Though Phil Mushnick would have us believe that the Mets’ reluctance to retain the services of Ted Robinson next season is tantamount to a crime against humanity, the Post’s Andrew Marchand reports that Gary Cohen will be moving from the WFAN microphone to that of the Wilpon-backed SportsNet TV.
After Dave O’Brien chose ESPN over SNY two weeks ago, SNY and Met executives honed in on Cohen (above) to be their man in the TV booth. Cohen is expected to work nearly all of the Mets’ games on TV.
The Mets’ owner, Fred Wilpon, has been outspoken in wanting his TV voice to call all the team’s games. This hurt the chances of Ted Robinson because he works grand slam tennis for NBC and USA.
Cohen is likely making the move in large part because television is more lucrative financially than radio. As a radio play-by-player, besides being on top of the action, Cohen was known to be critical when it was called for. Under greater scrutiny on TV, it will say a lot about SNY and Mets’ ownership if Cohen is not pressured to tone down his assessments.
The only foreseeable drawback for Cohen is if he will be able to demonstrate the levity that TV sometimes demands compared to the nuts-and-bolts of radio broadcasting.
Cohen’s partners on TV have yet to be decided. SNY executives have spoken to Keith Hernandez and David Cone. Al Leiter is another possibility.
On the radio side, WFAN ” which is on the verge of signing a new deal with the Mets ” could make Howie Rose the lead play-by-player and then search for a new No. 2 man.
More get-your-hopes-up stuff from the GM meetings, as the NY Daily News’ Bill Madden tips the Mets to make a run at Aubrey Huff and Danys Baez while the Post’s Mark Hale identifies Alfonso Soriano as Plan B if the Manny Ramirez gambit proves unfruitful.
i heard that john franco was putting himself out there for consideration as well (for a tv spot, that is, not for a space on the roster). whether or not the mets will take the bait is another matter, but hey, think about the guests he could get.
Oh god – he was Healy-esque during the playoffs. I don’t care how many Gottis or organizers he can get in the booth.
this is the worst news since murphy retired. unbelievable.