Sports

Michael Kay’s return to YES booth delayed

The voice of the Yankees, Michael Kay, will be out another week to 10 days as he still needs more time to recover from vocal cord surgery.

Kay had hoped he could return to the YES booth and his ESPN New York afternoon radio show this Friday, but after a doctor’s visit on Wednesday, he was informed that he needed more time to heal.

“It is a precautionary measure,” YES president of programming and production John Filippelli said. “Without question, his health is first and foremost in my mind.”

Filippelli relayed there is optimism that Kay will return to full health and his voice should be fine.

Ryan Ruocco will fill in for Kay over the next week with Bob Costas calling one game of the Yankees-Red Sox doubleheader this Saturday.





Kay, 58, will continue to be silent as he recovers. After having a nodule removed from his vocal cord, Kay was told he could not talk, clear his throat or belch for three weeks.

Kay is eager to return and, in his mind, he wanted to work both his radio show and the Yankees-Red Sox game Friday. But his bosses want him to take it easy.

“He’s going to take a few more weeks,” said Tim McCarthy, ESPN New York’s GM. “We want to be really cautious with his schedule.”

Even if doctors had said Kay could return, McCarthy planned to hold him off radio a bit longer.

McCarthy said when legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey had the same surgery, Harvey returned too early and then was out another two months.





In the meantime, Kay’s afternoon show has been manned mostly by his sidekicks, Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg, along with Chris Canty, Rick DiPietro and Alan Hahn receiving some time.

“I’m fine with him taking the whole summer,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy’s first concern, he said, was Kay’s health, but on the business side, he is aiming toward September, when the fall ratings competition against Mike Francesa begins anew.

Quick clicks: The NFL Network’s Peter Schrager and Cynthia Frelund will join Ian Eagle and Anthony Becht on the Jets’ preseason broadcasts on CBS, according to sources. Schrager is expected to be in the booth with Eagle and Becht. He did Rams games last year. Schrager is on NFLN’s “Good Morning Football,” Fox’s pre-pregame show on Sundays and also does some sideline work. Schrager’s deal to do the Jets games is not signed, but expected to be completed. Frelund does analytics. Otis Livingston will be back as a sideline reporter. … Speaking of the Rams, ESPN’s Mina Kimes will be their preseason game analyst. Kimes, whose writing focus at ESPN has been on the NFL, is moving on up, as she is now a regular on all of ESPN’s talk-debate shows. She is also slated to be the main host of a new daily morning podcast the network has in the works.





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