Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

Hey you knew there would be 8 million Manningcast ripoffs.  I was hoping for Keith and Ron and no Gary, but looks like ESPN has run with this idea….

Now part of me wants to throw up in my mouth, but part of me remembers enjoying Sterling and Kay calling games not so much for the baseball part but because they had cool conversations.  So this idea might actually not be awful….more so for Kay, less so for A-Rod who says a lot of words but actually has nothing to say.

ESPN Unveils New Sunday Night Baseball Strategy as First Year of MLB Rights Extension Begins 

Five-time World Series Champion and Cy Young Award Winner David Cone Joins ESPN, Teams Up with Fourth-ever SNB Play-by-Play Voice Karl Ravech and Analyst Eduardo Perez to Form New Booth

Three-time M.V.P. and World Series Champion Alex Rodriguez Joins Veteran Commentator Michael Kay for Eight Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod Special Presentations on ESPN2, Plus Additional Exclusive Game Broadcasts

Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod Continues Longstanding Tradition of ESPN Creating Unique Alternate Presentations across Sports Dating Back to 2006

ESPN today announced its new coverage strategy for Sunday Night Baseball – the exclusive, national Major League Baseball game of the week – as it begins the first year of a long-term MLB rights extension. ESPN has reached a multi-year agreement with five-time World Series Champion and former Cy Young Award winner David Cone. The veteran pitcher and YES Network analyst will team up with Karl Ravech, who becomes just the fourth-ever Sunday Night Baseball play-by-play voice, as well as veteran analyst, player and coach Eduardo Perez, to form the new Sunday Night Baseball broadcast booth.

For both Ravech and Perez, the new roles are part of long-term contract extensions with ESPN. Along with Cone, the trio will call the premier MLB regular-season broadcast package – ESPN’s 25 Sunday Night Baseball telecasts – as well as additional exclusive games during the season, including MLB Opening Night.

Alex Rodriguez and Michael Kay Join Forces for Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod Special Presentations

As part of ESPN’s overall Sunday Night Baseball coverage strategy, it’s launching Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod – a special viewing presentation to air on ESPN2 alongside the traditional ESPN game telecast for eight Sunday Night Baseball games. The presentations will feature World Series Champion and analyst Alex Rodriguez and YES Network play-by-play voice and ESPN Radio host Michael Kay. Rodriguez, who hit 696 home runs and won three M.V.P. awards in his storied career, has also reached a multi-year contract extension with ESPN and returns for his fifth season as an analyst. (Left out some details of his career here)

The eight Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod presentations on ESPN2 will coincide with ESPN’s highest-profile rivalry games, including the New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox. In addition to discussion and analysis, the telecasts will integrate fantasy baseball, predictive analytics and special guests tied to the game.

Rodriguez and Kay will appear on site for select games, while appearing live from their home studios for other games. Rodriguez and Kay will also serve as ESPN’s main broadcast team for two exclusive ESPN MLB regular-season games. Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod is the latest in ESPN’s long, multi-platform history of special viewing presentations dating back to 2006 across its MLB, NBA, College Football, College Basketball, NFL and Little League properties, among others.

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Come on SNY, give Gary Cohen Friday Nights off.  You can do this!

Man, the Metsosphere is lit up with the big huge news that Eric Chavez is the new Mets hitting coach, a job he should hold for years unless Pete Alonso runs him out of town.

The Yankees had found Mr. Chavez to be qualified to be an assistant hitting coach, a job he has held since December 2021, and that is not a typo my friends.

Eric Chavez apparently played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball without me noticing.

I am confident he will be a vital part of the upcoming Mets championship season, and I am very happy that the gang at the Amazing Apple Insiderized Mets Blog Report has something to write about today.

Now about that third base coach….

 

While every other site is wasting time discussing the 3B Coach rumors, Mets Police is here for you.

The Los Angeles Times spoke with Mets #2 Starter Max Scherzer about the lockout.  Max said…

This negotiation is about the integrity of the game from our eyes. We feel as players that too many teams have gone into a season without any intent to win during this past CBA. Even though that can be a strategy to win in future years, we’ve seen both small-market and large-market clubs embrace tanking, and that cannot be the optimal strategy for the owners.

As for the service-time manipulation part, there are other forms of it beyond the obvious Kris Bryant example. Teams are putting long-term discounted extensions in front of players before a player even makes his debut. They’re told take the extension and you will be in the big leagues tomorrow but if you don’t sign it you will stay in the minor leagues. Playing in the big leagues is everyone’s dream, and teams are now leveraging that desire to gain financial control over a player’s career. That’s why the Kris Bryant grievance case is so important to all of us players because if it could happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

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The grand bargain is that you make less money early in your career so that you can make more money later in your career. Teams have shown that they’re not willing to pay for players’ past production for a whole slew of reasons. And if that’s the case, that’s the case. But if we’re going to look at players that way, then we need to then allocate more money to players earlier in their career. We’re seeing that happen more than ever now, of front offices chiding away middle-class free agents. That’s going at the fundamental part of the grand bargain, and a solution must be found to balance it.

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You’re training ready to be good to go for when spring training starts. If that doesn’t happen, then you make different decisions based on that. But until that happens, you have to have the mentality that we’re going to be playing on time. Any other kind of speculation is just hearsay.

 

 

o