Does ESPN have their sights set on Jon Sciambi, Jessica Mendoza and Alex Rodriguez to fill their Sunday Night Baseball broadcast booth void? According to the Sporting News’ Michael McCarthy, who reported earlier this week Sciambi may be the leader to replace Dan Schulman as the telecast’s play-by-play announcer, the network is also targeting Alex Rodriguez to join the broadcast.
During his playing days A-Rod was always good for a quote, but struggled to portray any media savvy. Near the end of his career, Rodriguez quickly became a media darling providing analysis for FOX.
A-Rod joined FOX for their pre and postgame show with Kevin Burkhardt, Frank Thomas and Pete Rose. Rose was fired for sexual misconduct allegations and replaced by Keith Hernandez and David Ortiz for the playoffs. The program became a hit, often compared to TNT’s popular basketball pre and postgame coverage.
Whether or not A-Rod would leave FOX for the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball opportunity, or if Fox would grant Rodriguez permission to hold both jobs remains to be seen. “ESPN wants A-Rod badly,” a source with knowledge of the talks told McCarthy, “but FOX, in general, is not good about sharing talent.”
As McCarthy noted in his report, A-Rod replaced Aaron Boone on the Yankees in 2004 after Boone suffered an offseason knee injury, could Rodriguez be his replacement again after Boone departed the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball booth to become the 33rd Yankee manager?
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
