FOX Sports has announced that Alex Rodriguez will expand his role with the organization, becoming a full-time analyst. Rodriguez has agreed to a multi-year deal as he launches his new career in the media business.
Rodriguez confirmed a few weeks back that he’s officially finished with his playing career. While some have wondered whether he’d thrive as a coach and perhaps eventually as a manager, he’s instead firmly moving to the broadcast side — though he is also serving as a guest instructor in Yankees’ camp. In addition to his new role with FOX, which began during his studio work in the postseason last fall, the famed slugger is set to appear on the YES Network and host a CNBC reality TV series.
Poor play led to the end of Rodriguez’s tenure with the Yankees last season, his age-40 campaign. But his playing days largely ended on a positive note, as Rodriguez turned in a high quality season in 2015 and completed a brief farewell tour before the Yanks cut him loose.
Still, Rodriguez’s legacy in the majors remains mixed. He’s an all-time great performer — one of just twenty position players to rack up at least 100 fWAR — who sits fourth on the career home run list. But his history with performance-enhancing drugs, to say nothing of his behavior in the midst of various controversies, no doubt weighs down his undeniable accomplishments.
Whatever one thinks of Rodriguez’s place in the MLB history books, he’ll soon be playing an increasingly prominent role on TV screens around the country. After turning in a well-reviewed performance in the studio last fall, Rodriguez — long renowned for his baseball acumen — will both continue in that capacity and venture into new arenas. Rodriguez will work the booth on some FOX Sports Saturday games and will also function as a “feature reporter” for certain programming, per the press release.
So this is the money he’s spending? At least CJ can spend money on cars
Hopefully Pete Rose will be back again too. Loved it when he photobombed everyone.
Pete Rose was horrible and should never be on TV
Nuff said.
Agreed. He was awful
Word, yo
Pete Rose is one of the worst commentators I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching.
Good. He was a surprisingly competent announcer.
He is actually a good analyst. Surprisingly on how arrogant he is
Right on. He is pretty good at it.
I actually enjoyed him during the postseason. He and Frank Thomas were both surprisingly good.
I agree. Even as a Red Sox fan, I enjoyed listening to A-Rod
While I realize there is no connection between the HOF, Fox, and MLB as it relates to issues like PEDS, I think you are seeing a normalization process that will lead the best of the PED-era players to gain admittance into the Hall. It’s been going on for a while and will probably continue. There are players too important or too popular to be left out. I don’t say that with any relish, just more of a sense of resignation,
The sport can’t lose its stars, even with baggage they still have a role post playing days…as long as they don’t go all curt schilling on Twitter lol
What difference does Schilling have compared to anyone else? Just because you don’t agree with him?
Agreed.. Then with Rodriquez and Thomas as broadcasters some network could get endorsements from needle and steroids companies and with the “now” generation? It’s probably in style.
I’d rather have 100 Curt Schillings then 1 A Rod. I’m sorry, let people speak their mind and deal with the consequences of their actions. I don’t accept cheaters, and frankly, they don’t have to deal with the consequences of their actions.
I’m not sure how Frank Thomas ties to steroids…he’s been very adamant about not using them and I’ve not seen reports that he did. I saw him play many times…he didn’t need them. He’d line up for the national anthem next to Ray Durham and practically be able to rest his glove on Durhams head….
Man I hope not.. I was hoping he would walk away from the game after everything. He is a very competent analyst and speaker and had an amazing career with or without the drugs, but every time you look at him how can you not just think fraud?
An amazing career that cannot be seperated from ped use…and that’s sad. He’s a poster boy for chemistry.
ESPN couldn’t afford him or the 300 they’re about to cut so glad he ended up with FOX
he needs to stay away from the game
I think he’s too stigmatized (rightfully so) to be strongly involved with an MLB team – certainly not now. He’s pretty good as an analyst, certainly better than Schilling, Kruk, Reynolds, and a lot of other former players in that career.
I’m not saying Arod is bad, but Reynolds is entertaining! Not sure about game – booth skills, but he’s good in-studio.
I love Harold Reynolds and his various gaffes and 80’s racial humor.
I love how Harold’s talent for fitting the minimum amount of insight into the maximum number of words helps fill the two seconds of dead air while Buck catches his breath when he’s done yelling his play by play call of the worlds most amazing dribbler to short in the second inning
But Bonds isn’t???
I’m happy for him. Seems like he has finally found his calling.
