Jessica Mendoza’s time in the “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast booth is reportedly over.
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, ESPN is preparing to remove Mendoza from the Sunday night booth. Play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian’s status is also in question; only analyst Alex Rodriguez reportedly has received definitive assurances about his spot in the booth being safe.
ESPN has yet to inform Mendoza of such a decision, which leaves a bit of room to backtrack if the network chooses to. She signed a multi-million dollar deal with the network last year and is expected to work in the studio or on weeknight games.
Vasgersian could stay, but ESPN is also looking at Jon Sciambi and Karl Ravech as possible replacements if they decide not to bring the current play-by-play man back. David Cone remains a candidate to partner with Rodriguez as an analyst.
Mendoza was sharply criticized for her comments on Mike Fiers’ whistleblowing, though that does not appear to have been the motivating factor behind ESPN’s reshuffle.
The only thing clear right now is that ESPN intends to build the booth around Rodriguez, and everything appears based on how well individuals mesh with him.
