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Opening Day jobs come with hot seats for these Yankees, Mets

As Opening Day nears, the biggest roster questions have been answered.

The shortstop of the Yankees’ present and future is Anthony Volpe.

The Mets are keeping their futures in the minor leagues and have shed Darin Ruf.

We know who has earned jobs in February and March. Soon we will learn how tenuous those jobs can be for players desperately clutching onto roster spots in April and May.

The Yankees and Mets are leaving sunny camps in Tampa and Port St. Lucie, respectively, but a handful of players will bring especially hot seats wherever they go.

Among Yankees and Mets, who will feel the most pressure to perform as soon as the regular season begins this week?

Josh Donaldson: At 37, he is on a quest to prove he still has more in the tank. If he doesn’t, Yankees fans who no longer have Joey Gallo around as a piñata will find the next outlet for their frustration.

Josh Donaldson has tried to retool his swing after striking out in 27.1 percent of his plate appearances last season.

Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Here are Donaldson’s OPS numbers the past four seasons — see if you notice a trend:

2019: .900
2020: .842
2021: .827
2022: .682

Last year, he played excellent defense at third base, but his bat never got going. It is possible the 2015 MVP simply does not have the bat speed any longer, but the early returns for what Donaldson hopes will be a bounce-back season have shown some hope.

Donaldson has demonstrated solid punch in the Grapefruit League, with four home runs in 15 games. Donaldson retooled his swing in the offseason, and appears to have a less dramatic leg lift, perhaps a concession that he needs to get his bat off his shoulders sooner.

And he will need to hit soon. If he is batting .200 without much power in mid-May, the Yankees could make DJ LeMahieu their everyday third baseman.

Aaron Hicks: Another possible heir to the dreaded Gallo throne. Hicks’ ninth season in The Bronx will be a pivotal one. The longest-tenured Yankee has been a mess at the plate (and occasionally in the field) the past two seasons: He has played a combined 162 games, hit .211 and knocked 12 home runs. His power and his on-base proclivities have abandoned him.

Oswaldo Cabrera will start the season as the Yankees’ primary utility man, but could find himself with a regular outfield role should Aaron Hicks falter.

New York Yankees third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera (95) steals third base during the second inning against the Washington Nationals at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. — Oswaldo Cabrera will start the season as the Yankees’ primary utility man, but could find himself with a regular outfield role should Aaron Hicks falter.

At 33, the outfielder will try to show that after his 2021 season was ruined by a wrist injury, 2022 was an aberration. Hicks, feeling healthy, is the likely Opening Day left fielder, and should see time in center, too, with Harrison Bader out for at least a few weeks to open the season.

If Hicks does not hit, the boos would arrive quickly. His competition will include fan favorite Oswaldo Cabrera and a fourth outfielder — the winner of a late roster battle among Estevan Florial, Willie Calhoun and Rafael Ortega.

Gleyber Torres: The second baseman is 26, a two-time All-Star and coming off a solid season in which he drilled 24 home runs and posted a .761 OPS. He is probably the fourth-best hitter on a very good hitting team.

With an infield deep in players and prospects, the Yankees might find Gleyber Torres is more useful in a trade than on the field.

But Torres has grown into a solid major leaguer rather than a superstar, and the Yankees’ infield depth could prompt some difficult decisions. If Donaldson hits, where would LeMahieu’s at-bats come? If Oswald Peraza tears up Triple-A pitching, would the Yankees find a spot for the 22-year-old at the big-league level?

The Yankees have plenty of infielders, and Torres would have a trade market if the Yankees decide to cash him in.

Eduardo Escobar: The Mets’ version of Torres. Escobar is a fine major leaguer — even with his struggles last season, his 106 OPS+ indicates he was 6 percent better than the average hitter — but the options behind him offer more upside.

After hitting .325 this spring, Mets third-base prospect Brett Baty may not be in Triple-A for long.

Brett Baty, who is the future at third base in Queens, hit .325 this spring before getting sent to minor league camp. Mark Vientos will try to show at Triple-A Syracuse that he can be a major league defender somewhere — whether at an infield corner or in left field — after a loud Grapefruit League season in which he hit everything hard.

Escobar, who was nearly replaced by Carlos Correa, will hear the footsteps if he doesn’t hit immediately. He struggled the first few months of last season before a torrid September buoyed his numbers. In the Grapefruit League, the 34-year-old is hitting .118.

Tommy Pham: Ruf was designated for assignment, which made Pham a contender for plenty of DH at-bats against opposing lefties and a contender to absorb the boos that would have been directed at Ruf.

Tommy Pham appears to be in line for DH at-bats against lefty pitchers, as well as being deployed by Buck Showalter as a fourth outfielder.

Like Ruf, Pham is on the older side (35) and arrived in Queens with a history of hitting southpaws well (a .784 OPS against lefties last season). And like Ruf, Pham has had a poor spring, batting just 7-for-45 (.156) with a double as the only extra-base hit.

Unlike Ruf, Pham can play a decent corner-outfield spot and thus is a bit more valuable. But if he does not swing well quickly, the shouts would get louder that Vientos can handle left field and, more notably, can manhandle lefty pitching.

Today’s back page

🏈 Giants don’t have long-term deal for Saquon Barkley on table anymore

🏈 Jets’ Odell Beckham Jr. interest is real … Giants co-owner hasn’t closed door on Odell reunion

🏀 Rick Pitino makes in-home visits to top transfers in push to reshape St. John’s roster

📱 Join the Inside St. John’s text-message conversation to keep up with all the behind-the-scenes buzz around Rick Pitino’s Red Storm and to get your Johnnies questions answered by reporter Zach Braziller.

Knicks start turning down the Heat

A big week for the Knicks started Quickley.

Immanuel Quickley scored a career-high 40 points (on just 17 shots) in a 137-115 win over the Rockets on Monday night at the Garden, ending the Knicks’ three-game skid.

Julius Randle added 26 points, RJ Barrett finished with 19 and Mitchell Robinson contributed a few ferocious blocks to stop the Rockets, who were blown away in the second half and look fully ready for their shot at Victor Wembanyama.

Immanuel Quickley had tongues wagging with a 40-point outburst in the Knicks’ no-fuss win over the Rockets.

The fifth-place Knicks (43-33) moved 2 ½ games up on the idle Nets and Heat, and the Heat (after playing Tuesday night in Toronto) invade the Garden on Wednesday.

If the Knicks beat Miami, they not would only gain further separation, but would take the season series, which would be the first tiebreaker in the case of a tie.

And while it’s too soon for the Knicks to look ahead to Friday, it’s never too soon for us: Tom Thibodeau’s team will head to Cleveland to face off against the current No. 4 seed, with Donovan Mitchell & Co. likely awaiting the Knicks in the first round.

The Knicks cleared the first hurdle in what will be an important week.

It’s Caitlin Clark against the champs

The best player in the sport against the best team in the sport.

Friday night box office at the Final Four.

West Des Moines’ Caitlin Clark led Iowa to its first national semifinal in nearly 30 years with a logo-3-draining, dime-dropping, crowd-hyping 41-point triple-double Sunday night — the first NCAA Tournament triple-double of 30 or more, women’s or men’s — that would be called bravura if it weren’t nearly routine for college basketball’s marquee attraction.

Iowa guard Caitlin Clark left little doubt she is the biggest star on the college basketball stage with a 41-point triple-double to get the Hawkeyes into the Final Four.

And standing in her way now is juggernaut South Carolina, the undefeated (36-0) defending national champions who won their 42nd game in a row by dispatching Maryland, 86-75, in the Elite Eight on Monday night.

(What, you didn’t think we were talking about San Diego State or something ridiculous like that?)

South Carolina’s size, rebounding and defense tend to grind opponents to dust, and Dawn Staley has a roster so deep, her second five probably would have made the Sweet 16.

The Gamecocks have Aliyah Boston, last season’s player of year who’s ready to go No. 1 in next month’s WNBA draft. And they have Brea Beal, an All-America-caliber defender who likely will draw the Clark assignment.

But Clark is unguardable right now. She’s bending the dimensions of the game with her shooting and playmaking. She’s drawing new viewers with her hype, and living up to every bit of it.

And Friday night — at 9 p.m. (more like 9:30) on ESPN — she’ll try to pull off her more impressive feat yet by dethroning the champs.

— Jonathan Lehman

Checking the Darin Ruf trade receipts

Acquired last year in hopes he lift the Mets’ offense, Darin Ruf was released by the team Monday after hitting .152 in 28 games.

As the Mets admitted defeat in their deadline trade for Ruf, let’s check up on the players the Mets sent the Giants:

J.D. Davis: In 49 games with the Giants, Davis morphed back into the slugger he once was. Davis finally got consistent playing time and drilled eight home runs en route to posting an .857 OPS.

To begin this season, though, Davis will face the same problem he could not overcome with the Mets: staying ready while not in the lineup every game. The Giants are expected to start David Villar at third, LaMonte Wade Jr. at first and Joc Pederson at DH. But they expect Davis to see plenty of time against lefties and while spelling the regulars.

Thomas Szapucki: The young lefty pitched well with the Giants last season, allowing three runs in 13 ⅔ innings (1.98 ERA) out of the bullpen, but he recorded just one out in spring training. Szapucki felt arm discomfort that is being called left arm neuropathy. He is expected to see a doctor this week in St. Louis, and could need surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome.

J.D. Davis has been a revitalized hitter in the Giants lineup, but appears slated to largely play as part of a platoon.

LHP Nick Zwack: The lefty starter was rising through the Mets’ system — needing just four outings in Low-A St. Lucie before a promotion to High-A Brooklyn — when he was dealt. The Giants kept Zwack as a starter in High-A, and he pitched to a 3.99 ERA in 29 ⅓ innings in San Francisco’s system. In all, he struck out 132 hitters in 105 ⅔ innings last season.

RHP Carson Seymour: Like Zwack, Seymour made quick work of St. Lucie and was beginning to master High-A competition when he packed his bags. The 6-foot-6 righty with high-90s heat thrived in the Giants’ system, where he struck out 43 batters in 29 ⅓ innings, including a 6 ⅓ -inning, two-hit, 13-strikeout gem in late August. At 24, he is still a few steps from the majors, but the Giants will let him grow.

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How New York’s deadline trades with the Cubs are looking now

I have noticed that even most baseball folks have become a bit ashamed of the clichés circulating at this time of year.

The three big ones:

1. Players claiming they “were in the best shape of their lives” (as if that should be award-worthy in an industry in which being in your best shape is mandatory and not being in top shape verges on disrespect to your teammates and your profession).

2. Those returning from injury defining how far ahead of schedule they were in their rehabs. (It was generally easy to be “ahead of schedule.” Teams were like airlines fluffing in an extra hour to the estimated time of arrival, so they could be late and still claim to be on time. Organizations don’t want to oversell or to get players to try to beat the quickest possible healing periods. So they say 18 months when maybe they mean 12 or 14 or 16.)

3. “We are really emphasizing fundamentals,” which leads to the obvious question: What were you accentuating before? Plus why, inevitably, are you still going to screw up your first rundown of the season?

Anyway, I have heard a lot less of this talk in spring training. The old tried-and-true clichés have been modernized.

For those claiming to be in improved shape, there are new workouts and/or trainers and/or diets that lead to “feeling more dynamic” or “feeling more explosive.” The pitchers all went to a pitching lab or guru, and have developed better mechanics or spin. And some days it has felt as if every pitcher this offseason went to the Cutter Genie and added that pitch to his repertoire.

