The pathetic losing Boston Red Sox are now proving to be as much of a ratings threat to their broadcast partner as to owner John Henry’s wallet.
It’s gotten so bad that WEEI’S game night Red Sox host seems close to jumping from the top of the 37′ Green Monster left-field wall after the Sox lost, yet again, Monday.
In his post-game review Monday night, after the Sox lost to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, WEEI’s Christian Arcand sounded even more despondent than last week.
“It’s not good for me that the Sox fans are zeroing us out,” Arcand lamented, just before reading some recent quotes about the team’s demise by Craig Breslow, Sox Director of player operations.
WEEI’s woes actually began long ago, before the Sox’ ship started sinking – yet again – this season.
EEI, which began in the sports broadcast air waves years before its competition WBZ 98.5 The Sports Hub, always finishes near the cellar in the coveted Nielsen Audio ratings, while 98.5 comes in at the top.
So, EEI’s ratings are consistently and constantly as bad as the team it sponsors, the Sox, which fell to 27-37 in a 3-1 road game loss.
If EEI had any chance of turning around its own ratings disaster it was tied to the Sox winning games.
It’s hard to say if both of their woes would have been at all better if the Sox had been able to re-sign veteran third baseman Alex Bregman.
Bregman flew the coop after last season following only that single year with them.
He is having a terrible year with the Chicago Cubs.
Bregman, a free agent after last season, apparently wanted a no-trade clause to return to the Sox, who balked and let him slip away, which maybe was a blessing in disguise.
He is shouldering the blame this week, saying it’s his fault that his poor batting performance is the root of the Cubs’ problem.
Actually the Cubs are in a lot better situation at 34-32, in the National League Central Division, than are the Sox, in the AL East.
“I’ve been terrible,” Bregman said Sunday night, after going 0-5 at the plate, in a 2-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants (27-39 NL West).
The Giants ironically signed Sox’ Rafael Devers in the middle of last season after the Sox pulled him from covering third base in favor of the much better fielder Bregman.
Devers, batting only .240 with eight home runs, is having as bad an offensive year as Bregman, who’s at .243 with five round-trippers.
The Giants and Cubs both expected impressive numbers from each of them.
Speaking of trades, the question now is whether Arcand will become a free agent himself.
After all, he’s doing no better for WEII than Devers or Bregman did for the home team whose fortunes or lack thereof are tied to the sorry Boston Red Sox.
