Bye Bye Brenly!

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 18, 2012 1:30PM

The rebuilding of the Cubs now extends to the announce team with the departure of Bob Brenly as the team's television analyst. Brenly made his departure official late Wednesday.

“Working here in Chicago was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my professional career.

The Ricketts family, everyone associated with the Cubs and WGN and, most importantly, Cubs’ fans everywhere, will always be in our hearts, and Joan and I wish nothing but the best for the organization moving forward.

I was very blessed to have the best play-by-play man in the game as my partner for eight years and Cubs’ fans are very fortunate to have Len Kasper as the voice of the Cubs. I’ll miss working with him and we look fondly toward returning to Chicago in the future.”

Brenly wouldn't speculate on his future with the Tribune, although he's expected to become part of the Arizona Diamondbacks' new broadcast team. (Brenly managed the D-Backs to the 2001 World Series.)

Brenly and Cubs play-by-play man Len Kasper became one of the best broadcast teams in Major League Baseball during their eight years together, in part due to Brenly's ability to say some uncomfortable truths about the team on the field. Kasper told WSCR-AM afternoon hosts Terry Boers and Dan Bernstein Brenly will be missed and expressed an interest in having a say on selecting the Cubs new color analyst.

Chicago Now's Paul M. Banks floated the names of former Cubs Mark Grace and Kerry Wood as replacements for Brenly. Grace seems unlikely after he was fired as Arizona's color analyst before the season ended after his second DUI arrest in 15 months. While Gracie's reputation as a cocksman during his playing days precedes him and Wrigleyville watering holes would gladly accept the uptick in business, hiring him to replace Brenly would be too risky.

Wood is an intriguing option. Since his return to the Cubs, he's established himself as an unofficial club ambassador and last week broke ground on a new baseball field near Lane Tech High School.