5 replacements for David Cone, Buck Showalter and Ken Singleton at YES Network

There’s been hardly any turnover on the New York Yankees‘ roster, but the broadcast team that brings you Bombers baseball will see plenty of it on the YES Network.

Beloved former Yankee Ken Singleton has retired. Buck Showalter is now managing the New York Mets. David Cone’s workload has been cut from 100 to 50 games after getting the Sunday Night Baseball gig at ESPN. That’s a lot of high-end talent to replace.

Where do we even begin? We know the Yankees like their classic “buttoned up” candidates who don’t rock the boat or provide the viral social media clips, but they might not have that luxury this time around. We have a new era of broadcasters and former players entering the field, so there are going to be plenty of guys from a younger generation among the frontrunners for these new openings.

The good news is that we narrowed it down to five candidates and they’re all former Yankees, though there are plenty of other possibilities out there. We’re just hoping the team livens the broadcast in the form of these firecrackers.

Truth is, the Yankees need to make up for these departures in a big way. While we’ll still be getting Cone in our living rooms every Sunday night, Showalter could make the Yankees regret not hiring him to man their dugout and Singleton’s soothing voice on the weekend won’t be there to calm fans during a time of crisis.

Time to spice it up, because if there’s ever been a time to be blunt about an era of Yankees baseball, it’s right now.

The Yankees should replace David Cone, Buck Showalter and Ken Singleton with these candidates.

5. CC Sabathia

Sabathia might already be ruled out here for the F-bomb he dropped on a YES broadcast of a Brooklyn Nets game last year … but perhaps that was a ploy for the Yanks to get the hefty lefty accustomed to the booth? Have him get some experience during an NBA game and let him yell a profanity late in the fourth quarter of a blowout to get it out of his system.

We’ve heard an unfiltered version of CC on the R2C2 podcast with him and Ryan Ruocco, but that won’t be suitable for the booth. Nonetheless, we’ve seen a ton of players transition to this role, especially on the NFL side of things where Drew Brees, Greg Olsen, Aqib Talib and others make seamless jumps.

Why can’t Sabathia? He’s an outgoing, honest and knowledgable figure who can provide the necessary insight while also delivering entertainment value for younger audiences. And he keeps up to date with Yankees baseball! MLB is still trying to grow the game, right? Might want to put one of the most beloved pitchers of his generation and a former Yankees World Series champ on the mic if that’s still part of the goal.

CC would bring candor and energy to a Yankees broadcast or pre/postgame show. Who wouldn’t love this?