There’s no better time than spring training to work on the fundamentals that often seem to elude teams once Opening Day arrives.

Getty Images

Injured players have pretty much bought into the organizational groupthink. Few, if any, try to John Wayne it any longer and insist they will beat timeline projections — because so few teams even give firm projections. They are all looking at the big picture now. Which is smart, yet less fun.

You know what I also have heard more than ever, as if every team is operating under the same self-help manual? Team officials bragging about having the “best vibes” ever in their camps. This usually begins with a disclaimer such as “I know you hear this a lot” or “I know I have said this before” or some other such thing. Then I am told about how the organization really emphasized makeup and this is the best group of guys they have ever had. The environment is loose and fraternal, yet serious and down to business.

The leadership has never been better, and the dysfunction has never been more absent. It is one Disneyland after another — a 30-way tie for the Happiest Place on Earth. Side note: Which teams at this time of year ever have copped to having substandard leadership and a poor atmosphere and a phalanx of indifferent bad actors populating the clubhouse?

But the champion platitude more than ever is each team claiming their prospects are: 1) more advanced, and/or 2) greater in number and/or 3) going to make a difference this year. This usually comes with the disclaimer “despite what the ranking systems say.” If you have never heard a curse word used in front of “Baseball America,” then go talk to an executive whose organization ranks in the bottom two-thirds of that publication’s club-by-club prospect rankings. Within the game, that magazine is known as BA, but the executives who claim to have the most underappreciated or misunderstood group of prospects in the game fit nicely into our current national mindset of AA — Aggrieved America.

And for every executive in survival mode — which means every executive — there is nothing they want to push harder than their prospects. It means selling tomorrow when they all want to be employed tomorrow. Not only that, but it is a direct pitch of a less expensive tomorrow to their bosses. Plus, they have figured out that fan bases love homegrown players like they love the backup quarterback — the guy we haven’t seen yet who just has to be better than the guy who is playing now.

After hitting six homers last spring with the Pirates, former Yankees minor leaguer Diego Castillo hit only 11 more the rest of the season before Pittsburgh traded him in December to the Diamondbacks.

Annually, we forget how deceiving spring statistics can be and that most prospects don’t actually hit at the highest level, if they even hit at all.

Spring stats? Remember that Kyle Higashioka delivered seven homers in a shortened spring last year, and Diego Castillo (the infielder traded from the Yankees for Clay Holmes) and Mickey Moniak each hit six. In the most recent six-week spring training, in 2021, Red Sox prospects Bobby Dalbec and Jarren Duran excelled, yet neither has fully established himself as even an average regular.

So I get the excitement around the Yankees for Jasson Dominguez and Anthony Volpe, and around the Mets with Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio. It is that time of year, and prospects are what excites folks most at this time of year — not just with the New York teams.

When I stopped in Cubs camp, it was hard to miss that there is a New York tinge to the club. Marcus Stroman and Jameson Taillon are two-fifths of the rotation. Michael Fulmer is in the bullpen. Mike Tauchman has a chance to make the roster as a backup outfielder.

Plus, the Cubs, as they have been rebuilding, made three high-profile trades with the New York clubs: dealing 2016 champions Javier Baez (to the Mets) and Anthony Rizzo (to the Yankees) at the 2021 deadline and sending Scott Effross to the Yankees at last year’s deadline.

Why don’t we use 3UP to take a look at where the prospects the New York teams traded to the Cubs stand?

Hayden Wesneski pitched well for the Cubs after the Yankees dealt him at the trade deadline and appears to be rounding into a solid option at the back end of Chicago’s rotation.

1. Hayden Wesneski: He was acquired by the Cubs last year straight up for Effross, who after Tommy John surgery possibly is going to miss this entire Yankees season. Also, Wesneski plus J.P. Sears and Ken Waldichuk (who were used in the ill-fated Frankie Montas/Lou Trivino trade) would have represented Yankees rotation depth with Montas and Carlos Rodon already down to begin the season.

All three are projected to be back-of-the-rotation types. One scout who saw Wesneski both in the Yankees organization and this spring with the Cubs said, “He can excite you,” but said the righty can have inconsistent mechanics leading to command issues.

Cubs manager David Ross called Wesneski “the front-runner” over Javier Assad and Adrian Sampson to nab the No. 5 starter spot. Wesneski had a strong post-trade cameo with the Cubs in 2022: He appeared in six games (four starts), and pitched to a 2.18 ERA in 33 innings in which he allowed 24 hits, walked seven and struck out 33.

“We saw what he could do last year,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “He’s worked hard this offseason to put himself in the best position to come in here and show us what he can do and that he’s ready for that step. He’s got all the stuff you want for a starter: The workload. The mental approach. How he goes about his business. … You see how good his slider is. It’s one of the better sliders in the game. I think not only how it moves, but how he commands it and throws wherever he wants. He can throw it to both sides [of the plate], so he can use it to both-handed hitters.”

2. Pete Crow-Armstrong: The Mets have a lot of internal regret about obtaining Baez on July 30, 2021, for Crow-Armstrong barely a year after using the 19th overall pick in the 2020 draft on the center fielder. The Mets didn’t make the playoffs, and Baez left in free agency. And as Crow-Armstrong emerged last year after missing all action in 2020 due to COVID and most of 2021 following shoulder surgery, the Mets were left more circumspect about trading their better prospects at last year’s deadline. The Mets have seller’s remorse that they traded Crow-Armstrong without fully understanding what they had.

Pete Crow-Armstrong has already impressed the Cubs with his speed and defense, but the former Mets first-round draft pick feels he will eventually prove himself a reliable source of power, too.

Between Low-A and High-A last year — his first full season playing in the minors — Crow-Armstrong hit .312 with 46 extra-base hits, including 16 homers. Plus, he stole 32 bases. But he did strike out 102 times versus 36 walks.

“He’s a free swinger,” Ross said. “He’s got to calm down as he ages, but man, does he have some special talents.”

There are no doubts about Crow-Armstrong’s speed and defense. Ryan Dempster, a Cubs broadcaster and special assistant to president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, said he watched Crow-Armstrong replace Gold Glove-caliber center fielder Cody Bellinger in an early spring training game and asked, “How many times do you take Cody out of center and you get no worse?”

The low-end projections for Crow-Armstrong, who turns 21 next week, are a Kevin Kiermaier type — a lefty batter who really can defend center field, but with a league-average-type bat. That is valuable. Ross wondered whether there was some Kenny Lofton in Crow-Armstrong, especially because of the speed on the bases. But will the bat come?

“I don’t think I was trying to make any sort of statement [in spring],” Crow-Armstrong said. “People know that I could play defense and they know that the bat is behind the glove. I see what they see. I see a little bit more just because of what goes on in my own mind and what goals I have set for myself. … I’ve told people for years that I’m being patient with myself in terms of the power, and I showed a lot of that last year. I think I’m really damn close to being a more complete hitter than people give me credit for.”

In successive days while in Arizona, I was in Mariners camp, Giants camp and Cubs camp, which meant each day I saw a former Mets first-round draft pick lefty-hitting outfielder with lots to prove: Jarred Kelenic, Michael Conforto and Crow-Armstrong. Kelenic played just 56 minor league games for the Mets before being traded; Crow-Armstrong played just six.

Jarred Kelenic has struggled at the plate since arriving in Seattle from the Mets in exchange for Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano, but at only 23 years of age, the promise that once made him the No. 6 overall pick in 2018 still exists.

In Mets world, this is how that worked: Kelenic was drafted by the Sandy Alderson regime and traded by Brodie Van Wagenen. Crow-Armstrong was drafted by Van Wagenen and traded by Zack Scott, who was working under the returned Alderson. Kelenic was drafted and traded under Wilpon ownership. Crow-Armstrong was drafted under the Wilpons and traded during Steve Cohen ownership.

“There is a whole new regime that owns the Mets from when I was there,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Brodie and his squad started my career. I am grateful they drafted me, but, yeah, I definitely hold a little, I wouldn’t call it a grudge, but I carry the chip with me, you know? But again, it’s all personally motivated. It’s not anything external. I couldn’t care less about who traded me or why they traded me. I’m here now. And I love it here.”

3. Kevin Alcantara: MLB.com ranks Crow-Armstrong as the Cubs’ top prospect and Alcantara second (Wesneski is fifth). Crow-Armstrong is ranked 28th among all prospects and Alcantara is 87th. Crow-Armstrong likely will begin this year at Double-A and Alcantara at High-A. In the Cubs’ dream scenario, they are two-thirds of a super-athletic, long-term outfield that’s in the majors by midway through 2024.

Alcantara, who turns 21 in July, is a toolshed. One scout said, “He has everything you want. There are a lot of guys in the minors who have a lot of tools. It is always who can translate it to the majors.”

When the Yankees traded Alcantara as the key piece for Rizzo at the 2021 trade deadline, they knew they were dealing a high-ceiling lottery ticket who — if he reached that ceiling — could be a terrific player.

Only 21, Kevin Alcantara has already impressed Cubs president Jed Hoyer as the most talented player in camp this spring.

Hoyer called Alcantara “the most talented guy” in camp.

“He hasn’t had a single BP session where he hasn’t gone over 115 mph [off the bat],” Hoyer said. “He’s crushed balls. He can fly. He’s got a great personality. Can he translate that back to be successful in the majors? But in terms of his ability, he’s really, really fun to watch. Great kid. Cash [Yankees GM Brian Cashman] told me at the time of the trade that he’s a really great kid. Teammates gravitate toward him. Everyone down [in his minor league system] there comments on this intelligence.

“He wants to be really good. He has every ingredient to be a really good player. It is going to take time. He’s 6-foot-6. He’s filled out this year a little bit more. He has longer levers. That takes longer to develop. I do think he had a sneaky good season last year. Myrtle Beach is a graveyard for hitters. It’s really hard to hit there. You look at his home/road splits. He had good numbers overall and we wanted to keep him there for the full year.”

With Low-A Myrtle Beach last year, Alcantara played 59 games at home with a slash line of .242/.352/.393 for a .745 OPS. In 55 road games, he hit .306/.368/.518 for an .886 OPS.

“He hits the ball extremely hard,” Ross said. “He’s a freak athlete who goes and gets it with a great arm. It [his swing] doesn’t look long and slow. He can keep it compact, which is impressive with how big he is.”

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Reggie Miller out, Stan Van Gundy in

Stan Van Gundy is expected to be in as a game analyst on CBS/Turner’s NCAA Tournament coverage and Reggie Miller is out, The Post has learned.

Miller made the decision to give up the tournament, which allows him a little more of a break in his NBA commitments.

Background: Miller had worked with Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner in years past. Van Gundy is expected to slide in with Harlan and Bonner, but nothing is set in stone.

The tournament is one of the hardest jobs, if not the hardest, for top sportscasters to prepare for because you only find out on Sunday night the eight teams whose games you will call on Thursday or Friday. The announcers have rarely watched many of the lower-profile teams or haven’t seen them at all during the season. You then call six games over two days.

Former Villanova coach Jay Wright will join CBS/Turner’s coverage of the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

NBAE via Getty Images

New look/old look: The tourney will have a bit of a new look this year after Jay Wright joined CBS/Turner. It is also the last season for Jim Nantz as the voice of the Final Four. Next year, Ian Eagle will take over as the CBS/Turner’s No. 1 NCAA game-caller.

