After ESPN made the decision to remove Jessica Mendoza from the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast booth and gave her a new “groundbreaking” role, the assumption was that her spot would be filled by someone else.
Well, it won’t be David Cone.
The longtime pitcher’s name was certainly in the mix to fill the SNB spot Mendoza’s departure left vacant, but he confirmed to The New York Post that it won’t be him stepping in alongside Matt Vasgersian and Alex Rodriguez on the broadcast.
“As far as I am concerned, no real formal offer was made,” Cone told The Post. “We left it on good terms. I’m still very much in the mix for future potential work, they said. I was happy to meet with them and to talk with them. I feel pretty good about it.”
With SNB’s first telecast of the year looming on March 29 when the Chicago Cubs head to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers, ESPN only has a limited amount of time to find Mendoza’s replacement.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that The Worldwide Leader decides to go with a two-man booth and simply sticks with Vasgersian and Rodriguez. Buster Olney, the telecast’s dugout reporter, is expected to stay in that role.
As for Mendoza, her first game assignment of 2020 is ESPN’s March 2 spring training telecast when the Chicago Cubs will play host to the Los Angeles Angels. Her first regular-season game this year is March 30.
Cone will return to the YES Network and work his 75-game slate of Yankee games.
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