Boston Red Sox Rumors: Don Orsillo Headed West? Report Names Potential Next Job For Fired Announcer


Longtime Boston Red Sox play-by-play announcer Don Orsillo was told earlier this summer that he will not be asked back into the team’s broadcast booth next season, and now rumors appearing in the media this week indicate at least one possible landing spot for the beloved broadcaster — whose agent says that he is already fielding multiple inquiries regarding Orsillo’s services.

The Red Sox, owner of NESN, the local New England cable channel that broadcasts almost all regular season Red Sox games and employs Orsillo, had reportedly intended to keep the announcement of the 46-year-old Massachusetts native’s dismissal under wraps until sometime after the end of the 2015 baseball season.

But in late August, news leaked to WEEI radio talk show host Gerry Callahan, who revealed on the air that Orsillo would be let go by Boston after the season. Orsillo himself has yet to issue any public comment regarding his situation and both he and broadcast booth partner Jerry Remy — a former Red Sox second baseman who has served as analyst on Red Sox broadcasts since 1988 — have proceeded with game broadcasts as if nothing has changed.

Orsillo and Remy have been paired in the NESN booth since 2001. The dismissal of Orsillo sparked widespread outrage among Red Sox fans, and an online petition to keep the veteran announcer with the Red Sox has so far accrued more than 61,000 signatures.

But according to longtime Red Sox beat reporter Gordon Edes, who now writes for ESPNBoston, Orsillo has privately told friends that showing up to the ballpark for each night’s broadcast is “like I’m going to my own funeral.”

But Edes also wrote that “multiple sources say that Orsillo’s prospects of landing another broadcasting job look very promising.” In fact, Edes reported Tuesday, a leading possibility would take the native New Englander 3,000 miles from home to southern California, where Orsillo could replace Baseball Hall of Fame play-by-play man Dick Enberg as the primary announcer for the San Diego Padres.

Enberg, who has announced a wide variety of major sports events a his celebrated career spanning six decades — including eight Super Bowls and numerous Wimbledon tennis championships — enters the final year of his contract with the Padres next year and will turn 81-years-old in January.

Orsillo’s agent, Brad Blank, told Edes that while he would not confirm any specific potential employer for Don Orsillo, he has received multiple inquiries about the popular announcer and stated that “he’s going to be fine.”

[Image: Don Orsillo Twitter Account]

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