The void in the Sunday Night Baseball booth has already been resolved. After Orel Hershiser was hired by the Dodgers' new Time Warner RSN, ESPN stayed in-house to replace him, tabbing Curt Schilling as the third man in the booth along with holdovers Dan Shulman and John Kruk.

I think Schilling's work in the studio is pretty good, but his image has been tainted by the mess involving 38 Studios over the last year and a half. But the move to the booth makes sense for Schilling, as he filled in for Hershiser on Sunday Night Baseball during the Little League World Series

Given all of their possible options, I think this was the best course of action for ESPN. Keeping Sunday Night Baseball with the duo of Shulman and Kruk would have all the makings of a disaster, and there really wasn't anyone else in the studio or on another broadcast team that I think could capably do color. When you throw in Nomar Garciaparra's departure along with Hershiser's and Schilling's transition to the booth, we could be seeing some dramatic shifts in the lower levels or ESPN's MLB broadcast teams.

[ESPN]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.