ESPN’s big moves

In naming Burke Magnus as the president of content, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro in some ways is replacing the position that executive vice president Connor Schell relinquished when he left at the end of 2020. However, Magnus’ title is bigger, his power is larger and ESPN’s manifest destiny is greater.

The new Disney setup under Bob Iger has made it so ESPN will report its own breakout financials.

Burke Magnus is taking on a new role as ESPN’s president of content.

Pitaro is still the most important executive at ESPN, but the future of the company will largely depend on Magnus and Rosalyn Durant, who becomes ESPN’s executive vice president, programming and acquisitions.

While Pitaro and Magnus will be involved, Durant will be the one figuring out what makes the most sense with the NBA and future rights deals.

ESPN has been the Yankees of sports media. In this setup, Pitaro is Hal Steinbrenner, Magnus is a Randy Levine/Brian Cashman hybrid and Durant is Aaron Boone.

Quick Clicks

Stephen A. Smith (left) and Molly Qerim (center) made news with their anti-hockey takes on ESPN’s “First Take.”

It’s amazing the social media relevance “First Take” has achieved. Throwaway lines from Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim about the NHL were treated as ESPN treason. With Michael Kay on the show as a guest debater, Qerim asked which New York team would be the next to win a championship. Kay said the Rangers. Qerim replied, “They don’t count.” No disrespect to the Rangers, she added. Smith chimed in that he doesn’t know anything about hockey except the puck is black and he apparently is buddies with Gary Bettman. If I’m ESPN, Smith and Qerim, I’d be pretty happy that any little thing you say becomes a big deal. Yes, it was a little insulting to hockey fans, but Smith is the center of the show and they were looking for the answer to be one of the NBA, MLB or NFL teams.

…WFAN’s Nets broadcast with Chris Carrino and Tim Capstraw is art. Carrino is so precise on all the calls, and Capstraw fills in all the analysis. But what makes it stand out even more is during the flow of the game, they find a way to somehow mention baseball’s new pitch clock and old Buck Williams stories. If young broadcasters want to hear how a game should be called, they should tune in.

SNY is on-site with Eduardo Escobar and the Mets, enhancing its spring training broadcasts.

…SNY’s spring training games sound way better than those on YES Network because SNY has its announcers on-site. YES is saving a few shekels, but there is a feeling missing when you are not live. By not being on-site, it also hurts you during the regular season because there is a flow to covering the game.

MSG pay-per-view

A few years ago, a very top TV executive said to me about cord-cutting and streaming: “We are just going to make less.” That’s the reality of the situation.

This brings me to MSG Networks’ forthcoming MSG+, which will cost $30 per month and then will offer the capability to purchase individual games for $10. It feels priced not to succeed or, at least, designed to keep people paying for cable.

Right now, cable subscribers pay 12 months a year for MSGN, but why would anyone who chose the streaming package do that? From the end of the NBA and NHL regular season in mid-April until the next season starts in October, there is nothing to pay for. That’s nearly six months. MSG+ is offering a yearly rate of $310. Why wouldn’t people just turn it on and off for $180? Or will people just turn back to cable?

MSG+ will offer cord-cutters the chance to stream the Knicks, for $30 per month or $10 for an individual game.

One point that is lost in this conversation: Who is not getting these games who wants them? There are definitely some folks. But at $30 per month?

(MSG does have a dispute with Comcast, so a Comcast user could be one potential subscriber. Beyond that, the market is pretty full.)

The move to offer streaming needs to be done, but in an effort to try to make as much money as cable networks once did, some of these plans feel as if they may not make much, if any, money. At least in the near term.

It is complicated because of relationships with cable subscribers, but if the pricing doesn’t feel fair — and $30 per month seems too steep — then I’m not sure where the audience will come from.

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Why Mets’ Justin Verlander could be last pitcher with 300 wins

Imagine a manned spacecraft is five years from Pluto and it is iffy whether it has enough fuel to complete the mission (really, stick with me).

If the ship doesn’t reach the destination, it is possible that the person who will invent the technology that will make completing such a journey feasible is not even born yet.

This is how I feel about Justin Verlander and 300 wins. He is nearing an achievement that more and more feels as distant as Pluto. And if he does not have the gas to get there, it is possible the next person who will has yet to be born.

And that is assuming a next person ever will get there.

Twenty-four pitchers have reached 300 wins. Randy Johnson was the last to do so — on June 4, 2009. The following week, Stephen Strasburg was hailed as the best pitcher ever taken No. 1 in the draft. A series of arm injuries have left it questionable whether he will pitch again. He has 113 career wins.

That same season, Tim Lincecum won his second straight NL Cy Young award. He was 25. He was done as an elite starting pitcher by 27. Done for good at 32. He finished with 110 wins.

Zack Greinke won the AL Cy Young that year. He was 25. He is still around, back for a second stint with the Royals. He has the second-most wins among active pitchers with 223. He is 39 and eight months younger than the active leader in wins.

Randy Johnson kisses his wife Lisa in 2009 after winning his 300th game, a feat no one has matched since.

REUTERS

That is Verlander, who turned 40 a week into his first spring training after signing a two-year, $86.7 million pact to join the Mets. Verlander has 244 wins. He is 56 away from 300. But the difference between who Greinke and Verlander are today is stark.

Greinke, with his intellect and athleticism, can endure as a fine mid-to-bottom-of-the-rotation starter with a lesser version of his prime stuff. He made 26 starts last year: He finished with four wins and pitched at least seven innings just one time. He is a finesse pitcher now, with a fastball average of 89.2 mph — the fifth-softest for those with at least 130 innings in 2022.

Verlander has remade himself in the second chapter of his career — different arm slot, different areas he attacks in the zone, different use of his arsenal — but he remains a power pitcher. His 95.1 mph average fastball was MLB’s 17th-best. He made 27 starts, finished with 18 wins and pitched at least seven innings 12 times — tied for the second-most in the AL.

Oh yeah, and he won his third AL Cy Young award.

Greinke is not going to get the 77 wins he needs for 300. And Max Scherzer, 39 in July, probably is not going to get the 99 wins he needs for 300. That concludes the list of active pitchers with even 200 wins. Clayton Kershaw is at 197 and turns 35 in two weeks, but he physically breaks down annually and contemplates retirement regularly.

Gerrit Cole has 130 wins through his age-31 season, 22 fewer than Verlander had at the same point. Jacob deGrom has 82 wins through his age-34 season. Aaron Nola has 78 through age 29. Shane Bieber has 54 through age 27.

At age 39, Zack Greinke has returned to where his career started, in Kansas City, where he’ll start the season needing 77 wins to reach 300.

Really, if it isn’t Verlander, who would it be who is active? Verlander just might be the last person to climb this Everest.

“I take a lot of pride in that [potentially being the last of a breed],” Verlander said. “It’s a difficult question, because like a lot of things I’ve accomplished in my career, you aspire to do certain things, but that’s not why you play, so it’s hard for me to sit here and say that’s a shiny goal that I want to reach. Of course, I want to get there, but I want to get there because I continued to pitch well while I worked my ass off. Everything that’s led me to this point gets me to that point.

“Obviously, you know, it would be something cool for legacy sake. But again, it’s not why I pitch, and it seems cliche to say that, but it’s true.”

Yet, Verlander has talked about being the baseball Tom Brady and going to age 45. That would be six years, and if he can do that, it would mean averaging nine wins a season for those six years to join a list that began on Sept. 4, 1888, when Pud Galvin was the first to reach 300.

What was perhaps most interesting about delving into this subject was how incredulous Cole and Lance McCullers Jr. — both former Astros teammates of Verlander — were when I asked whether Verlander could get to 300. They treated it as if I asked whether Tuesday follows Monday. As in: Of course he will get there. Though both said what Verlander didn’t — that he yearns to get there.

“I think he’s probably going to be able to pitch until he wants to stop, and he’d like to get 300 wins,” Cole said, chuckling at the thought, as if that simple combination all but guaranteed it. “I don’t think he will take minor league deals and grind to try to get the last however many he would need [for 300]. But he’s got 56 to go and he nearly won 20 last year, so realistically, he is probably two and a half great seasons away. And he is still great. So, to me, he looks good right now [to do it].”

Gerrit Cole, who reunited with his former Astros teammate during the MLB All-Star weekend in July 2022, believes Verlander will successfully pursue 300 wins.

McCullers said: “I think he gets there because a lot of times you’re around guys and when they say stuff, they mean it. And I know that’s a goal of his, and I’ve never known Justin, since we traded for him in 2017, not to accomplish or achieve his goals.

“The odds are stacked against him. But the odds were stacked against him when he was getting older and people were wondering how much time he had left. That was back in 2014 [when Verlander had a 4.54 ERA at age 31]. He has made so many changes [to his pitching style/repertoire] and found greatness again.

“After he had Tommy John surgery [and missed all but one start in 2020-21], people asked the same question. But he finished second for the Cy Young in 2016 and he finished second in 2018 and he won in 2019. …Then he didn’t pitch in 2020 and 2021, and last year when he pitched he won the Cy Young again. You are talking about a guy on a run. When he has pitched, he has been Justin Verlander. So there is nothing I think he can’t do if he puts his mind to it, and I know he wants 300, so I think he will get there.”

We have come this far and we have not even really talked about the concept of the “win” itself, so why don’t we begin 3Up by discussing it:

1. If Verlander does reach 300 wins, he will be the first to do so in an era when the pitcher “win” has lost its allure. It had begun to do so as Roger Clemens (2003), Greg Maddux (2004), Tom Glavine (2007) and Johnson became the only pitchers in this century to reach 300.

Since struggling with a 4.54 ERA in 2014, Verlander has won two Cy Young Awards, including last year, which he celebrated with his wife, model Kate Upton, after the season.

There are a variety of reasons why. In part, it is about the game being played differently. The four-man rotation vanished in the early 1970s. Over the past 50 years — the past 30, in particular — the size and importance of bullpens have grown. So has the analytics-based understanding that it is generally more advantageous for a team to unleash one hard-throwing reliever after another at offenses than to let a tiring starter be seen for a third and certainly a fourth time by an opponent.

All of this (and a greater willingness to use the injured list) has led to fewer starts in a season and fewer innings within starts — a combination that will choke the ability to build big win totals. If you think of reaching 300 wins as 20 seasons averaging 15 wins, well, there were 28 15-game winners in 2002 and half that many 20 years later in 2022.

Plus, a greater appreciation has developed for what a pitcher is responsible for and what he is not, and how so much of a win is beyond a pitcher’s control and the win itself is reflective of a team.

In a way, Greinke’s second half last year — in which he made 11 starts and pitched to a 2.48 ERA yet earned just one win — exemplifies why it is so difficult to accumulate wins, particularly now.

Despite pitching well, Greinke completed six innings in just five of the 11 starts and seven innings once. He played for a bad Royals team, and unearned runs twice cost him chances at wins. His bullpen blew two leads, including once after he had thrown seven shutout innings. The offense did not score while he was on the mound in four of those games.

Because of all of these factors working against a starter gaining a win, if he gets there, Verlander’s 300 might be the most impressive of all.

Look, a win will never mean what it meant when I was becoming a baseball fan. Rightfully. But I wonder if this has swung too far the other way. I get it, there are 10, 15, 20 stats I might look at before “wins” to gauge the value of a starter. And the “win” certainly was overvalued as a defining stat for the first century-plus of the game.

