Whispers About Jerry Howarth’s Future?

There are few people who I would pass along a tweet like this from, outside of the obvious mainstream sources, but Jonah — aka @yyzsportsmedia — has proven time and again that he definitely does have some good sources in the local sports media world (and I think radio stuff is a particular strength), and so here’s something interesting…

Aaaaand now you know as much as I know.

What to make of this? First of all, whether this is true or not or whatever, I hope everything is OK with Jerry’s health. Beyond that, though, I really don’t know what to make of it. I’ll say that I’d be mighty surprised if Jerry left the booth quietly, or on anybody’s terms but Jerry’s — he’s been there over 30 years, after all — but what the hell do I know?

And that would be the end of the story, I think, if not for one other perhaps important (and at the very least intriguing) thing: the fact that it was announced earlier this summer that Dan Shulman will step away from ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball franchise following this season.

Now, one thing doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the other, but it sure is curious.

Back in July, Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated reported that Shulman “is getting remarried next year and wanted a schedule to better fit being at home more in Toronto.” He added that, without Sunday night baseball, “he’ll probably be down to about 60 dates per year for ESPN,” including the MLB postseason for ESPN Radio, college basketball, and a “limited number of weeknight MLB television games for ESPN.”

I don’t know how frequently Shulman is away from home under the setup he’s walking away from, so speculating about him potentially taking on more duties with the Jays doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Uh… but let’s do it anyway! So he’s doing about 60 days for ESPN. Add in 81 Jays road games, plus off days, travel days, a Montréal series, and maybe a bit of spring training, and that’s… a hell of a lot of time away from home! But it would also make for more than a full six months per year in Toronto. And if he had it in his contract with Sportsnet to only do, say, 60 road games — or even fewer — then maybe it gets even more palatable.

Orrrrrr maybe that’s far more work than he was already doing and precisely the thing he wouldn’t want to do. But if people are whispering about Jerry’s future — and specifically whispering as though his tenure may not end with a proper send-off (and therefore perhaps soon and not on his terms) — it’s not very difficult to see Shulman’s recent arrival back in Toronto for all but 60 days of the year and to do the math from there.

Pure speculation, all of this! Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t the fuckiest fogging idea. Maybe this is all absolutely nothing. I’m definitely not saying that it is something. But perhaps we’ve got here another layer of off-season intrigue. I guess we shall see…