As the drama of the baseball lockout and Yankees coaching staff woes continue to define the 2021-2022 off season, another move may have Yankee fans scratching their heads when it comes what they are used to seeing and hearing in the broadcast booth. Late last week ESPN Sunday Night Baseball announced that David Cone, YES analyst and former Yankee and Met pitcher, will serve as lead analyst for their broadcasts this year. And as an alternative broadcast on Sunday nights, you can catch Alex Rodriguez and our very own Michael Kay on ESPN2. Buckle up fans for "Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod,'' is being billed by ESPN as its "newest, unique alternate presentation.''
"According to Marchand, the A-Rod-Kay broadcast might consist of about 10-12 Sunday night games, roughly half of ESPN’s SNB schedule. Cone would essentially replace A-Rod, 46, in the updated SNB booth, alongside Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez," reported NJ.com.
The changes stem from Rodriguez looking to streamline his schedule a bit in favor of being an active owner of his new team the Minnesota Timberwolves. Cone will remain on a reduced schedule with YES who touts a number of analysts including Paul O'Neill, Ryan Ruocco (who also calls a number of Brooklyn Nets Games) and John Flaherty.
"The exact format of the “Kay-Rod” broadcasts has not been finalized, but presumably will include guests, just like Peyton and Eli. ESPN has been doing alternative “Megacasts” for years, so it has a wide variety of choices to pick out of its bag. The Kay-Rodriguez duo will do somewhere between 10-12 games. ESPN has about 25 weeks of “Sunday Night Baseball,” reported The New York Post.
Perhaps the shakeup will make the YES broadcasts more interesting as they have been flat over the last couple of years. Not really their fault since the Yankees themselves have been flat over the last few years. I will confess, however, I often turn down the sound in favor of the John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman's radio broadcasts. I am a fan of Ruocco, whose energy makes the game more interesting and so I look forward to hearing him more often in 2022.
Will Kay-Rod take root? Will the national audience embrace of couple of Yankees on Sunday Nights? I hope so. If it is anything like Eli-Peyton duo, it has the possibility of being fun and lighthearted, with some humor. More and more changes in store for 2022. Here's to building a better team for everyone to get excited about!
--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof
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