Verlander, beginning the season with 244 wins, will need to keep pitching beyond the two-year contract he signed with the Mets.

But I think it is underappreciated now. Because a win does tell a little story. First, in an age of openers and quick hooks, a starter has to pitch five innings to qualify for a win. In 2002, a starter worked fewer than five innings 865 times. It was 1,470 last year. That comes out to 20 games per team in which a starter could not by rule earn a win compared to two decades earlier.

Plus, going five innings probably is not enough to gain the win. Of the 1,443 games won by a starter in 2022, 296 (or 20.5 percent) were exactly five innings, 68.1 percent were of six innings or more and 28.6 percent were seven innings or more. The average start for a winning pitcher last year was 6 1/3 innings.

The days of bulldog starters such as Jack Morris and Dave Stewart being allowed to keep plugging along if they gave up four or five runs are not as common. A starter won just 79 times last year giving up at least four runs, compared to 295 times in 2000. A starter won 22 times giving up five or more runs. It was 101 wins in 2000. The combined ERA of starters in games they won in 2022 was 1.75 (thanks to Lee Sinins in MLB Network’s research department for this stat).

Thus, a win at this time pretty much indicates a starter who pitched well and deep and helped save the bullpen for others in an age when that is more valuable than ever. It does one other thing: It means your team won, which is the whole idea of this endeavor.

“If you look at what constitutes a win on a granular level, yeah, you can get wins in bad starts,” said Verlander, who has averaged seven innings and a 1.86 ERA in his 244 wins. “But if you look at it on a macro level, like, if you look at the bulk of my career, and probably take my numbers from my wins, they are probably pretty [bleeping] good. Over the course of a season, if you win 15, 16, 17, 20, 21 games, you pitched damn well most of the time. Are there a few outlier games? Of course. But when you start looking at bulk numbers — 200-plus wins or 300 wins — you probably pitched well most of the time.

Wins have been harder to come by for pitchers since the era of allowing starters such as Jack Morris to remain in games after giving up a few runs has all but ended.

“So I understand the value of the win being diminished on an analytical level on a game-by-game basis, but overall, you start looking at all the value it provides in eating innings and the importance that it has on the bullpen the day before and the day after [a winning start]. It’s a trickle-down impact or a butterfly effect that analytics hasn’t valued. They don’t know how to value it. This is what analytics does, right? If you don’t know how to value it, you don’t [value it]. So, of course, they’ve devalued the win. It’s not something that numbers can really quantify — the repercussions of pitching seven good innings routinely and outlasting the other starter.”

2. To even approach 300 wins, you better be able to adjust to the reality of age and your body throughout your career.

As McCullers said, “[Verlander] has the ability to adapt to being a new pitcher. Early in his career, if you watched his highlights of how he pitched, it is so much different than how he pitches now. I don’t think a lot of guys have that ability. I think a lot of guys make it to the big leagues and are good and they have their own way of being good. Whereas Justin was able to be great early in his career, and then he had those kinds of years in ’13. ’14 and ’15 that he had some injuries and it was touch and go and maybe not his best seasons (33-32, 104 ERA-plus) [before] he started to redevelop himself. He finished second for the Cy Young in ’16 and then came over to [the Astros] in ’17. That process was still happening, but if you see Justin Verlander now, he is just a different pitcher.

“It’s a different type of greatness than he had early in his career. He got traded to us, and he is so talented and so good that he was totally able to reshape his game and how he throws the baseball mechanically and have another bout of greatness. It was a total adjustment. A total change.

“Go watch him pitch for Detroit in 2006, ’07, ’08, ‘09 and ‘10. His arm slot was lower. There was a little more run to his fastball, a big curveball. Now we are talking about a guy straight over the top who has one of the best, if not the best, four-seams in the game. Big curveball that is more of a for-a-strike pitch. And that devastating wipeout slider. He’s just recreated himself and had the talent level to do that. A lot of guys don’t have that. That is why he’s been great and stayed great.”

Teammates who have watched Verlander throughout his career noticed how he has changed his mechanics since his first few seasons in Detroit and remained one of baseball’s elite starters.

Verlander said he “was stuck in my ways” and thought “I had it all figured out” early in his career. But beginning with his need for core surgery after the 2013 season and then enduring a subpar (for him) season in 2014, “I’ve taken an active role in seeking out information in any possible aspect — body, mind, pitching, analytics, anything whatsoever, I am open to it. Probably the best thing I’ve had going for me is my feel for my body. I can take in a lot of information. I can try things and I can either be like, ‘OK, I like that, that works’ or ‘No, it doesn’t’ and spit it out.”

3. For Verlander, there also has been another change. He admits that early in his career, he was introverted. He does not think he was a bad teammate, more perhaps an absent one as he fixated on what he needed to do for greatness.

But he feels there have been changes over time that have influenced him to be a more available, giving person and teammate. He noted marrying model Kate Upton in 2017: “My connection with my wife is amazing, and she’s an amazing woman and has helped change me to be a better man.” The birth of his daughter, Genevieve, in November 2017. And not pitching for most of the 2020-21 seasons gave him time at home that made him happy, but also made him realize how much he loves to be part of a team.

This all should help his assault on 300 wins because it makes him want to play as long as possible.

“I’ve changed as a person,” Verlander said. “I’m actively trying to grow as a human being. And this is part of that. Communicating and connecting with others is important.

Verlander credits his marriage to model Kate Upton and the birth of his daughter, Genevieve, with helping to motivate him to keep pitching and appreciate the connections he has with his family and his teammates.

“If I was going to boil it down to a specific event, it’s the birth of my daughter. … I was doing my Tommy John rehab and had a ton of time at home and just, like, appreciating these connections that I have in life. These are my people, right? It just made me feel so full and happy, and I really wanted to extend that happiness to the rest of my life and not be so stuck in just baseball mode.

“When I’m at the field, I have time now to open up, and previously I didn’t. I don’t regret it [his attitude early in his career] at all. I needed that to be the kind of pitcher that I am. Everything in life happens for a reason, and I didn’t have room for anybody else or anytime; it was really hard for me to connect with people. I was super locked in, focused all the time, and not everybody can always connect with that. It’s hard to get in. I wasn’t very open. I’m probably still not. I’m still actively trying to grow and become better.

“I’m still just 40 years old, and the big scheme of things in the game of life, man, I was just 20-something years old and a not-fully-evolved human at that age. You’re still figuring yourself out. I was, more importantly, figuring my baseball life out, so I thought that was what took precedence for me — my entire life was built around baseball. That was it. And more recently, things have changed.”

McCullers, who was Verlander’s teammate from 2017-22, says there was a distinct delineation for Verlander — before and after Tommy John surgery. McCullers mentioned the “willingness and enthusiasm” Verlander brought to being a more connected teammate after the surgery.

“Justin was always great for us on the field and he was always fine off of it, but when he came back, he grew into a leadership role where he was willing, every day, to go above and beyond so the other guys felt his presence around the team,” McCullers said.

“Money is the easy part. We have money, and you can give gifts and do dinners. It’s about the time that you give. The difference was just the time and the daily amount of time you put in with just individual people on the team and being present is what makes you a leader. And when he came back, he had that.”

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Inside Apple TV+ 2023 MLB shakeup: new booths, schedule reveal

Apple is very secretive, which makes it even more fun to break news about them. So let’s do it.

The Post has obtained Apple TV+’s Friday night MLB broadcast schedule through July 14. The Mets and Yankees each will be on twice in that time.

April 21: Blue Jays at Yankees, 7:05 p.m. ET

May 26: Padres at Yankees, 7:05 p.m. ET

June 23: Mets at Phillies, 7:05 p.m. ET

July 14: Dodgers at Mets, 7:10 p.m. ET

Remember: These games are exclusive to Apple TV+ — there is no other way to watch them. The Yankees and Mets are slated to have two more Apple games apiece in the second half of the season.

We’ll print the entire Apple TV+ MLB schedule at the bottom of the newsletter. Apple declined to comment on the schedule.

Alex Faust is expected to become the play-by-play voice in one of Apple’s two MLB booths, per sources.
via Instagram/@faust_alex

via Instagram/@faust_alex

Apple news 2.0: Last week, we told you Katie Nolan and Melanie Newman would not be returning and Dontrelle Willis was joining Wayne Randazzo on one broadcast crew. Let’s give you some more news.

The other crew, according to sources, is expected to be LA Kings and Fox Sports play-by-player Alex Faust and Rockies analyst Ryan Spilborghs.

Apple news 3.0: Let’s do some more: Apple is not doing doubleheaders for most of the first half. There are some weeks when the games aren’t simultaneous, but even most of those are staggered starts rather than back-to-back 7 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET starts. The new timing probably makes sense because this is streaming and not linear TV, for which you need to fill out a schedule.

NFL TV free agency: The Rex effect

Rex Ryan’s potential return to the coaching ranks would create an opening on ESPN’s marquee NFL studio show.

During Super Bowl week, we listed our top NFL TV free agents, which might become an annual list. As we noted in the column, what makes the offseason fun is surprises. And we could have a whopper if ESPN’s Rex Ryan ends up leaving an NFL TV studio and joining Sean Payton on the Broncos sidelines. Ryan would be fun as a defensive coordinator, but it also would open up a spot on “Sunday NFL Countdown.”

The move for ESPN seems pretty obvious: to add either Marcus Spears or Mina Kimes. After years of “NFL Live” being a bit of a slog, the show got it right by featuring the team of Laura Rutledge, Dan Orlovsky, Kimes and Spears. But that doesn’t mean ESPN shouldn’t have upward mobility.

We have been high on Spears and Kimes for a long time. Here is a column I wrote on Spears in October 2019. Here is a feature I wrote on Kimes a little more than a year ago.

These are the types of folks ESPN should be promoting. Spears is the rare player-turned-analyst who can own a TV screen. Kimes is a rarity as a woman NFL analyst, and she stands out because her opinions are well-reasoned.

Quick Clicks

Matt Ryan is a broadcasting name to watch if he retires as an NFL quarterback.

Someone to watch whom we didn’t mention in the NFL TV free agent column is Matt Ryan. The veteran quarterback still could play next season, but if he doesn’t, we are told he is very interested in a career in broadcasting. He almost won a Super Bowl with the Falcons and has had a nice career, but would have to prove it in the booth to one day be a No. 1 analyst. Tom Brady and Tony Romo, who had stature as a former Cowboy, were able to land jobs in a top network booth without ever putting on a headset. With the big money available in the booth, any future top analyst openings would spark a competition with current Fox No. 1 Greg Olsen, Sean McVay and Mike Tomlin (if he ever left the sideline) all potentially part of the mix. … To be clear, the Pac-12 will get a TV deal. It is just hard to see how the conference gets one that will be incredible. Fox will only do a sweetheart agreement. Amazon is not going to go crazy. Mickey Mouse just told ESPN to watch its wallet for items that are nice but not must-haves. Speculation alert: Could Apple be a savior? Like the Pac-12, the company is West Coast-based, but even if they came up with a nice number, I would have serious concerns about college football putting its best games on a streamer at this point. There are too many games on Saturdays, so — as with the Apple TV+ MLB deal — there are many other options for fans who like a certain team. Yes, the Pac-12 will get a deal, but I don’t see a great one out there. At least not at the moment. … MLB Network will have a new look this season as Stephen Nelson, Scott Braun and Fran Charles will not return. Nelson left to be a Dodgers play-by-player. The specifics of Braun’s and Charles’ next moves are not known yet. … Brandon Gaudin feels like a strong choice by the Braves as Chip Caray’s replacement. … Correction: We always want to give you the right info. The most watched Super Bowl of all time was NBC’s Patriots-Seahawks in the 2015 Super Bowl with nearly 115 million. In the email version of the newsletter, I had that game as Patriots-Panthers.

