A new face arrives at Bally Sports Detroit.
Owned by Diamond Sports Group, the network has hired former MLB players Cameron Maybin and Todd Jones to cover Detroit Tigers games on television throughout the 2023 season.
Craig Monroe has been promoted as the primary in-game analyst, along with returning as play-by-play announcer Matt Shepard. With the Tigers he played six of his nine seasons, and the 45-year-old Monroe, who qualified for his series at the 2006 Worlds, joined his lineup of talent in 2012.
Bally Sports Detroit will make an announcement on Thursday.
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Hall of Fame pitcher and three-time World Series champion Jack Morris won’t be returning to the TV booth for the 2023 season. After promoting Monroe, Barry Sports Detroit offered Morris a lesser package of work, but Morris declined and the two parted ways.
Morris, 67, began working as an analyst in 2013 and began covering the Tigers in 2015. In 2021, she received a 23-day suspension for blatant racist remarks towards Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani.
The 2023 Tigers broadcast team has six members: Shepard (play-by-play), Monroe (principal in-game analyst), Kirk Gibson (in-game analyst), Dan Petrie (principal studio analyst), Maybin ( Studio Analyst) and Jones (Studio Analyst).
Petry and Maybin will take turns appearing in the TV booth as in-game analysts.
Monroe is scheduled to appear in about 130 games, followed by Petrie (about 100), Gibson (about 40), Maybin (about 30) and Jones (about 15). Monroe has been assigned about 100 games as an in-game analyst and about 30 games as his pre- and post-game studio analyst.
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Maven, 35, arrived at Bally Sports Detroit after a year with the New York Yankees’ YES network and the Chicago Cubs’ Marquee network. Both networks changed their broadcast plans this offseason and did not retain his Maybin for 2023.
Maybin will continue to serve as an on-air contributor to MLB Network with the Tigers.
Before airing, Maybin played 1,162 games for 10 teams over 15 seasons from 2007 to 2021. The Tigers selected him 10th overall in the 2005 draft. An outfielder, he played for the Tigers his three seasons in 2007, 2016, and 2020, batting .289 in 132 games and hitting six home runs.
When the Tigers called Maybin up for his MLB debut, Monroe was assigned and never played another game in the organization. Widely regarded as a bold move, the Tigers front the decision from his office he made in August 2007 amidst a fierce pennant race.
The Tigers traded Maybin three times. As part of a franchise-changing Miguel Cabrera package in 2007, Florida He traded his shortstop to the Marlins, Los Angeles in 2016 to the Los Angeles Angels for pitcher Victor He Alcantara, and infielder Zach his shortstop to the Cubs in 2020.
Maybin retired in January 2022.
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Jones, 54, has previously appeared on Tigers telecasts.
He is known for his 16-year, 982-game playing career. From 1997 he pitched in 2001, and from 2006 to 2008 he pitched for the Tigers eight times in a season with 235 saves, the most in franchise history. He received the nickname “Roller Coaster” from legendary radio broadcaster Ernie Harwell.
In June 2019, Gibson, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, decided for health reasons that he would not be able to complete the final round of a 10-day road trip from New York to Baltimore to Atlanta. Jones, who lived in Atlanta, took a call from the production staff to join as an in-game analyst for the series his finale.
Jones now has an established role in the network.
He has 319 career saves and ranks 22nd on the all-time saves list. He led the Americans in his league with his 42 saves in his 2000 and set a record for the Tigers with his 1 his season. In 2011, Jose Valverde surpassed Jones’ record with his 49 saves.
Jones announced his retirement in September 2008.
Diamond Sports Group, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, is poised to file for bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg, which could cost MLB teams lucrative broadcast rights income. In the Detroit market, Bally Sports is televising the Tigers, Pistons and Red His Wings.
Bally Sports Detroit will air seven games for the Tigers during Spring Training. Blue Jays) and March 22 (Braves).
Day one is scheduled for March 30th against the Rays at Tropicana Field.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter.@ Evan Petzold.
