A-BIG PUZZLE
ESPN expected to keep Alex; Vasgersian out
THE Fenway Park crowd was going nuts in the top of the ninth Tuesday. The Red Sox were about to finish off the hated Yankees in the wild-card game. And, on ESPN, analyst Alex Rodriguez, out of the blue, felt it was time to look ahead.
“Matt, I’m going to make a prediction here,” Rodriguez said to his partner, Matt Vasgersian. “Gerrit Cole is going to be your American League Cy Young winner [next year.] The sophomore season here in New York is so much easier than the first one.”
It was a triple play of poor broadcasting: It was bad timing, it was not truly based on anything of substance and it was wrong. Next year will be Cole’s third season with the Yankees.
It didn’t exactly fit, which has often been Rodriguez’s problem on game broadcasts. With his contract up, Rodriguez’s future as ESPN’s lead analyst on “Sunday Night Baseball” is uncertain.
While Rodriguez does not have uniform support among the ESPN hierarchy, he has enough that ESPN’s goal is to have him return, according to sources.
ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” ratings were up 18 percent from last year, but down 9 percent from two years ago.
Rodriguez already does studio for Fox, which is more his forte. He just became an owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves. And he takes a lot of photos for Instagram and gossip pages. He has a full plate.
His partner, Vasgersian, has already decided to leave “Sunday Night Baseball,” telling The Post Wednesday afternoon he is going to focus on his role at MLB Network and increasing the amount of games he calls for the Angels.
“I decided to call it a wrap,” Vasgersian said.
Vasgersian and Rodriguez came to ESPN together, four years ago. Vasgersian was the rare ESPN outsider to get a top play-by-play job.
The fact he survived four years is a testament to his ability. He can call a game. He’s not perfect, as when he said no one thought Cole wouldn’t pitch well, as he exited after two-plus innings, apparently not remembering how poorly Cole performed in September and the fact that every third WFAN caller predicted Cole’s demise.
Next year, ESPN’s regular-season load will be considerably lighter, making the jockeying to be the voice of SNB more intense. ESPN will not have weekly Monday or Wednesday games anymore, so the focus will shift to “Sunday Night Baseball” and select marquee games plus potentially expanded playoffs.
There will be fewer chairs in the booth. The music has begun — and it might be the “Jaws” theme.
While Rodriguez is clowned on social media, he could be a kingmaker. If ESPN achieves its goal of bringing back Rodriguez, it could give him a say on his partner if it truly wants to make sure he succeeds.
A-Rod wanted David Cone to join Vasgersian and him for this season, but it fell through. He did one game with Cone and Michael Kay on YES a few years ago, and it was good. Cone is the best MLB analyst we listen to, combining old-school and new-school thoughts and a sense of television.
Rodriguez would be aided by a Cone, or someone of his ilk, because, to use a pitching phrase, A-Rod doesn’t have enough stuff to call a complete game. That left Vasgersian to have to do more heavy lifting in his play-by-play. With Vasgersian saying goodbye, ESPN would likely look within the family, with Boog Sciambi, Karl Ravech, Jason Benetti, Ryan Ruocc, Dave Flemming and Kay among the potential candidates.
Whomever ESPN chooses, Rodriguez needs to be led.