Unreleased Apple TV+ schedule

Shohei Ohtani’s Angels will appear exclusively on Apple TV+ on April 14, June 9 and June 30.

(Fridays, all times ET)

April 7: Rangers at Cubs, 2:20 p.m.
April 7: Padres at Braves, 7:20 p.m.

April 14: Giants at Tigers, 6:40 p.m.
April 14: Angels at Red Sox, 7:10 p.m.

April 21: Blue Jays at Yankees, 7:05 p.m.
April 21: Astros at Braves, 7:20 p.m.

April 28: Phillies at Astros, 8:10 p.m.
April 28: Cardinals at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m.

May 5: White Sox at Reds, 6:40 p.m.
May 5: Twins at Guardians, 7:10 p.m.

May 12: Royals at Brewers, 8:10 p.m.
May 12: Cubs at Twins, 8:10 p.m.

May 19: Orioles at Blue Jays 7:07 p.m.
May 19: Mariners at Braves, 7:20 p.m.

May 26: Padres at Yankees, 7:05 p.m.
May 26: White Sox at Tigers, 7:10 p.m.

June 2: Brewers at Reds, 5:10 p.m.
June 2: Guardians at Twins, 8:10 p.m.

June 9: Royals at Orioles, 7:05 p.m.
June 9: Mariners at Angels, 9:38 p.m.

June 16: Pirates at Brewers, 8:10 p.m.
June 16: White Sox at Mariners, 10:10 p.m.

June 23: Pirates at Marlins, 6:40 p.m.
June 23: Mets at Phillies, 7:05 p.m.

June 30: Brewers at Pirates, 7:05 p.m.
June 30: Diamondbacks at Angels, 9:38 p.m.

July 7: There are no games currently listed for the Friday prior to the All-Star Game.

*July 14, Dodgers at Mets, 7:10 p.m.

*At the moment, there is only one game listed for July 14.

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Why Tom Brady’s Fox delay is worth $7 million to Greg Olsen

Greetings, before we get to today’s newsletter, please check out my review of the Super Bowl game broadcast on Fox.

We are calling it the “Brady Bonus.”

Tom Brady’s decision to take a gap year before potentially starting as Fox Sports’ No. 1 game analyst will be worth $7 million for Greg Olsen next season.

If Brady showed up for Fox next fall, Olsen not only would be knocked down to the No. 2 game analyst spot, but his salary would drop from $10 million to $3 million. The $3 million is a livable wage, but the extra $7 million is a significant difference.

With Tom Brady set to take some time away from football next season, Greg Olsen will remain in Fox’s top NFL broadcast booth.

Getty Images

Last offseason, Olsen signed his contract after Fox announced Brady would join the network. (The Post subsequently reported that Brady would receive $375 million over 10 years.) Olsen’s contract could be worth $50 million over five years if he remains in the No. 1 booth. It would have fallen to five years and $22 million if Brady started this fall. Now, at worst, Olsen will receive at least $29 million over those five years. Olsen also has an opt-out if he is bumped down and an opportunity to be a lead NFL game analyst for another platform arises.

Quick clicks I

Derek Jeter stopped by the Super Bowl on Sunday to announce he would be joining his former teammate Alex Rodriguez, and former rival David Ortiz, as an MLB analyst for Fox.

The biggest part of the Fox Sports Super Bowl pregame was the announcement that Derek Jeter would be joining its MLB pregame show. Though it got a little lost because of the enormity of the Super Bowl, it is a big deal. Alex Rodriguez was one of the folks who presented the news, which was funny considering their frenemy history. Jeter has been gravitating toward doing more media and has had talks with YES about doing games. Jeter didn’t say much as a player, but Jeter is expected to only be on during big events, so it won’t be heavy lifting. He will be able to joke with A-Rod and David Ortiz, so while he probably won’t set the world on fire, he should be OK. … Fox Sports insider Sean Payton had a funny, “Everybody wants to cover sports media” report when he revealed that the new Denver Broncos coach and former Fox Sports analyst interviewed current ESPN analyst Rex Ryan for the Broncos’ defensive coordinator position. Payton worked the Super Bowl pregame on Sunday. … ESPN had Oz Pearlman, “Oz The Mentalist” on “Sunday NFL Countdown.” If it wasn’t staged, it was kind of crazy as he predicted things that would seem impossible to get right without a cheat sheet. … Early in its pregame, Fox Sports used actors to portray the undefeated 1972 Dolphins on the 50th anniversary of their Super Bowl win. It could have been cheesy, but with Larry Csonka narrating, it was quite good. … The big question that will be answered in the next few days is if this year’s Super Bowl will be the highest-rated game in history. It would need to reach 115 million viewers to top the 2015 Pats-Panthers game.

Quick Clicks II

Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s chief media and business officer.

We had the NFL’s top business official, who is considered the No. 2 executive in the league after Roger Goodell, Brian Rolapp, on “The Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast,” and he talked about Sunday Ticket becoming more “interactive.” He didn’t detail what that would mean, but I kind of wonder if that may eventually involve fantasy sports or betting. To be clear, this is a bit of speculation on my part. I agree with Rolapp that the main viewing experience will not be focused on gambling. (It also won’t be on fantasy, but Rolapp did not address that in the interview.) The mainstream viewer doesn’t want gambling or fantasy to be the focus — and I’m not sure they ever will. Gamblers know what their bets are on games, while fantasy players know which players they are looking out for. With the unlimited channels available on streaming, bettors will be able to seek out an alternative viewing experience that caters to gambling. For fantasy players, and Rolapp is one, could the NFL and YouTube create a way that you could view your players and your opponent’s players in real time? It seems very feasible with the current technology. … Rolapp made it sound like it will use “Monday Night Football” flex scheduling as sparingly as possible. It will begin next season and I’ve heard it could be put in effect six times, however it likely will be used on much fewer occasions. The idea is to not have really bad games later in the season. For MNF, there is a big difference between moving games later in the same day, like the NFL does for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” as compared to switching a matchup to a completely different night. It is also going to put late season trips for fans in flux. If you travel for a 1 p.m. Sunday game and it gets moved to 8:15 p.m. on Monday, that would be two more hotel nights and a change in airfare for fans. …

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell raised the possibility that Amazon could get some flex scheduling for its ‘Thursday Night Football’ schedule, which had its share of unappealing matchups in Year 1.

During his Super Bowl press conference, NFL commissioner Goodell mentioned the possibility of flexible scheduling for Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday night games. The NFL has a vested interest in making Amazon successful. It had a very good first year, but the NFL wants to see it build. Still, I think they will see how MNF goes before lessening the amount of 20-year-old Mazdas Al Michaels has to sell. … Condolences to the family and friends of longtime ESPN producer, Barry Sacks. Sacks passed away from a heart attack at the age of 63 this weekend. An Ithaca College alum and a huge Giants fan, he had a huge influence over ESPN programming and those on-air. Suzy Kolber mentioned during “Sunday NFL Countdown” that when Chris Berman said his trademark “G-Men,” it was an ode to Sacks’ fanhood. A common tribute from broadcasters was how Sacks always said, if you say, “Wow” when viewing a play, then it belongs in the highlight package.

Super Bowl column

In case you missed it, please take a look at my column reviewing the Super Bowl TV broadcast.

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Worrying history behind Aaron Boone’s 2023 Yankees pressure

Aaron Boone is the most unsuccessful successful manager in the majors.

He has been the Yankees skipper for five years. He has two first-place finishes — the only AL East titles for the organization in the past decade. Boone’s Yankees have never finished worse than second place and never missed the playoffs. Of the 211 men who have managed at least 700 games, Boone’s .603 winning percentage is fifth-best all-time.

But this hero of the 2003 Yankees-Red Sox ALCS shares similarities with a hero of the 2004 Yankees-Red Sox ALCS. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ .632 winning percentage is second-best. And unlike Boone, his Dodgers did win a World Series, albeit in the shortened 2020 COVID season.

In seven seasons, Roberts’ Dodgers have finished first six times. But they have won at least 104 regular-season games four times — setting or tying the franchise record for wins in each of the past three full years (2019, 2021, 2022), including 111 last season — and failed to win the World Series in any of those years.

Roberts’ tenure is best known for failing to capitalize in the postseason and — correctly or incorrectly — for the public and media sense that he is merely a functionary orchestrating the desires of an analytically manic front office.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has led teams that have racked up wins but failed to win the World Series in a full season.

Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

If that sounds familiar, you must have a favorite team in The Bronx.

I think this all renders capable people to caricature. The idea that Boone, for example, is just a cardboard cutout agreeing to whatever his bosses want is extreme.

However, I do wonder whether he is putting up enough of a roadblock when he perceives something is wrong or perhaps he is part of a groupthink that wasted time (and perhaps more) by insisting Gary Sanchez was a championship catcher and Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa were championship shortstops. Because this is really about championships.

Every decision cannot just be about the analytic card-counting that allows the Yankees to accumulate enough victories over the Royals and A’s in May and June to get to the playoffs — as valuable as that is. They also have to assemble the kind of team that can do more than beat the crap out of an overmatched AL Central opponent come the postseason.

Boone is in Year 6, and should have enough heft now to speak up if he doesn’t think Kiner-Falefa should be the shortstop or Josh Donaldson the third baseman or Aaron Hicks the left fielder or whatever he believes is stopping the Yankees from fulfilling the toughest mandate: excelling during the long season and having the fewest holes possible to survive the October gauntlet.

Because it is also Year 2 on a three-year contract extension for Boone. And though the Yankees have reversed the unsteady managerial legacy forged by George Steinbrenner by having just four managers in the past three decades, Boone begins this season as the member of the Yankees most in the crosshairs. Hal Steinbrenner will not be firing himself. Brian Cashman received a four-year extension this offseason. The players might get booed at home, but the contracts are guaranteed.

GM Brian Cashman has a new four-year Yankees contract while Aaron Boone has two years remaining on his deal.

Perhaps Hal Steinbrenner and Cashman like and respect Boone so much that they will tolerate another postseason of beating the Guardians, losing to the Astros in five games and everyone talking afterward about how close they were to the promised land. But at some point the leadership is going to block out the noise by playing the “a new voice was needed” card.

Look, championships are incredibly difficult to win. Just look at Roberts’ Dodgers, whose run of success even predates him as manager. They are 10 for the past 10 in making the playoffs, first under Don Mattingly, then with Roberts. They have five of the 10 best single-season winning percentages in MLB in that decade-long span. They have won 73 more regular-season games than any other club — 931 to the runner-up Yankees’ 858. They have been the sport’s model franchise.

But there is just the one title from after the 60-game regular season.

The Yankees are at 13 years and counting without a championship. And what makes the upcoming season so treacherous is the postseason cannot be considered a layup even with six teams in each league gaining entrance and the Yankees sporting a franchise-record payroll near $290 million for luxury-tax purposes. Top to bottom, the AL East is the majors’ best division.

The Yankees, Blue Jays and Rays all have deep rosters. The Orioles have lots of volatility because their talent is young, but the talent is real. You can convince me the Orioles will win 75 games or that they will win 90 – their farm talent is rich enough that they could be a trade deadline force if they are in contention.

