Some Things I Think I Think: NESN’s Dave O’Brien to remain as Red Sox TV voice

· Yahoo Sports

∗ It hasn’t been announced yet, but Dave O’Brien recently signed a two-year extension to remain the TV voice of the Red Sox through at least the 2028 season.

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O’Brien’s current deal was up at the end of this season. Negotiations for an extension ran pretty smoothly, with only a minor hangup over some language relating to the possibility of games lost to a lockout next spring.

O’Brien could have signed a longer deal if he wanted, but after recently turning 63, was comfortable with the shorter commitment. His wife Debbie was hospitalized for several weeks last year and O’Brien, having spent 30-something years as a baseball play-by-play man, away from home much of the year, is increasingly cognizant of the time he figures he now “owes” his family. The recent arrival of two grandchildren only further drove that point home.

This is O’Brien’s 10th season with NESN after nine seasons in the Red Sox radio booth. Other than the 2018 season, in which the Sox won 108 games en route to a World Series championship, many of the his years in the NESN have been spent calling games for uninteresting teams.

That’s why he’s enjoyed the team’s improbable turnaround this season, and the recent six-week stretch has featured a number of improbable victories — highlighted by Thursday’s 13-inning epic — and appears to have invigorated O’Brien. NESN’s newly introduce “Booth Cam,” which shows him and broadcast partner Lou Merloni reacting to dramatic moments, has served to connect him more to the fan base.

The new deal will include a slight reduction in workload in games next year, which O’Brien welcomes. And by the time this new deal expires after 2028, there are expected to be massive changes to MLB’s national TV landscape which could potentially significantly reduce the number of games broadcast by local rights holders.

∗ In the coming weeks, the Red Sox are going to be presented with a nice problem: trying to make room on their active roster for players returning from injury.

The team experienced it’s hottest six weeks in recent memory thanks to depth pieces like Andruw Monasterio, Nick Sogard and Anthony Seigler. But what happens when the likes of Trevor Story and Isiah-Kiner Falefa regain full health and are ready to be activated? Do they reclaim their former roles — Story as the everyday shortstop and Kiner-Falefa as an important roving contributor? That remains to be seen.

There used to be an old adage that you couldn’t lose your job to injury, but those days are long gone —as Drew Bledsoe can attest. In the modern game, it’s about who can help you win and it’s hard to make the case that Monasterio, Sogard and Seigler should now be shoved aside to accommodate others.

∗ Kudos for Jaylen Brown for the way he handled his introductory press conference in Philadelphia. It was probably a good idea for both Brown and the 76ers that it came weeks after the trade from the Celtics, giving him time to process what happened and get past any lingering resentment he felt.

Brown was honest, thoughtdul and revealing, not hiding his disappointment but also not wallowing in it. Others would do well to copy his approach in the future.

∗ Adam Vinateri’s induction into Canton was long overdue. Vinateri was a weapon, both with the Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. As a franchise, the Patriots have been blessed with some memorable kickers, starting with the great Gino Cappeletti, who exclusion from the Hall of Fame remains a blight on the institution.

It’s time for more kickers to be honored, too. How can it be that just three full-time placekickers — Jan Stenerud, Morten Anderson and Vinateri — are currently inducted?

And while we’re at it: the booing Vinateri got when he returned to Foxboro in a Colts uniform remains a shameful episode for the Patriots fan base.

∗ By all accounts, Willson Contreras has been a vital voice in the Red Sox clubhouse, lending his experience for the betterment of the team. When they were flat early in the year, he called them out and when their 15-game streak ended, he reminded them to hold their heads up.

But part of being a leader also requires some more public displays and lately, Contreras has failed, repeatedly declining to speak with the media, sometimes angrily and profanely. His teammates need a public voice, too, and Contreras can’t pick and choose when he assumes that role.

∗ Hard to decide what was most surprising about Thursday’s 13-inning marathon: the fact that the Red Sox had to — and did — score in four straight innings just to keep the game going, or that a game in the ghost runner era lasted 13 innings. Since the rule change in 2020, the vast, vast majority of extra-inning contests are settled in either 10 or 11 innings.

∗ Sorry, but the fact that A.J. Brown and Christian Gonzalez chirped each other following some spirited training camp competition isn’t terribly newsworthy.

∗ It appears that the Red Sox may soon be credited/blamed for the Dodgers’ downturn. Through Friday night, the Dodgers hadn’t won since the Red Sox began their three-game sweep of them at Dodger Stadium some 10 days ago. The Dodgers likely will still manage to just sneak into the playoffs.

∗ Hope this doesn’t come off as sexist, but the WNBA is just teeming with drama on a weekly basis, with too much infighting among the league’s stars and ongoing controversies that detract from the product.

∗ Recommended viewing - Gregg Allman: The Music of My Soul, a stirring documentary with plenty of terrific footage and never-before-seen interviews. Worth tracking down on-demand.

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