I thought supermodels and $252 million contracts were his calling?
Right haha that’s the joke 🙂
Respectfully disagree with those praising Rodriguez’s broadcasting style – not a fan. It’s unfortunate Rodriguez remains in MLB, there are far better people folks should call upon to represent our game.
Couldn’t AGREE more! His tarnished “legacy” has no business being on tv. I don’t give a rats a** what he has to say about the game. Keep sticking needles in your a** AROID
I think he’s a dirtbag, and I wanted to hate him as a commentator… but I thought he was good. Maybe it’s just that being on a panel with Pete Rose could make a yipping Pomeranian look like a good commentator.
I am SO relieved he won’t have to worry about not being able to pay his bills!
What a waste…. He’s still a cheat and a liar
Senior PED Analyst?
Boom
Alex is more worried about people liking him then anything. He sounds fake when he talks about players.
Hope he goes to NYY Spring Training every year to work with the ‘newer’ kids !
Anytime we start talking about a PED player, then note a high ranking in a statistical category, the ranking has to be considered dubious. Rodriguez doesn’t rank as highly in fwar
without the outside help just like Bonds isn’t the HR leader without the artificial advantages.
Amphetamines didn’t make Mays or Aaron virtually immune to the aging process into their 30s, or change their appearances.
I wasn’t a fan of him as a player, but I enjoyed listening to his analyses in the playoffs last season and I’m glad he has chosen to pursue that role.
Some butthurt ARod fan going around handing out downvotes like candy.
The big problem here is he’s weasel rd his way into a group of people that will be voting him in or absent from the HoF in 4 years. That’s the tragedy.
Decent broadcasting is sparce. I felt Rodriguez was decent, but rigid and fake during the postseason. I really thought the crew of Rodriguez, Rose, and Big Hurt was entertaining as heck to watch though. People actually talked about the broadcasting. Of course ANYTHING beats old horse head biding his time until he can get back to Troy Aikman.
Rose isnt there for his analysis, even though people can overlook him at their own risk. He’s the crazy old guy….sort of like Harry Carray was in his Cubs incarnation. Thomas is the inciter and foil…and Arod is the stuffed shirt straight man. It was a winner….ratings and feedback said so anyway.
If I do say so myself, I know a lot about baseball, so I am okay if broadcasters don’t continually shower me with new things I didn’t know. I realize I’m not the intended target audience, because the average Fox viewer probably doesn’t have a compulsive obsession with current and historical baseball stats, rosters, league configuration, schedules, and so on.
But, despite all that, I find Pete Rose’s shtick to be so painfully annoying and devoid of baseball value that I ended up yelling at him on my screen, wishing his lifetime ban extended to pregame broadcasts…
I feel the same as you, basically. I dont look at the analysts for insight. Most Im fairly neutral on. Kind of like umpiring….if you notice they are there….that’s 80% of the time not a good thing. Every once in awhile I’ll tune in on mlbtv and actually notice that the game calling is interesting. I’ve committed baseball religous heresey before by suggesting that Vin Scully talked too much, but that’s because they put his radio over the tv broadcast. As a rule the radio guys are better than the tv guys. Its probably about 90% personal taste of course. I really liked Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby on Blue Jays radio. I grew up with Denny Matthews calling Royals games, and he was excellent.
My opinion on the pointlessness of Fox analysis might also be effecting my feelings on why I thought the circus they put on was so interesting. If I had to listen to Pete Rose explain sacrifice bunting for 10 minutes I’d choke myself on a 1988 Tim Raines starting lineup figure.
The good old radio guys – prime example being Vin Scully of course – definitely filled up their air time but they didn’t waste words… if that makes sense. They knew they were the eyes for the listeners. Today’s TV guys just assume everyone has a 72 inch HDTV and thus think they have open license to flap their gums the whole game whether it’s related to the game or not. I swear to god Joe Buck, Verducci, and Harold Reynolds get paid on a per-syllable-uttered basis.
Vin scully had incredibly interesting factoids on everyone. Some guy would come to bat for thw Brewers just up from Triple A and he’d have a story about how he grew up in SoCal and where he was when Kirk Gibson hit the ball off Eckersley. Of course the next pitch the guy would plaster one in the RF seats just like Gibson. I loved Scully and Garagiola on NBC Game of the Week.
I was alive but dont have the memory to remember Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall calling White Sox games….that must have been a riot. The Harry and Jimmy Show.
Im also a little less demanding of analysts than I am play by play.