When news of Mark DeRosa’s retirement came down yesterday my first thought, and the thought of many others, was that DeRosa was going to be a TV or radio analyst pretty darn quick. And it was quick. Less than 24 hours, in fact:

MLB Network today announced that after a 16-year career, Mark DeRosa has joined its roster of on-air talent as a studio analyst. DeRosa, who served as a guest analyst on MLB Network during the 2013 and 2011 Postseasons, will appear across MLB Network’s studio programming and make his debut on MLB Tonight on Monday, December 9, live from the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida.

I think DeRosa will be pretty good at that job. Based on interviews and things you can tell he’s smart and he’s often funny and that goes a long, long way. So: nice hire.

But then I look farther down the press release and I see this:

DeRosa joins former Major Leaguers Eric Byrnes, Sean Casey, Joey Cora, Ron Darling, Cliff Floyd, Darryl Hamilton, John Hart, Jim Kaat, Al Leiter, Mike Lowell, Joe Magrane, Jerry Manuel, Kevin Millar, Dan Plesac, Harold Reynolds, Billy Ripken, John Smoltz, Dave Valle and Mitch Williams as analysts at MLB Network.

That makes DeRosa the 19th former big leaguer currently working as an MLB Network analyst, plus former GM John Hart. Call me crazy, but I feel like they’ve got the ex-player angle covered, don’t you? I mean, I think ex-ballplayers can have some good insight, but 19 of them? Especially when most of them are exceedingly averse from criticizing current baseball players as a matter of disposition? I feel like they should have more ex-coaches. Some scouts. More front office types. More statistical analysts (or at least people who are comfortable discussing statistical concepts). It just seems way too ex-player-heavy to me.

So, yes: I love the DeRosa hire. But in the interests of roster balance can’t we DFA someone here? Mitch Williams? Kevin Millar? Harold Reynolds? Because I feel like we have the ex-ballplayer thing pretty well covered at this point.