Adley Rutschman leads a young Orioles team that could sneak up on the AL East in 2023.

And though the Red Sox have the most questionable talent base, they do have talent. Mostly, though, the Red Sox never make sense. They have finished last five times in the past 11 seasons, yet also won two titles. After the 2002 campaign, their offseason was perceived as underwhelming, filled with lots of accumulation without impact. Except there was a lot of impact. The Red Sox went to ALCS Game 7 in 2003 (the Boone game) and won it all in 2004.

After the 2012 campaign, their offseason was perceived as underwhelming, filled with lots of accumulation without impact. Except there was a lot of impact, and the Red Sox won it all in 2013.

It has been another 10 years. And after the 2022 campaign, their offseason has been perceived as underwhelming, filled with lots of accumulation without impact.

So, who knows?

Boone’s group has to navigate toward the top — if not the top — of this division, then finally assemble four weeks of postseason excellence. It is a perilous road. It is why in this ranking of the Yankees under the most pressure heading into spring training, the leadoff hitter in this nine-man lineup is the manager. The rest of the order:

2. Cashman. This is more his team than Boone’s. And one thing to remember is that in a quarter of a century as GM, Cashman never has assembled a clunker. There are no last-place finishes here like with the Red Sox — and the high draft picks that come with that.

But Cashman needs a championship like the Warriors had last year — the cherry on top

that validates a great run. Cashman’s first three Yankees squads from 1998-2000 won it all, as did the 2009 club. To quiet the noise around him, Cashman surely could use another title, which would probably stamp a Cooperstown ticket as well.

Cashman has a lot of self-inflicted problems on this roster. Hicks’ seven-year, $70 million extension is the booby prize that keeps on giving. To date, uninspiring trades for Donaldson/Kiner-Falefa and Frankie Montas are creating 2023 headaches and headwinds. The position-player group remains overly right-handed. A bunch of trades have left a lot fewer rotation insurance policies. And it feels as if the time is now for Oswald Peraza and/or Anthony Volpe to exonerate the Yankees for staying out of the past two, starry free-agent shortstop classes.

Gerrit Cole has been trending in the wrong direction during the early stages of his $324 million Yankees contract.

3. Gerrit Cole. As with Boone, there is a sense of someone being unsuccessfully successful. Cole has received Cy Young Award votes in all three of his Yankees seasons. He has been durable and missed bats at the highest level and been an above-average performer.

Yet there also has been something missing. Can Cole be explained by this 2022 reality: He led the majors in both strikeouts and homers allowed? His performance has declined in each Yankees season, and he has become more long-ball prone. And, while employed by the Yankees, he has become the face of pitcher usage of illegal sticky stuff, and his postseason performances have vacillated from high to low.

He still has six years left on a $324 million contract — which remains the most ever given to a pitcher. Is there a Cy Young in him? Is there a postseason run similar to what CC Sabathia had in 2009, the last time the Yankees won a championship? At his introductory press conference, he professed having the Yankees in his blood. But at this moment, the fans’ feelings toward the ace plays like a business relationship more than an emotional investment.

4. Aaron Judge. Perhaps the 62-homer season after turning down a $213.5 million extension indicates Judge might be impervious to pressure. Still, there is naturally going to be a presiding sense of “what can he do for an encore,” especially after Judge signed a nine-year, $360 million deal.

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner is now in the unfamiliar position of having the second-biggest payroll in town.

Judge has played in 305 of a possible 324 regular-season games the past two years. Since the Yankees offense goes as Judge goes until proven otherwise, his health is a key to the 2023 season.

5. Hal Steinbrenner. If it wasn’t bad enough for son of George that he has never been able to fully escape his father’s shadow, he now is going to be compared to Steve Cohen. The Yankees’ record payroll, for example, projects to more than $80 million less than that of Cohen’s Mets for luxury-tax purposes.

Being booed last September when Derek Jeter mentioned his name during a ceremony for Jeter’s Hall of Fame induction unnerved Steinbrenner. It perhaps gave Judge the best ammunition in his negotiation with the Yankees — knowing Steinbrenner recognized how much more unpopular he would become if he did not re-up the most popular Yankee since Jeter.

Steinbrenner sure could use a championship, too. Though it should be noted John Henry is the owner who helped end the Red Sox “Curse” in 2004 of not having won a title since 1918 and has been in charge for three more championships, yet Henry has been booed publicly this offseason by Red Sox fans who feel he has not invested enough emotionally and financially in the franchise in recent years.

Josh Donaldson has a lot to prove coming off a career-worst season and toting a big contract at the age of 36.

6. Donaldson. Cashman has proclaimed Donaldson the starting third baseman, though Donaldson is coming off his worst season. The Yankees GM has insisted it is not because the club still owes Donaldson $27 million, but rather because he fielded superbly last year and Cashman insists the bat will recover in 2023. But the combination of money and a personality that worries lots of organizations means, at 36, Donaldson does not have a ton of potential landing spots if the Yankees grow tired of his performance on or off the field. Donaldson, to some degree, is fighting for his career.

7. Volpe. Kiner-Falefa is the incumbent shortstop. Peraza — because he reached the majors and performed well in a cameo last year — might just be the favorite to start at short going into the season. But Volpe carries so many of the hopes and dreams of this organization.

The Yankees haven’t felt so good about the overall package of a prospect — skill and makeup — since perhaps Jeter. That is a lot of weight for someone who will not turn 22 until April 28. Many eyeballs will be on him in spring training to see what all the hype (and decision not to sign established stars) has been about.

8. Carlos Rodon. From 2017-20, Rodon was injury-prone and underperforming the talent that made him the third overall draft pick in 2014. In that time, he appeared in just 43 games (41 starts), going 11-17 with a 4.45 ERA, averaging 4.1 walks and 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

The past two seasons, Rodon has been as good as any pitcher. He is 27-13 with a 2.67 ERA in 55 starts, averaging 2.5 walks and 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings.

Carlos Rodon is set to don the pinstripes as he tries to maintain his two-year run of good health and dominant pitching.

The Yankees invested $162 million over six years believing Rodon has unlocked the ability to stay healthy and thrive. In the 2008-09 offseason, the Yankees signed Sabathia for seven years at $161 million and A.J. Burnett for five years at $82.5 million.

Where on the Sabathia-Burnett spectrum will Rodon land? Will he be an ace lefty like Sabathia? Or, like Burnett, a talented guy who put together success and health to get the big free-agent deal, but could never fully harness the stuff in New York?

9. Hicks. There were other places to go for ninth in this order, including Harrison Bader and Luis Severino entering their walk years before free agency or DJ LeMahieu trying to come back from a foot injury or Oswaldo Cabrera attempting to prove his strong two-month debut last year was no fluke.

But Hicks and Donaldson are such hot-button issues, and both will feel intense scrutiny over whether they can be useful players. Hicks seemed to lose his nerve playing games in The Bronx last year. He was one of the worst home performers in the sport (.523 OPS, compared to .732 on the road).

The Yankees did not satisfactorily solve left field this offseason nor find enough lefty bats. In the ideal scenario, Hicks would be even league average in left field, allowing Cabrera to be used in a myriad of spots and giving Boone two switch-hitters to deploy regularly along with lefty Anthony Rizzo.

Aaron Hicks’ numbers were noticeably worse in 2022 at Yankee Stadium, where he heard the complaints of Yankees fans.

I stumbled upon a stat that probably means nothing, but here it is: As a lefty hitter on the road, Hicks’ slashline was .279/.395/.416 in 186 plate appearances. There was not much power, but among players with at least 175 road at-bats as lefty batters, Hicks’ 16.1 percent walk rate trailed only Juan Soto (20.6), Max Muncy (19.9) and Lars Nootbaar (18.2), and Hicks struck out just 18.8 percent of the time.

And what did Hicks’ 143 plate appearances as a lefty hitter look like in the Yankee Stadium haven for lefty hitters? He had a .116/.252/.149 slash line with a 14 percent walk rate and 28 percent whiff rate. Hicks hit just one lefty homer at home — amazingly, it was a three-run shot off Astros closer Ryan Pressly in the bottom of the ninth on June 23 that tied the score 6-6 before Judge won it with an RBI single.

It feels as if the crux of getting performance out of Hicks begins with him finding a way to block the negativity that surrounds him in The Bronx. Is that even possible, or has the relationship deteriorated to such an extent as to make Hicks unsalvageable? Can the Yankees receive any signs in spring that Hicks will not crumble in The Bronx?

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How wild NFL QB carousel could get: Aaron Rodgers, Daniel Jones

Who would’ve predicted Tom Brady joining the losingest franchise in NFL history when the 2020 NFL offseason began?

Who could have foreseen that Jared Goff-Matthew Stafford swap that later decided a Super Bowl when the 2021 NFL offseason began?

Who would’ve imagined that Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson would be dealt out of the NFC and into the loaded AFC when the 2022 NFL offseason began?

What’s next? Brady’s retirement this week started the 2023 NFL quarterback carousel spinning a bit earlier than expected. Let’s have some fun with the “all hell breaks loose” version of quarterback movement, including teams with new starters from trades, free agency or the draft.

Panthers: Daniel Jones

The Giants are acting as if the return of their QB free agent is a formality before even beginning negotiations. What if the price tag exceeds $40 million per year and $140 million guaranteed? The franchise tag’s $32 million salary-cap hit is restrictive, and the new regime has enough fan equity to paint Jones’ ask as unreasonable while starting over. Jones’ hometown Panthers — bold in moves for Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield — jump in, and an old photo of Jones in a Jake Delhomme jersey goes viral.

Daniel Jones grew up in Charlotte, and didn’t leave the state of North Carolina when he selected Duke for college.

Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Giants: Will Levis

Following the script he helped write with the Bills in 2018, general manager Joe Schoen trades up twice to get from No. 26 into the top 10 of the draft to pick a high-ceiling, strong-armed, inconsistently accurate passer, hoping head coach Brian Daboll can mold Kentucky’s Levis into Josh Allen 2.0.

Falcons: Lamar Jackson

Fed up after two years of fruitless extension negotiations, the Ravens franchise-tag Jackson. Falcons owner Arthur Blank — who built a close friendship with Michael Vick — sees Jackson as a carbon copy and OKs dealing three first-round picks and fully guaranteeing a new contract, copying the Browns’ move to beat the Falcons in the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes last offseason.

Ravens: Bryce Young

Suddenly flush with draft capital, including No. 8 overall, the Ravens turn around and trade for the No. 1 pick and Alabama’s Young because the Bears are true to early leaks that they plan to build around third-year quarterback Justin Fields. Firing offensive coordinator Greg Roman — who built the run-first, tight-end-heavy offenses for Colin Kaepernick and Jackson — was the first sign of a shift to a more pro-style offense.

Bryce Young, a recent Sugar Bowl winner, could be the first quarterback selected this year.

49ers: Aaron Rodgers

It’s easy for the Packers to say that Aaron Rodgers only will be dealt in the AFC. But this franchise handled facing Brett Favre on the Vikings for two years at the end of his career. So, if the 49ers make the best offer because of real fears that Trey Lance can’t stay healthy and Brock Purdy won’t be healthy in time to prove he’s no fluke, are the Packers going to say no? It’s interesting that Rodgers quipped “I’m not going to San Fran” on Thursday while golfing. Why was that on his mind?

