SLUGGERS UP!
Stanton & A-Rod take first cuts in new roles
Together, the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez were starting to get a bit stale. Apart, they are the talk of baseball again.
The Yankees are taking the step from playoff underdogs to World Series favorites thanks in large part to the acquisition of Giancarlo Stanton. Rodriguez will be the scrutinized centerpiece of ESPN’s new-look “Sunday Night Baseball” booth.
The Yankees’ ratings on YES Network dipped as A-Rod’s career ended — dropping to 2.28 in his final season (2016) — as the aging team faded from worldbeaters to contenders to alsorans. But the ratings for the Baby Bombers increased 57 percent last season to 3.57 — a five-year high. The addition of Stanton has led to spring-training ratings that are on pace to be the best ever for the YES Network.
“Oh yeah, that’s nice job security,” YES Network analyst John Flaherty joked about the ratings boom. “I live a half-hour outside of Manhattan, so I’ve experienced this with a bunch of the people. You [could] sense the excitement last year and how they connected to the team.
“All winter long, that’s all you heard about: What are they going to do? How are they going to top last year? And the ratings have verified that. People are really excited about this club for obvious reasons, but I think it’s a team that is really easy to like.”
Rodriguez as a young broadcaster has proven to be as intriguing as the player he was early in his career before his reputation was tarnished by PED use and his time with Yankees became synonymous with postseason failure. He impressed working in FOX’s postseason studio show the past two years, and when Aaron Boone departed ESPN — with his contract up and being hired as the Yankees manager — A-Rod took the second analyst’s spot next to Jessica Mendoza and new play-by-play man Matt Vasgersian, who replaced Dan Shulman.
The new crew has been preparing together for weeks and called its first game on Thursday when the Yankees met the Twins. It will be part of Rodriguez’s scrutinized adjustment from October studio role to weekly booth role.
“His baseball IQ is off the charts,” Mendoza said. “His brain has always kind of been wired that way, to be inquisitive, to ask questions. There’s never enough information out there. But then when we are watching film together, and Bryce Harper is up and these dynamic players and he is more reactionary.
“It’s not pre-produced like you would do in studio, where it’s like: ‘We are going to talk about these five things’ and you have days to plan it. It’s here is something that happened during an at-bat, ‘What do you think?’ There’s so much there and so many directions you can go. There are so many intricacies to his knowledge, especially when it comes to hitting. It’s really cool.”
That list of dynamic hitters, includes several Yankees — Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Stanton to start. The Yankees acquired the reigning NL MVP this offseason from Derek Jeter’s Marlins, and how he handles the spotlight of playing for a contending team will be one of the most compelling storylines of the season.
“Giancarlo, if it’s fair or not fair, there are going to be people watching every move that he makes,” said Flaherty, who will be in the booth for YES’ final spring broadcast on Friday and in the studio for their Opening Day broadcast on Thursday.
“It’s how he performs on the field and after games. That’s in victories and, probably more importantly, when he’s struggling and going through a tough time. That’s the fun part about playing in New York, you get superstars and you get to see how they react playing in the biggest market.”