The New York Yankees TV booth will look and sound drastically different in 2026.
According to The Athletic, longtime MLB catcher and YES analyst John Flaherty will not return to the TV booth for the 2026 MLB season as part of an organizational shakeup that came to light Wednesday.
Flaherty will not return along with Jeff Nelson and Dave Valle, according to Andrew Marchand. The network is instead going mainly with the three-person booth of Michael Kay, Paul O’Neill and David Cone, with Joe Girardi as the primary fill-in analyst.
YES, which began broadcasting Yankees games in 2002, will broadcast about 150 games in 2026 as part of the network’s 25th anniversary season.
John Flaherty Was A Yankees Broadcaster For Two Decades
Flaherty is a native of New York who played high school baseball at St. Joseph (Montvale) in northern New Jersey. He finished his career as the Yankees backup catcher from 2003-05 and jumped right into the YES booth as an analyst following his retirement.
Yet, according to Marchand, Flaherty’s contract was not renewed in August, meaning his days were numbered.
“I was kind of prepared for it so I think that helped,â Flaherty said. âIt quickly went from, the reality that you are not going to be back to what a great run for 20 years to go right from retiring as a player to right into the booth in 2006 and stay with the same network for 20 years. I just became very grateful for what a long and great run it has been at YES and being connected with the Yankees all those years.â
Flaherty may have been an analyst and fill-in play-by-play broadcaster for Kay and backup Ryan Ruocco, but he lacked charisma and enthusiasm — particularly compared to Cone and O’Neill, who jumped him in the analyst pecking order for their personality and rapport with Kay.
Plus, Flaherty and Kay had an on-air tiff in Chicago in 2024 that may have expedited his departure.
https://x.com/AdamWeinrib/status/1832159221359473070
Joe Girardi Will Be Featured More On YES In 2026
Cone is arguably the best MLB analyst today, since he marries the knowledge of analytics with two decades of pitching at the highest level. Yet, due to his skill and enhanced profile, he has been available to do fewer YES games — since he has been an analyst on Sunday Night Baseball for ESPN.
ESPN is dropping SNB but will still broadcast 30 exclusive-window games in 2026, which will take Cone away from YES. With those openings — plus when O’Neill is not available, since he lives in Cincinnati full time — Girardi will be the next man up.
According to Marchand, the four consistent commentators, plus Ruocco who is expected to call about 15 games around his duties calling WNBA for ESPN, is a decision aimed at streamlining the voices fans hear on broadcasts. Marchand cited the oft-lauded Mets booth of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez, who are among the most popular booths in MLB.
“YES has been derided in some circles for its lack of consistency in the analyst booth,” Marchand wrote. “With Girardi, who won championships as both a player and a manager, returning to the YES booth in 2024, the cutbacks were made possible because YES felt it had three marquee analysts to feature.”
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