Giving Alex Rodriguez a “Manningcast” is an awful idea

What are we doing?

The New York Post reported on Thursday night that ESPN is making some dramatic changes to their Sunday Night Baseball broadcast lineup.

And they’re modeling it after what has been a marvelous success for Monday Night Football.

The “Manningcast” with hosts Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN2 has been fabulous. They’ve lined up great guests and let their personalities shine. Most fans who have tuned in have enjoyed what two great quarterbacks (and brothers) have had to say about the game that’s going on — and each other.

It now sounds like Sunday Night Baseball will have a… KayRod Cast.

Alex Rodriguez will reportedly be joined in the booth by Michael Kay for the baseball version of the “Manningcast.”

Replacing ARod in the traditional Sunday Night Baseball booth will be YES Network analyst David Cone, who will join Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

Hard Pass

This is an absolutely terrible idea.

We’re not going to sugarcoat this. It’s awful.

It’s like thinking, “Hey, Dave Chappelle had a really great comedy show. So let’s do it with… Rob Schneider!”

There aren’t many people on the planet who genuinely don’t like Peyton Manning. The guy is in almost every commercial on Sundays but damn if he isn’t a good dude who’s hilarious. And the Manningcast has really given Eli the opportunity to grow in his post-playing career persona as well. He’s a sniper at times; he told Tom Brady how much he enjoyed playing against him.

On the flip side, I can count on one hand the number of baseball fans that really look forward to hearing what ARod has to say about the week’s highlighted game.

This is nothing against Kay, who does a great job with the Yankees. And good for Cone getting the bump to a national gig in addition to his YES duties.

But centering a broadcast around ARod is a plan doomed from inception.

We’d beg the powers that be at the “worldwide leader” to reconsider, but we’ll instead hope the experiment doesn’t last long once it begins. We’ll spend our Sunday nights watching the traditional broadcast.

David Cone is going big time. He's headed to ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball this season.

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— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) January 7, 2022