Three’s A Crowd
The YES broadcast team has been very much like the team they cover in 2008, as neither the commentators nor the Yankees lineup has remained consistent throughout the first 36 games of the season. Because of this the Yankees are playing .500 ball and the inconsistent calling of the games on YES has created sub-par broadcasts. Right now the Yankees can’t help their own lineup due to injuries to the heart of their order, but YES can certainly make adjustments by eliminating one personality from the broadcast every game.
When the YES team crams three personalities into a single telecast of a game, it actually interferes with what is happening on the field as the cameramen scramble to capture shots of what is being talked about in the booth in a chaotic manner. The last thing I want to do here is sound like the whiny Bob Raissman, but YES could use the advice that I am sure many fans in Yankees Universe aka the Tri-State area would like to give.
The formula of a play-by-play man (Michael Kay) and two color commentators (can be any of a large pool) can only succeed in certain circumstances, but during the previous series with the Indians, Kay along with John Flaherty and David Cone, just wasn’t what it could have been. While Kay is trying to call the game every pitch, he is constantly held up while the other two finish up their thoughts, which most of the time are repetitive statements from earlier in the game.
Having Flaherty, a former catcher, is a great addition to the telecast as he does a very good job telling about what might be going on in a mound conference or what pitch sequences might accompany a certain hitter. At the same time, Cone is good talking about pitcher’s preparations and why they may or may not shake off a catcher’s choice of pitch. But, both of them tend to venture outside their area of expertise and their opinions sometimes clash and contradict each other, and before you know it, you’re watching a Yankees game with Mike and the Mad Dog on in the background.
I understand that YES has a problem turning down former Yankee players searching for a broadcast considering they have chosen to keep on commentators who had a minimal role in pinstripes (Flaherty) or a very short one (Al Leiter). Nevertheless, if you wore the “NY” on your chest at some point, there seems to be a spot for you somewhere in that booth and if not, they will just make room, even if it jeopardizes the value of their broadcast, as the YES Network attempts to mirror FOX’s Super Bowl Half-Time Show team of six.
It is a constant competition for air time with Kay trying to get in his nerdy and relentless cliches acting as though he is hosting his ESPN Radio show instead of calling a Yankees game, while Flaherty and Cone both try to out-do each other and make the finer point about the game or analyze a certain situation. And don’t think it is just Flaherty or Cone creating this problem, it also occurs when Leiter is present and Paul O’Neill as well.
It is a shame that Ken Singleton has not done as many as games as he used when Jim Kaat (the Babe Ruth of broadcasting) was still in the booth and it’s too bad that Bobby Murcer has had the health problems he has had otherwise, none of the problems with the YES broadcasts would exist.
Even though many Yankees fans dislike Michael Kay and his ability to call a game, I think that he does do a good job and there is no reason to remove him of his duties, but rather just remove some of the pieces around him. If there is anyway to get Ken Singleton back in there on a regular basis (though I am unsure of his personal and family life, which might be causing him to call fewer games) then that is the answer to fixing the broadcast. But until Singleton is back in there and with Bobby Murcer not always in New York, there needs to be some sort of order in the booth because before you know it, Aaron Small and Todd Zeile will be part of the YES team.
