Cone, Perez, Ravech replace A-Rod, Vasgersian on ESPN Sunday
FILE - Former New York Yankees pitcher David Cone throws out a ceremonial first pitch for the second game of a baseball doubleheader between the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays, Thursday, July 18, 2019, in New York. Former players David Cone and Eduardo Perez are joining Karl Ravech to form a new broadcast team for ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" telecasts. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
(Kathy Willens / Associated Press)
Jan. 7, 2022 12:35 PM PT
BRISTOL, Conn. —
Former players David Cone and Eduardo Perez are joining Karl Ravech to form a new broadcast team for ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" telecasts.
Alex Rodriguez, the scandal-tainted three-time MVP who had been on the telecasts during the past four seasons, will shift to eight Sunday night alternate telecasts on ESPN2 with Michael Kay, a mainstay on New York Yankees' broadcasts since 1992.
Cone, a five-time All-Star and the 1994 AL Cy Young Award winner, had a 17-season big league career that ended in 2003. The 59-year-old has been a broadcaster for the Yankees' YES Network since 2011 after initial stints in 2002 and 2008-09. He will work a reduced YES schedule this season.
Perez, 52, had a 13-season career that ended in 2006. He worked for ESPN from 2006-10, left for Cleveland's front office, coached for Miami and Houston, then returned to ESPN in 2014.
Ravech, who turns 57 on Jan. 19, joined ESPN in 1993 and becomes the fourth play-by-play broadcaster on ESPN's Sunday broadcasts following Jon Miller (1990-2010), Dan Shulman (2011-17) and Matt Vasgersian (2018-21).
Vasgersian had teamed with Rodriguez, who will be paired with Kay for "Kay-Rod" broadcasts on ESPN2 that will include Yankees-Red Sox games and two regular-season games on ESPN. The pair will work from both home studios and on site, and their broadcasts are planned to include fantasy baseball and analytics.
Kay, who turns 61 on Feb. 2, has been a Yankees' television broadcaster since 2002 after starting on the team's radio commentary team.
Ravech and Perez have agreed to contract extensions, ESPN said Friday.
Sunday night broadcasts also will include reporting by Tim Kurkjian, Buster Olney and Marly Rivera.
ESPN will announce its schedule later. The MLB season is threatened by a management lockout that started after the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement on Dec. 1.
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