Rangers' Broadcasting Teams Remain Intact For 2013

The sad, bizarre tale of Dave Barnett's broadcasting stint with the Rangers has apparently reached its conclusion this afternoon, as the local beats are all reporting on Twitter that the Rangers will be sticking with Steve Busby and Tom Grieve in the television booth for the 2013 season. Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks -- who was brought in from the Corpus Christi Hooks back in late June after Busby hopped from the radio to the television side -- will continue broadcasting the club's games over the radio airwaves. 

This, for all intents and purposes, appears to be the end of Barnett's three-plus-year stint with the Rangers, as he was brought in after the 2008 season to replace Victor Rojas as the club's radio color commentator, and then jumped to the television play-by-play chair in May 2011 after the Rangers bailed on John Rhadigan less than two months into the season. Barnett suffered a disturbing on-air incident on the evening of June 18th that led to a battery of medical tests (the official cause of the incident was apparently never determined with total confidence), and it was announced on July 2nd that he would not return to the Rangers for the remainder of the season. He did, however, make his formal return to broadcasting when he began calling University of North Texas football games for KTXA 21 in early September, and the reports on his current state of health are favorable.

Busby will open the 2013 season as the ballclub's fourth different Opening Day television play-by-play voice in as many years.