Every weekday morning during the MLB Season, fans turn on MLB Central on MLB Network and watch Mark DeRosa break down the previous night’s baseball action along with Robert Flores and Lauren Shehadi. As with any show that is watched in professional clubhouses, the right word choices to describe a player’s performance are key, but DeRosa doesn’t have to worry about that.
DeRosa — the Team USA manager for the upcoming World Baseball Classic — was a guest on The Chris Rose Rotation podcast on Monday and Rose asked him if he has ever received criticism from any player for the comments he makes on MLB Central.
“Not really. I know how hard it is. I know how hard it was for me. I do everything in my power not to go to negative town with anything that I see on a nightly basis unless it’s to do with ripping a GM for a trade he makes that I know is going to impact the clubhouse or a manager making a silly move to go to a bullpen piece. Those are the things I go after.”
DeRosa is getting his opportunity to manage in the WBC, but he has interviewed for MLB managerial jobs in the past. However, he mentioned to Rose that if he was going to leave TV to go be a manager, it has to be the perfect opportunity in part because he wants to see his son play baseball. Rose asked DeRosa if there was a part of him that he thinks he might be missing out on an opportunity if his name doesn’t come up in managerial openings five years from now for example.
“I have thought about that and I weigh the pros and cons of it. I hate to say this but it’s the truth and I only know one way to be true. “The network pays me really handsomely to do what I do. I want someone to knock my freakin’ socks off to get me to not do this. I work 6 months out of the year. The minute the last out of the World Series is made, I’m home. I’m taking my kid to school, I’m playing golf with my buddies, I’m living a normal life….I don’t want to give this up just to scratch an itch. I want somebody to force me to wake up every morning and not think of anything else.”
DeRosa told Rose that he is a fan of analytics in baseball because it gives him the answers to the test and how he can use them. Plus, while he’s at MLB Network, he loves having the back-and-forth arguments with the people in research.
“I love those conversations. I love going back to research at MLB Network and getting into it with those guys back there. They are passionate at what they do.”