Packers: Jordan Love

Can the Packers really strike gold twice? Trading Favre worked out because it turned out they had a Hall of Famer in Rodgers sitting on their bench for three seasons. It’s a lot to ask Love to repeat history, but the Packers need to play him to find out if he can be the future — instead of a wasted first-round pick that could’ve been a much-needed receiver — in the final year of his contract.

Texans: Trey Lance

If the Jets’ Robert Saleh and Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel taught us anything, it’s that former 49ers assistants take players with them to new jobs. The Texans hold the No. 2 pick, but defensive end Will Anderson or defensive tackle Jalen Carter would be a foundational piece for new head coach DeMeco Ryans’ defense if he can convince the front office to take a chance on Lance instead of drafting Levis or C.J. Stroud.

Patriots: Jimmy Garoppolo

Garoppolo might have more suitors than anyone because of his ties to the prolific Bill Belichick and Kyle Shanahan coaching trees. Ultimately, Belichick gets the quarterback he has wanted ever since drafting Garoppolo in 2014, when he thought Brady was near retirement. Garoppolo never worked with returning Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien. The egoless Bailey Zappe develops behind Garoppolo.

Could Jimmy Garoppolo wear Patriots gear again, just like he was in this photo from minicamp in 2014?

Raiders: Mac Jones

General manager Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels are going to dip into their Patriots roots to replace Derek Carr. If going all-in for Brady was Plan A and luring Garoppolo was Plan B, what is Plan C? Calling the Patriots to say, “Isn’t it redundant to have two young backups like Jones and Zappe?” McDaniels coached Jones as a rookie before his step back in Year 2.

Jets: Derek Carr

After missing out on Rodgers, Carr is a fine consolation prize, especially because he doesn’t cost any assets other than money after forcing the Raiders into releasing him to save salary-cap space by exercising his no-trade clause. Carr’s brother, David, was Eli Manning’s three-year backup, and convinces him that New York is a great place to win.

Colts: C.J. Stroud

Outbid for the No. 1 pick or Fields in talks with the Bears, the Colts stay put at No. 4 and seek to end the game of musical chairs that has seen seven different Week 1 quarterbacks in seven years by adding Ohio State’s Stroud to the lineage of Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.

Saints: Matt Ryan

A brief flirtation with retirement after a one-year disaster with the Colts is scratched when Ryan sees a chance to again rule the moribund NFC South, only from the other side of the Falcons-Saints rivalry. Call time of death on the Andy Dalton-Jameis Winston-Taysom Hill rotation.

Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson is one of the most intriguing prospects in the 2023 draft.

Buccaneers: Ryan Tannehill

What does life after Brady look like? Re-sign free agent Blaine Gabbert? Turn to former second-round pick Kyle Trask for his first career start? It makes more sense for a veteran team with now-or-never head coach Todd Bowles to make a run at the division title while all other teams are down by trading for the final year of Tannehill’s contract.

Titans: Anthony Richardson

Who is going to fall in love with Richardson’s tantalizing, but raw, skillset? How about new general manager Ran Carthon, who was part of the 49ers’ decision to draft Lance — who had one season with more than 100 passes thrown since high school in 2017 — based on potential?

Today’s back page

🎙 CBS execs tried intervention to address Tony Romo’s slippage

🏈 Giants star slams Eagles coach before Super Bowl

⚾ Mets’ $75M pitcher also had iffy physical before Carlos Correa saga

It’s a make … and make … and make league

Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard rang in February with a 42-point outburst in a win over the Grizzlies in Memphis. Did you notice? Probably not. After all, he had already started the week with a different 42-point outing in a win over the Hawks. That night, he had company on the night’s scoring leaderboard from Atlanta’s Dejounte Murray, who had 40, and Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic, who poured in 53 against the woebegone Pistons.

On Thursday night, Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo went one better, dropping 54 in a one-point victory over the Clippers — his third 50-burger in his past 11 games.

In total, there have been 122 individual 40-point games this season. The record is 142, set more than 60 years ago when Wilt Chamberlain, then of the Philadelphia Warriors, recorded 63 40-point nights on his own (h/t NBA.com’s John Schuhmann). It doesn’t take a math wizard to see that with the season not even at the All-Star break, the league should fly past that mark set in the 1961-62 season. We’re on pace for a total of 192 individual games of 40 points or better, well past even the more modern-day mark of 137 during the 2018-19 season.

Damian Lillard’s 42-point outburst is far from an anomaly this season.

To what do we owe this offensive bounty? Let’s take a quick look.

Defense optional: The Cavaliers have the league’s best defense, per defensive rating, allowing 109.7 points per 100 possessions. As noted recently on ESPN’s Hoop Collective podcast, that number would have ranked closer to the bottom third of the league than the top as recently as five seasons ago (21st, to be exact). And the 2017-18 season wasn’t exactly filled with Knicks-Bulls slugfests. That’s partly a result of coaches deploying more offensively inclined lineups, partly the result of rest days taking some of the best players (and their defensive capabilities) off the floor and partly the result of evolving rules limiting the amount of potential shot-changing contact defenders can make.
Skills kill: Look at the roster at almost any team and you can find someone capable of going off on any random night. Yes, there are the Doncics, the Antetokounmpos and the Jayson Tatums, but you also have the Zach LaVines (three 40-point nights) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexanders (also three 40-point nights) and even the Caris LeVerts — who can score from almost anywhere on the floor (more on that in a second). That’s not just a coincidence, but the result of a basketball development culture that has players working with skills coaches and honing their games as early as elementary school. Don’t take it from me, but a four-time title-winning coach, too.
Three is the magic number: It’s not exactly news that teams are relying on the 3-pointer more than ever, but just take a look at the past decade: The average number of 3s made per game per team is up to 12.3 this season, from 7.2 in 2012-13. On Wednesday night, for example, Tatum likely would have easily posted his eighth(!) 40-point or better game had the Celtics not run the Nets off the floor from the opening tip. Though he finished with 31 for the night, Tatum tallied 18 of those points in the first quarter, and finished with seven made 3s.

Some may bemoan the lack of defense all these numbers suggest. Some may claim this is the result of the game looking more and more like Pop-A-Shot. Some of us just want to enjoy the skills on display. But the game is different. The 3 has become the new-age dunk. Better get out your calculators.

— Paul Forrester

It turns out a person can be two places at once

Wearing an Islanders jersey after more than eight seasons as a Vancouver Canuck will be strange for Bo Horvat. It will be equally strange for fans at All-Star weekend, where the NHL has kept Horvat on the Pacific Division team despite his new associations.

Horvat will don an Islanders Fisherman jersey at the Skills Challenge on Friday night. Then, at Saturday’s All-Star Game, he will play for the Pacific — the NHL’s way of splitting the baby in a situation where there is not an obvious solution.

“I don’t know how they came up with everything,” Horvat said. “I was just happy to be here. All this unfolded. They basically asked me if I still wanted to come. Of course I wanted to come and enjoy the weekend. And then they worked out the logistics after that.”

Bo Horvat will represent both the Canucks and Islanders at various points during All-Star weekend.

Saturday will give Horvat a chance to skate with now-former teammate Elias Pettersson again (Horvat, by the way, endorsed Pettersson to replace him as captain of the Canucks).

“It’s gonna be fun and weird and awesome at the same time,” Horvat said. “I don’t really know how to approach it or how to talk about it, but I’m excited for it. Excited to skate with him at least on the same team for the last time, unless we join teams again later down in our careers. Really excited to see him.”

— Ethan Sears in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

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Yankees hope to take YES direct-to-consumer by Opening Day

YES Network is working toward offering its service direct-to-consumer by Yankees Opening Day at the end of March, The Post has learned.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. While the aim is to be up and running by the time the Yankees face the Giants on March 30, YES won’t press go unless everything is lined up, so the start date could be moved. In late July, Yankees president and YES chairman Randy Levine said on WFAN’s “Carton & Roberts” that YES would have a DTC product “very soon.”

2. While a DTC offering would allow viewers to bypass cable and satellite providers, YES is working with its current distributors in an effort to make it work for all parties.

3. The price is not decided.

4. NESN jumped into the direct-to-consumer RSN game last year, pricing it at $30 a month for Red Sox and Bruins games, but also added eight tickets to games at Fenway. While the initial price was high enough to make it feel designed to keep people on cable, the tickets really sweetened the offer, which probably didn’t please NESN’s legacy distributors.

With the most valuable regional sports network product in the country, YES broadcasts of Yankees games with Michael Kay and David Cone may be available direct-to-consumer by Opening Day.

Robert Sabo for the NY POST

5. Where will YES DTC be available? Only in the local rights area, not everywhere. Maybe one day distribution will expand, but in the near term, if you are in the tri-state area where you can get Yankees games on YES, you’ll be able to buy this new product without cable.

Bottom line: The Yankees have the most valued regional sports product in the country. YES also has the Nets, but going direct-to-consumer with Yankees games and more will be a big deal for the business when the product launches.

It is no coincidence that the YES app logo has been part of network game broadcasts in the right hand corner for some time now. The Yankees, beginning last year, started streaming 21 games via Amazon Prime Video. So this would be a potential further expansion into the streaming world.

What about SNY?

Mets broadcasts featuring Ron Darling, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez (assuming he signs a new deal with the network) aren’t slated to be available on a DTC product for at least another season.

From what we understand, SNY is most likely to wait another year before they jump into the direct-to-consumer game. It will happen. They are just taking it a bit slower.

The question that SNY, and each of these networks considering DTC has to ask: Are there a lot of people who must have games that don’t have access? If not, there might not be a need to rush. Eventually, all RSNs, leagues and networks will have it. You want to be a little ahead of the curve, but it is a needle that is being thread.

And MSG Network?

Post Business reporter Josh Kosman reported in November that MSG Network hoped to have its DTC product ready for the second half of the Knicks and Rangers seasons, and it would be priced at $20 to $25 per month.

The Post reported last fall that Rangers and Knicks broadcasts were expected to cost $20-$25 per month once MSG started its DTC service.

“We are progressing in the design and development of our direct-to-consumer offering, and remain on track to launch in the second half of the current NBA and NHL seasons,” MSG Network President and CEO Andrea Greenberg told Kosman in November. “So while the media landscape is certainly evolving, we continue to believe in the value of our premium content and our ability to innovate, to drive value for partners, advertisers and viewers alike.”

Quick clicks

Tony Romo and Jim Nantz seem to have lost the fundamentals of what once made them arguably the NFL’s top broadcasting booth.

The issue for CBS with Jim Nantz and Tony Romo is that the broadcast is not fundamentally sound. Until that improves, the calls of the games are going to be crucified by fans and experts alike because they are all over the place and lack cohesion. Romo has come under increasingly harsh criticism, and he’s earned it. What made him a success — his gunslinging approach from the booth — is a weakness now because he is not just off the field and doesn’t study enough to be off-the-cuff anymore. So he spends what seems like half his time gushing over quarterbacks, like Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow. We get it, they are really good. Meanwhile, Nantz isn’t on the same page with Romo. For all the passion and skill Nantz has on golf, he lacks it on football. He also can’t volley quick enough and lead Romo to bring some continuity to the broadcast. Unless Nantz and Romo can somehow improve their fundamentals, they will have problems. … Nantz did make me laugh in the post-game. As usual, he came down from the booth to do the trophy presentation. At the end of the game, Nantz dubbed the Super Bowl the “Andy Reid Bowl.” When interviewing Reid, Nantz quoted himself. …

Brock Purdy’s elbow injury not only limited him essentially to handing the ball off after he returned, but gave Fox broadcasters a less-than-inspiring game to cover.

