He’s not going to quit his day job.
Neither would you if you made $21 million to not play baseball.
But after his debut in the booth Thursday night as a color analyst on FS1, Alex Rodriguez still has some work to do before he fully transitions into the next chapter of his career.
A-Rod, who is still being paid around $130,000 a night to be a special advisor this season for the Yankees, joined Kevin Burkhardt and Ken Rosenthal on the FS1 broadcast, calling a game between his former team and the Kansas City Royals.
And because this was A-Rod, someone who always seems to attract drama, two hours before air time he went viral on social media because of another one of those typical A-Rod mishaps.
Looking to promote the game, Fox tweeted a pre-game picture of a studious A-Rod with a notebook in front of him, but some internet sleuths zoomed in to reveal an awkward “Child” list in front of A-Rod that included items such as “Birth control,” “Baby,” and “Pull out stuff.”
Fox deleted the tweet but the images were trending well into the night.
Once the game started, A-Rod was great at times, as he’s been in the studio the last two playoffs.
Look, if you tuned in to hear A-Rod talk about Derek Jeter or Jennifer Lopez or that awkward CNBC interview, Yanks-Royals was not the place. A-Rod played the part of a rookie color guy, he was respectful of his partners’ space and there was only one tough debate when Rosenthal asked him about the free agent mentality of players.
A-Rod compared free agency to a poker game. “Make your best move early on,” he said, adding players listen to their agents when the agents can “smell the money.”
He has an ability to bring viewers inside the game and he did a great job of that also when he talked about “Cowboy” Joe West, an umpire you don’t give “any attitude” because “it would make it a very long night.”
A-Rod also talked about how when a pitcher with a 95 mph slider throws to first between pitches, it’s very disruptive for hitters. He said Pedro Martinez knew this and it drove hitters crazy. Great stuff.
Not so great stuff: A-Rod did talk about how his suspension from baseball made him appreciate the game more, but he was equating his ban to KC pitcher Mike Minor missing the last two years with a shoulder injury.
Rodriguez showed plenty of love for the Yankees, a team he twice called a “juggernaut.” He also had plenty of affection for Aaron Judge, to whom he referred as a “gentle giant.” But A-Rod’s most colorful commentary was reserved for Didi Gregorius, whom he dubbed “the modern day Bill Gates who plays shortstop.”
When his iPod used to break, A-Rod would bring it to Gregorius because he’s a whiz with computers.
As always with A-Rod, there were also stumbles, like when he got a lesson on how to use the cough button from Burkhardt.
“I don’t know Kevin,” he said, “the way this is going, I’m going to be back in the studio with Petey.”
Rodriguez will be back in the booth Saturday with Joe Buck for the Angels-Mets broadcast. Hopefully he brings a different notebook to Citi Field.
