frank the Tank's playing career. Just for fun.
His career started in 1989 when he was drafted by the Expos as a 21-year old out of the University of Miami (Fla), though it would take him 6 years to crack a big league lineup. He was 27 when he played his first game on August 2, 1995, a 7-6 loss against the Fish; Santangelo went 2 for 3 with a HBP, run, and RBI (thanks baseball-almanac.com!). Santangelo finished 4th in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1996 after posting a .277 AVG, with 7 HR and 56 RBI; a far cry from this years stacked rookie class I'm guessing. F.P. played the next 4 seasons in Montreal where his average went from .296 in 1995 to .214 in 1998, after which he was granted Free Agency and signed with the Giants.
With the Giants - 113 Games, .260 AVG, 3 HR, 26 RBI, 49 Runs
He was released after the season and he signed with the Dodgers 22 days later.
With the Dodgers - 81 Games, .197 AVG, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 19 Runs
He was released after the season and he signed with the Athletics 7 days later.
With the A's - 32 Games, .197 AVG, 0 HR, 8 RBI, 16 Runs
He was released after the season... I'm noticing a trend.
Frank the Tank's career plummeted after a solid rookie season, and he never again gained that form even though he was named in the Mitchell Report for using Human Growth Hormone (which he later admitted).
His career totals include a .245 AVG, 21 HR, 162 RBI, and 258 Runs in 665 games. Though my favorite stat is that in only one year did he have a negative WAR (2000 with a -0.3), while his career WAR is 8.6. In his later years he provided a decent glove who was capable of playing 6 of the 9 positions on the diamond (2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF, RF), a Willie Harris type.
I don't know too much about F.P. as an announcer, but I look forward to seeing how he pairs with cookie cutter Bob Carpenter. It will definitely be a far cry from both Rob Nasty-Boy Dibble and Ray Dad-Gum Knight.
Bring back Tommy P! Seriously, Paciorek was the best color announcer we've had. Man knew his baseball and he was FUNNY. Back when he did color for the ChiSox paired with ultimate Homer Hawk Harrelson, he was the self-depricating booth presence that made the broadcast listenable.
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