Fox Sports was served a dud of a championship game with the depleted 49ers, but its broadcast got better as the game went along. They were a little slow on whether or not Brock Purdy could return to the game or not, which was quickly the biggest story. With Purdy out with an elbow injury, Fox showed video of him warming up. Sideline reporters, even one as accomplished as Erin Andrews, can only do so much, because the teams decide during games what information they feed, but we needed some analysis about what possibly was going on. To start the second quarter, analyst Greg Olsen did a fine job explaining that the elbow injury could be impacting the feeling in Purdy’s right throwing hand. Purdy did eventually return, but didn’t really throw the ball. Throughout the game, Burkhardt gave Olsen a lot of room to analyze, and, overall, Olsen did well. … Burkhardt grew up an Eagles’ fan in Bloomfield, NJ. In two weeks, he’ll call the Eagles in his first Super Bowl. … Chris Fowler furthered the mockery that was ESPN not sending its top play-by-players and analysts to the Australian Open. During the men’s semifinals, ESPN tried to fool the audience in its open by positioning Fowler and John McEnroe in front of a screen with the Australian Open crowd behind them. To a trained eye, it may have been obvious that they weren’t there, but most people are watching for the sport. After the high temperatures were noted by a sideline reporter in Melbourne, Fowler said it was 35 degrees in Bristol. And the ruse was over. Hopefully, next year, ESPN treats the Australian Open like a grand slam and not a second rate event. …

Soon to be 85, John Sterling may need Sweeny Murti’s eventual successor to be able to pinch-hit for him on occasion over the long season.

WFAN plans on replacing Sweeny Murti. It hopes to have someone who can do the post-game and be a pinch-hitter if — when? — John Sterling needs some days off. As is his nature, Sterling, 85 in July, is currently pushing to do all the games, but there is a good chance that he will change his mind when the grind of the season starts to be felt. That is why someone like Justin Shackil could be the choice for FAN. Shackil filled in for Sterling on games last year and did well. He has been working on Yankees-related shows from in-stadium to a Jomboy podcast with David Cone, while also doing boxing work for DAZN. …Mike Francesa’s appearance on Wednesday with his former partner Chris Russo on ESPN’s “First Take” is a win for … Stephen A. Smith. You could argue that Smith has already surpassed “Mike & the Mad Dog” in his career impact, but for Smith, who has toiled in and out of New York radio, where Russo and Francesa have been kings, it has to be pretty sweet to have the duo on his program.

Knicks ratings disaster

Even with Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson guiding the Knicks into playoff contention, MSG viewers have not guided themselves to watch the team as much as last season.

The Knicks ratings on MSG Network are down 22 percent compared to this time last year, according to a source with access to the Nielsen ratings. MSG, unlike most other networks, does not release its ratings. This secretiveness is unsurprising for a James Dolan company.

The Knicks are averaging 110,000 viewers per game, which is better than the Nets at 66,000. The Nets are down, but just six percent.

Anyway, with all the drama around the Garden, this may not be a big worry, but that is a significant drop year-over-year. The Garden doesn’t acknowledge the ratings, so if it has a reason for the plunge, it is unknown. It probably doesn’t help that MSG Network remains off Comcast systems, but that was the case last year, too.

Pac-12 dilemma

The Pac-12 TV deal is something to watch, because, while I think it has some suitors in Amazon, ESPN and Fox Sports, the sense I keep getting is none of them view it as a must-have. So where does the conference find leverage? In theory, it could look outside those three, but others all come with issues — namely exposure — because NBC, CBS and Apple TV+ would want to make it mostly a streaming deal, if they were even interested. Apple, of course, doesn’t have a broadcast network, while NBC has its new prime time Big Ten games starting in the fall and Notre Dame home games in the afternoon. And CBS has afternoon Big Ten on broadcast. Maybe there is an opening for a Saturday night Pac-12 schedule on broadcast TV, but it doesn’t feel like a match; at least not for big money.

The Pac-12 may find more exposure in its next media rights deal as part of a streaming package more than on traditional broadcasts, many of which have already been scheduled with other conference games.

The idea of Amazon Prime Video taking on the tonnage of the Pac-12 may not fully line up unless it is at the right price. Amazon doesn’t have a linear lineup to fill out, so it doesn’t need programming. ESPN and Fox Sports do, but between their other deals (ESPN with the SEC, ACC and Big 12, and Fox Sports with the Big Ten and the Big 12), they don’t necessarily need the extra games the Pac-12 would provide. With the economy in question, no one is looking to break the bank.

Amazon did well with Thursday Night Football, but, beyond the obvious fact that the NFL is a far different animal than the Pac-12, TNF also is a standalone game. Pac-12 matchups are in competition with endless other college games.

There are going to be deals to be made for the Pac-12, but will they be strong enough to stave off more realignment; especially with the Big 12’s agreement with ESPN allowing for further payments if Power 5 schools are added? The Pac-12 should be able to get close to the nearly $32 million per school that the Big 12 received, but the Pac-12 will have to realize that is more the comp, not the Big Ten.

On top of all of this, the Pac-12 may owe Comcast $50 million for overcharging. Not good.

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How ESPN, Fox Sports fail by not sending announcers to games

Fox Sports and ESPN have decided to have second-rate operations for some major sports, which reflects poorly on the networks and the events they are covering.

Let’s start with Fox Sports, which embarrassingly failed to have its announcers at each of its college football games in the fall, reportedly did not initially plan to send many of its broadcast teams to the World Cup (eventually it did, thanks in part to a sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways), didn’t have announcers at MLB games that aired on FS1 and now, in the latest absence, failed to have announcers courtside for a big Pac-12 men’s basketball battle between No. 5 UCLA and Arizona State this week.

As for ESPN, it is treating the Australian Open as if it is not a grand slam. Chris Fowler, John McEnroe and the rest of its top announcers are in Bristol — not in Melbourne.

What is ESPN saying to its tennis audience? What is it saying to its partners? It is saying it is not very important to have the best coverage.

ESPN’s top announcers are not on-site at the Australian Open, where Sebastian Korda has surged into the quarterfinals.

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Backlash: Substack’s John Canzano spoke to Arizona State senior associate athletic director Doug Tammaro.

“When I saw they weren’t coming on an email, I was bummed,” Tammaro said. “You’re just bummed out.”

Declined comment: Fox Sports and ESPN both declined comment when asked how much money they are saving. With the pandemic health protocols no longer a legit excuse, this is just a money decision. It’s a way to cut corners.

Be careful: If you tell viewers that what they are watching is not important, they will eventually believe you. If you tell your broadcast rights partners they are not that important to you, they will go elsewhere at some point. You also are putting your announcers in a bad position.

The networks are deciding a lower-quality broadcast is worth it to them to save money. Maybe, but it is hard for me to see how any TV decision-makers who care about production value and being the best could support not putting their people in the optimal position to succeed, especially on top college basketball and tennis events.

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Bill Walton has the perfect personality for an alternative NBA broadcast with Jason Benetti (right).

MLB Network will have the Hall of Fame announcement at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. They have ancillary programs before and after the reveal of who (if anyone) will get into Cooperstown. … NBC Sports said it had 808,000 viewers for the Jan. 15 stream of Tottenham-Arsenal on Peacock. The numbers were courtesy Adobe Analytics, via NBC. That seems like a significant figure. These soccer numbers might show that a dedicated audience will migrate to streaming for highly desirable programming. … Bill Walton’s alternative cast on NBA League Pass app is a good idea because Walton has the type of personality that can work on these broadcasts. On a regular call, Walton can get a bit in the way if you are really into the actual game you are watching. But when you are opting in to view Walton, Jason Benetti and friends, it makes sense because you are choosing to go in the way-out machine. Alternatives such as this and the Manningcast are not the future of broadcasting. These alternative broadcasts will be a part of some presentations, but it is going to be a long time, maybe never, before the traditional two-person or three-person crews that call games are replaced. … Dreaded Oops: Fox Sports’ Rob Gronkowski, on the big desk Saturday, was so close, yet so far, to saying Eagles’ offensive coordinator Shane Steichen’s name correctly. Gronkowski said, “Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Spikeman.” Here’s the clip. Meanwhile, after the Chiefs win, NBC’s Maria Taylor either had a little slip of the tongue or really doesn’t like Kansas City. Here’s the clip.

LIV and let live

In golf parlance, LIV Golf’s TV deal with The CW starts in the bunker, but has a good lie that with a proper wedge could land on the green.

The first thing for LIV that makes it not great: It’s not Fox Sports. With NBC, CBS and ESPN/ABC thought not to be real contenders for LIV, Fox Sports potentially could have been a fit, but Fox said no to the revenue sharing with no fee that The CW ultimately agreed to with LIV.

Phil Mickelson and other stars of LIV Golf will be relegated to being seen on The CW.

Besides Fox Sports’ superior reach, this would have made LIV more mainstream with a better chance for acceptance and growth.

With the opening rounds of its tournaments available exclusively on The CW app, LIV will feel very niche — even with some of the world’s top players involved. And though the Saudi-backed tour’s goal may be able to succeed with “sportswashing,” there doesn’t really seem to be a plan at the moment for having a viable business. The CW deal is a start, but the network is actually distributed less widely than YouTube, and I don’t think, as opposed to a platform such as Fox, it will give potential LIV sponsors enough of a cover to really want to get too involved. And though LIV officials are acting as if it was all good, it really isn’t that great.

I thought this from Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch put it well:

“Alert to an opportunity to impress his boss, LIV’s chief media officer, Will Staeger, conjured a version of events that would have even George Santos calling for narrative restraint.

“‘Following a competitive bidding window with multiple U.S. networks and streaming platforms, the sports story of 2022 has just moved into pole position for the top story of 2023,’ [Staeger] wrote in a social media post.

“Staeger’s comment raises two questions for those among us predisposed to cynicism: did autocorrect change ‘begging’ to ‘bidding,’ and how does a competitive process among multiple parties result in giving away the product for free to the worst-case option?”

FAN’s old guard out

Yankees reporter Sweeny Murti (with Chasen Shreve at spring training in 2018) is the latest member of WFAN’s old guard to leave the station.

All media is evolving, and WFAN — the top sports radio station in the country — is no different. Sweeny Murti, gone after three decades with the station, joins a long list of FAN’s core that is either no longer with the station or has a reduced role. Murti, who announced his departure on Friday, joins Mike Francesa, Steve Somers, Joe Benigno, Eddie Coleman, John Minko and ex-program director Mark Chernoff as former staples of 660 AM/101.9 FM.

Murti had been on the Yankees beat for 22 years, but in recent years had stopped traveling. FAN also has become less reliant on regular spots, most notably in the afternoons, when Craig Carton is not a fan of them, which follows the philosophy of “Boomer & Gio” morning producer Al Dukes, who doesn’t like most interviews.

Murti had remained full-time even as his role went from traveling with the team to doing just the post-game show. FAN offered to keep him on the post-game part-time, but he declined.

The sports media business has changed, and COVID has accelerated for some outlets (not The Post, thankfully) the idea that you don’t have to be there to cover a team properly.

Institutional knowledge is lost, which the people who either don’t know better or don’t want to know may not fully understand. Murti had a very nice run on New York radio for three decades. The FAN loses that institutional knowledge without him. Good thing its hosts can still read the papers.

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