Bidding Farewell To TMKS - The Show I Have A Lot To Thank For
Plus, some quick Mets / baseball thoughts on this Friday…
This is going to be a quick one. I’m writing this on my phone and, as something all iPhone users can probably relate to, autocorrect really is hell on earth. I can’t tell you how many times a day autocorrect drives me to the brink of crazy.
Anyway, I wanted to jump on because I have a slew of feelings to unload. Thursday was a sad day. If you missed it, or if you just don’t follow sports media news all that closely, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported that The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York is coming to an end after a hugely impressive run that spanned over 20 years. Per Marchand, the show, which consists of Michael Kay, Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg, will go live for the final time on Friday, Dec. 13.
It is also important to note that any report from Marchand should be taken as gospel. The guy never misses. So, come next Friday, a hugely significant part of my life will come to an end and I’m all up in my feelings about it.
I have listened to The Michael Kay Show religiously for well over a decade now. It has been an essential part of my everyday life for all of my 20’s, and stretching into my early 30’s too. The show has been my best friend, my biggest source of motivation and, most of all, it has helped to get me through some of the darkest days of my life.
It sounds stupid to say, but I really don’t think I would have dragged myself through certain moments were it not for the light relief TMKS provided me. When times were tough, I could always turn on the show or listen to the podcast and be instantly comforted by Michael’s love of baseball and his intrinsic knowledge of the game. If I was really down, all it would take to force me to forget my troubles was a Don rant. Man, those were legendary and I have lost count of the amount of times I’ve physically hurt myself from laughing too much.
By the way, if you have a spare 10 minutes or so, I strongly suggest you hit up YouTube and watch all of Don’s best and most famous rants. It will be the best 10 minutes you will spend on the internet all year. I’ve put a little taste for you below:
https://youtu.be/ZyxNjdnGTas?si=VQ9CcKJ2ZbmlGAsC
As a born-and-bred Brit who fell in love with American sports, The Michael Kay Show really was a game-changer for me in so many ways. From the minute I first started listening to the show, my passion for football, hockey, baseball and basketball just intensified by the day. I became a smarter fan because of Michael, Don and Peter, and their knowledge and passion for sports also helped to convince me that covering sports in America was the right and only logical path for me to take.
I also owe a tremendous amount to Michael Kay as an individual. Michael’s journey from a kid in the Bronx to covering New York sports as a newspaper beat man, to becoming the TV voice of the Yankees, has acted as a constant source of inspiration and motivation as I seek to make my own mark as a sports writer in America. Michael’s constant hard work and utter devotion to his craft should be held up as a shining beacon to any aspiring sports journalist. As I continue to carve out my own path in the sports journalism arena, I remain forever grateful to Michael for helping a kid from England discover his true calling. I’ll forever be grateful for that.
So, with all of that in mind, next week will be an incredibly bittersweet occasion. Sweet for all the memories I have of listening to The Michael Kay Show over the years, but bitter because my favorite daily routine will be no more.
Of course, it is important to note that Michael Kay will still be on the air, with Marchand noting that Kay will move to the 1-3 p.m.ET time slot on ESPN New York. As for Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg, they will be joined by the excellent Alan Hahn in the afternoon drive slot. Hahn is significantly underrated in my opinion - I mean, his takes on basketball and overall knowledge of the game are second to none - and he deserves a much bigger platform. I’m also somewhat comforted by the fact that ESPN New York won’t be touching DiPietro and Rothenberg, the hugely popular breakfast drive show. The station really has struck gold with the duo of Dave Rothenberg, a self-professed sports nut, and Rick DiPietro, a former No. 1 overall pick of the New York Islanders in the NHL.
However, while I will still get to listen to Michael Kay on the radio and in podcast format, as well as La Greca and Rosenberg, it won’t be quite the same. Granted, all good things must come to an end. I get that and I accept that. But, even so, it feels like a major part of my own life is coming to a close, and I’m going to miss The Michael Kay Show tremendously. I wasn’t done listening yet.
