Alex Rodriguez has been hired as a part of FOX Sports’ commentary team for the MLB postseason, and in a cross-promoting effort, A-Rod was welcomed on the NFL on FOX pregame show. Â As a part of the festivities, Yankees third baseman tossed a football to analyst Jay Glazer, but he went a little high and the errant pass cracked a very expensive-looking monitor, as Justin Tasch of the New York Daily News writes.
After you enjoy that .gif once or twice, check out the latest from the AL East..
- Chad Jennings of The Journal News looked at the Yankees’ options when it comes to right fielder Aaron Judge.  The 23-year-old obviously holds promise, but Jennings writes that Judge could headline a high-impact trade, possibly for a high-end starter or an established power hitter.  The Yankees balked at including Judge and other top prospects in their late July talks for Craig Kimbrel, so it remains to be seen whether they could have a change of heart this winter.
- Daniel Murphy has a strong left-handed bat and defensive flexibility, which could help the Yankees, but the Yankees do already have Dustin Ackley and they have a bigger need for power hitting on the other side of the plate, Jennings writes. Â Still, Jennings writes that it’s hard to ignore what Murphy is doing for New York’s other team.
- Asdrubal Cabrera is expected to find a multi-year pact elsewhere but the Rays could bring back John Jaso or Grady Sizemore, just probably not both, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Â Topkin estimates that Jaso will be in range for a two-year, $10MM deal and that Sizemore could come much cheaper at $1MM. Â “They certainly are going to want to test the market and see what’s out there, and we will continue to stay in touch with them. At the same time we are managing a payroll so we have to fit within those constraints. There aren’t going to be any early decisions, I imagine,” baseball operations president Matt Silverman said.
“Alex Rodriguez has been hired as a part of FOX Sports’ commentary team for the MLB postseason.”
Fortunately, years of Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, and Harold Reynolds have already conditioned me to watch Fox baseball broadcasts on mute.
Not sure what the negativity is about Buck and especially McCarver. Two of the best announcers I’ve ever listened to, and I enjoy entire seasons of Gary, Keith, Ron, Howie and Josh on the Mets tv and radio teams. Harold is pretty good, too!
Buck is like Bob Costas. He covers too many sports. He knows how to call a game, which is fine for most fans, but doesn’t offer much to the dedicated fans.
Baseball and hockey fans tend to have more loyalty to their regional commentators than most sports.
Buck seems pretty disinterested sometimes and his attitude rubs a lot of fans the wrong way. He’s also wrong a decent amount of the time and slow to catch what is actually happening (esp. with football). McCarver may have been good a long time ago, but even when I was a kid, he wasn’t good.
Harold Reynolds just never stops talking.
Vin Scully never stops talking either and he is one of the greatest of all time. I think the biggest problem is all of these booths with multiple people. The best baseball announcers have always been solo announcers. They actually focused on the reporting of the game rather than having a conversation with each other. ESPN Sunday Night Baseball proves that.
BTW, for future reference, McCarver was not good a long time ago either.
I don’t understand why people like Vin Scully so much. Every time I hear him on a highlight reel his voice is a droning monotone. During big plays with home runs his voice only seems to elevate to about the level mine does when I find a dime on the ground.
Harold Reynolds also doesn’t know what he’s talking about roughly 80% of the time. Pretty much anything that isn’t about his playing experience, he’s wrong about.
McCarver was horrid
This is literally the first positive commentary I have ever heard about any of the Buck/McCarver/Reynolds group. Especially McCarver.
Go rays!
It’d be nice to bring Jaso back. I honestly don’t see a use for Sizemore with as many outfield options the Rays have, including the nice surprise Butler was. With shortstop I have heard Desmond thrown around as a similar situation they had this year with Cabrera. Or go internally with a platoon of Franklin/Beckham/Robertson.
The Yankees turned down Refsnyder + Warren for Zobrist and have repeatedly said they aren’t trading prospects, Chad Jennings is clueless as to the direction of the Yankees by writing this. He should be talking about how the Yankees can get rid of A-Rod, Beltran and Teixiera so their young kids like Bird and Judge can play everyday from Opening Day on, because prospects are making adjustments a lot quicker these days, for example if the Indians didn’t waste Lindor in the minors this year they would have had a much stronger playoff shot.
You have no idea if the Indians would have had a stronger playoff shot with Lindor for a full season. Yes he is a good (possibly soon to be great) player, but baseball is not a one man game. If it was, wouldn’t Mike Trout be in the playoffs? If you put Judge and Bird in the place of Beltran and Teixeira for the full season and more than likely the Yankees don’t even get a wild card.
“because prospects are making adjustments a lot quicker these days”
The key word you are missing in that sentence is SOME. Every prospect is not going to be Kris Bryant or Carlos Correa. Jon Singleton was an outstanding prospect, more highly rated than Bird or Judge, and he spent almost the entire year in AAA because he couldn’t make the adjustment to the majors. .Javy Baez is the same story. That’s not to say that Baez or Singleton won’t ever figure it out, but some guys need more time and some don’t ever make the adjustment.
Refsnyder is defensive liability I’d take Drew back before naming him 2B. Agree on all but not Tex he had freak injury or would of had Donaldson number.
Arod must have overdid the steroids for the pregame show.
Don’t get knocks on Reylonds he’s not Joe Morgan but good
I feel like every story about what the Yankees should or will do this offseason should be legally required to begin with “even though this is completely opposite of what they have said and done for the past several years…”
I don’t know if Judge will ultimately become a player of any notice. Nobody does; that’s the way of prospects. But he’s the kind of player the Yankees want, not to be trading them off for sluggers who invariably are going to be expensive (to acquire and to pay).
Dustin Ackley is not the type of player that should prevent the Yankees from even resigning Drew, so I doubt his presence will effect whether they go after Murphy or not. It’s kinda like saying the Tigers shouldn’t be interested in Mike Trout because they have Raja Davis.
That’s kinda like saying Danny Murphy is kinda like Mike Trout, or at least that the difference between Dustin Ackley and Danny Murphy is kinda like the difference between Rajai Davis and Mike Trout, which I think makes that a kinda silly comment.
Joe Buck is annoying. His dad was okay, but he sucks. And to second a comment from above, he is incorrect on a lot of things. Heard him say that walks should be included in OBP. I thought he was kidding. Good grief.
His dad was a lot better than okay.
Hey Joe…they already are.
I had the chance to see Aaron Judge play vs. the Buffalo Bisons this past season (Bird too). Judge didn’t touch much during the game, but he had a magic swing in batting practice.
There wasn’t a single squib in any of his sessions. Every pitch was a line drive. Granted, it was batting practice, but he was showing the kind of swing that makes a Yankee fan dream on rings to come.
Judge’s time at AAA was an adjustment period. His big swing is always going to go through periods of mechanical adjustment. But I see him ending up as a Jay Buhner type with potential upside for contact.
This is not a guy you trade unless it’s for a superstar.