ESPN Hires Baseball HOFer Winfield As "Baseball Tonight" Analyst

Winfield Will Continue In Padres Role While Working For ESPN

Baseball HOFer Dave Winfield has joined ESPN as an analyst who will be featured on "Baseball Tonight." Winfield mainly will work Sundays and select Mondays with host Karl Ravech and analysts Peter Gammons and John Kruk throughout the '09 MLB season (ESPN). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes the Winfield announcement is ESPN's "latest effort to beef up its baseball" amid competition this season from MLB Network. While Winfield's "main TV experience was as a Fox analyst in 1996, he sounds confident: 'I'll just be me. I'm not going to imitate anybody.'" Winfield will continue as Padres Exec VP & Senior Advisor, but he said on-air he hopes "to be as transparent as I can" (USA TODAY, 4/1). In L.A., Diane Pucin wrote, "We'll assume he won't be doing any Padres games" (LATIMES.com, 3/31). AWFUL ANNOUNCING's Brian Powell wrote, "I've seen Dave Winfield on various programs since his retirement, and I have to say that I rather enjoy him. Occasionally the Baseball Tonight crew can get a bit stuffy, and the addition of someone with Winfield's energy could only help the crew. However, this does put the number of ESPN Baseball analysts at a ridiculous total" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 3/31).