Okay, with the melancholy stuff out of the way, let’s switch our focus over to some quick baseball thoughts…
I’ll be honest; I am very much looking forward to the end of the Juan Soto free agency sweepstakes. Look, I realize that the longer this goes on, the more intrigue it generates and the more buzz it creates around baseball. All of that is very good. But I do feel we’ve reached the point where it has all become a little bit tedious. The slew of fake “experts” on social media claiming that they know exactly where Soto is signing is more than grating at this point. Because, let’s face it, none of us know. Not even those paid to be in the know. At the end of the day, there is only one person on planet earth who knows where Juan Soto wants to sign, and that’s Juan Soto himself. Also, I think it has been pretty well established by now that the superstar slugger is going to sign with the team prepared to offer the most money. I think we can take that to the bank. So, there is really no point in speculating otherwise. Whoever offers the most money - be it the Mets, the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Dodgers or the Blue Jays - will almost certainly be the franchise that ends up landing a true generational hitter, one of the best the game has ever seen. To that end, I can’t wait until we get word of Soto’s ultimate decision and can put all this mind-warping speculation and baseless gossip to bed. Thankfully, it sounds like we could have an answer sometime over the weekend when the Winter Meetings start.
Although, and I know I am slightly contradicting myself here, but if I’m Scott Boras, and I want to squeeze all of the juice out of this for my client, make the announcement on Tuesday or Wednesday when nothing else is going on. If you announce something on Sunday or Monday, you are going right up against football and that’s stupid because, as we all know, the NFL is king. By waiting until Tuesday or Wednesday, you are guaranteeing that all eyes will be on baseball for at least a couple of days, if not the rest of the week. All the national TV shows and the media will talk about is Juan Soto, and that is exactly what you want if you are Major League Baseball.
As a Mets fan, I would obviously love to see Soto in Queens. I mean, why wouldn’t I? He’s one of the best hitters we’ve ever seen. He’s a winner. And at 26-years-old, he hasn’t even hit his prime yet. He would be the box office marquee superstar that owner Steve Cohen has craved ever since he bought the team back in 2020. I’m trying not to get too caught up in it all because I’ve been here too many times before, only to be met by an overwhelming wave of disappointment. But, if Soto does become a Met, then that will be the only Christmas gift I’ll need or want this year.
Sticking with the Mets, they did do something in free agency this week, just not the kind of move fans really wanted. The team signed RHP Frankie Montas to a two-year, $34 million deal, which includes an opt out after the 2025 season. Now, certain sections of the media have killed the Mets for this deal. I disagree with those takes. When evaluating a signing like this, you really do have to take the 30,000 ft view. Yes, Montas hasn’t exactly been great throughout his career, owning a career 4.09 ERA. He’s been worse in recent years, pitching to a 4.84 ERA in 2024 across 30 starts with the Reds and the Brewers. He was also a disaster in New York with the Yankees in 2022, going 1-3 with an ugly 6.35 ERA. But, here’s the rub. As much as I didn’t like this deal at first blush, and I’m still not mad about it, I also have a tremendous amount of faith in Mets’ president of baseball operations David Stearns. He’s earned carte blanche to go and make these kind of low-risk, high-reward type deals. Just look at his track record from last year - both Sean Manaea and Luis Severino were signed to prove-it deals, and look at how both of those risks played out. Manaea morphed into a true ace for the Mets, going 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA in 2024. The lefty was the team’s most reliable arm last year and, as a result, he should get rewarded with a pretty nice pay day this winter. As for Severino, the former Yankee rejuvenated his career in Queens, pitching to a 3.91 ERA and making 31 starts for the first time since the 2018 season. So, with that in mind, the Montas deal becomes more reasonable. Stearns is banking on the fact that his staff can fix Montas, and that the veteran can rediscover some of the filthy stuff that made him a standout earlier in his career. Plus, able to become a free agent after the 2025 season, Montas will be extra motivated to pitch at the peak of his powers and enjoy a productive year so he can go back on the open market and get what he really thinks he’s worth. Just like Manaea and Severino did. Stearns knows what he’s doing, and maybe Montas will give the Mets the kind of production that both Manaea and Severino did. If not, you aren’t losing all that much. It’s a low-risk deal with a lot of potential upside.
Full kudos by the way to Severino, who parlayed a tremendous one-season with the Mets in 2024 into a monster payday with the A’s. The righty signed a two-year deal that could total $67 million. It is the largest guaranteed deal in franchise history for the A’s. Sure, you could argue that it is an overpay. But Severino turned things around last year, and he landed a lucrative contract as a direct result. Also, all credit to the A’s for actually spending some money and showing some ambition. That’s only good for baseball.