When Joey Votto stepped into the broadcast booth for the Cincinnati Reds while he was on the injured list in 2022 many felt that it hinted at a potential job he could land after his playing career was over. He was quick-witted, funny, and obviously knew what he was watching on the field and was able to articulate that well. The time has come where that’s going to happen. Votto officially retired in 2024 after attempting to make the Toronto Blue Jays club, but suffered an injury in spring training and never quite recovered. He took off the 2025 season and seemed to enjoy his retirement, but reports today from Front Office Sports say he’s joining NBC Sports in 2026 to be a part of their coverage.
NBC is taking over Sunday Night Baseball and they will also broadcast the wild card round of the MLB playoffs. They are filling out their lineup of broadcasters and analysts and Votto is one of several big name players who recently retired who are joining their crew. Anthony Rizzo and Clayton Kershaw are also expected to be a part of the NBC Sports lineup.
Rizzo is going to be the lead studio analyst for NBC. Kershaw is going to have a limited schedule where he will also be a studio analyst for certain games. Votto’s role wasn’t as specific in the reporting by Front Office Sports, but the expectation is that he will also be a studio analyst.
NBC has Sunday Night Baseball, Sunday leadoff (early and exclusive Sunday games during the season), the wild card round in the playoffs, and “special event” games for 2026, 2027, and 2028. They will also carry a “game of the day” during the regular season on Peacock, which will be available to subscribers outside of the two team’s market.
The deals with Rizzo, Kershaw, and Votto do not specify how long they are, nor for how much. That must be a nice change of pace for guys who have had their salary known by anyone who wanted to know for the last 20 years.
Votto I think will do really well with this. Sounds like a good group of former players starting off for their broadcast crew.
Excellent! He will do a nice job.
I got excited when I read the headline, thought he would step in the booth for the Reds. Good for Joey anyway.
“thought he would step in the booth for the Reds.”
I would think he might have a bad taste in his mouth about the way the Reds treated him at the end. Probably should have given him a minor league contract to possibly have a chance at proving himself. The same as Toronto gave him.
+1000000, mELVIN.
The incorrect use of upper case letters in Melvin’s name was the unintended consequence of cold fingers and not enough coffee.
No, I kind of doubt that. The Reds made Joey a very rich man. I think he should have realized that he was done after his contract ran out with the Reds. Same human being, but his baseball skills had pretty much decayed. Father Time catches up with all of us….sooner or later.
I do wish the Reds would have (and could still have) a Joey Votto Day at the Stadium. Phil Castellini is always looking for promotions to fill the stadium, and that would do it. I would go to that myself.
I hope you’re right, David. It seems very possible to me that, regardless of how much money people have, they are still subject to human emotions. It would be hard to characterize Joey’s treatment by the Reds as anything other than a snub.
Greenmtred, my brother who lives in the Berkshire’s sent me a pic of him shoveling his ground level deck and his head reaches the roofline. Bit brisk, too. Not so much here in the PNW, just one atmospheric river after another.
Brisk here, too, DaveCT. Been colder, but -12 air temp last night and only 1 above this afternoon. Wind chills probably -25 or so earlier this morning. My dog–usually a hardy soul–wasn’t interested in tormenting the unidentified animal who lives under the barn.
I would love Joey to take over for Larkin. Votto would add more to the product.
It’s really a shame that the Reds are currently run by a classless and clueless family who don’t “get it”.
It was an easy lay-up to come up with some kind of plan to take care of Votto and give him the eventual send-off he deserved. I mean, it’s not like he’s one of the all-time greatest Reds or anything.
That is, it was an easy lay-up if the Castellinis cared about anything other than “aligning resources to paytoll”.
“The incorrect use of upper case letters in Melvin’s name was the unintended consequence of cold fingers and not enough coffee.”
I was offended big time greenmtred. 🙂
Joey will be in the Red’s booth eventually. And I think the Reds will add offense before the season starts when the asking price has dropped to fit their budget. A veteran hitter is needed to fill out the cleanup core with Elly and Marte.
Sounds like Suarez for $15 million to be the DH.
It might be interesting to see Rizzo ask Votto about throwing balls on the roof of Wrigley. I for one… hope Votto does NOT behave himself. I can dream of a Sean Casey Joey Votto broadcast team someday in the future though…throw in Todd Frazier…
That would be some good TV, if a little white bread for my taste. Now, if we could. Get Brandon Phillips into the mix, we’d be talking. Dat Dude would add just enough irreverence and balance out Joey.
Now you are really cookin!
Or baking.
Add a touch of Bronson Arroyo and we’re set.
Wonder if the Reds offered him a front office job, ala Eric Davis and Larkin?
I have long thought Votto & The Cowboy would make the strangest, most wonderful broadcasting team in baseball. Doubt it ever happens. The Cowboy is outstanding at play by play and color. And Votto would be insane at color. But the mix – oh buddy! What a weirdly wonderful mix.
=10000000, Tom.
Hope he is not paired up with another former player. His time in the booth with Larkin was not good. They continued to try to one-up each other in game knowledge as well as their own skills. He would probably be better where he doesn’t feel the need to compete.
I liked what Votto offered on color, but not when he tried some play by play.
Larkin was actually engaged in good baseball talk with the 3 man booth. Teejay Antone was also very good in the booth.
=10000000, VaRedsFan.
Happy for Joey. That’s a good opportunity and one I think he will excel in. I’ve always found him to be intelligent and funny when speaking in the media.
I think he’ll be great. Maybe not on day 1 because I’m sure it takes practice, like anything else. But he’s so interesting and insightful, I’m super excited to hear him do it.
I think Votto should be outstanding in this role.
While we are talking game telecasts, there was a flurry of media activity Friday concerning the fate of FanDuel Sports Network, aka MainStreet Sports. In short, it appears that MainStreet may be forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidation within several weeks. Recall that 9 MLB teams, including the Reds, remained as prior Fanduel clients and are now waiting out this situation.
If MainStreet folds, the 9 MLB teams will have their game telecasts produced by MLB unless they make arrangements with another producer/ distributor. In either event, the Reds games should still be available via both “cable” and direct streaming, with some games perhaps also broadcast over the air.
The better news on the baseball side is that the resolution of this ongoing situation will allow the Reds to lock in their player salary budget.
Not that he was necessarily the answer to the Reds issues, but Austin Hays is signing with the White Sox. So, here’s another Krall we tried tale.
None of the remaining free agents, including Geno, will help all that much. Regardless, I think the Reds are done. I thought when they traded Lux, they would at least add another bat. What a disappointing offseason.
Elly and Geno could give the Reds two players that both strike out 200+ times I guess I’d settle for Geno but at this point I’d rather see a trade. Boston, NYY, and Toronto all seem to have some surplus OF’ers and looking for pitching. But, Krall is incapable of making a deal if it requires trading prospects. And he won’t part with, in all likelihood, until the trade deadline, and then only depending on where the Reds stand and what injuries have accumulated. Bottom line, the Reds are unlikely to sneak into the playoffs this year. The folks here touting their pitching and defense, are ignoring the fact that the Reds can’t hit and were shutout innumerable times last season. Losing 1-0 three games in a row puts the lie to the pitching/defense saga.
Doesn’t it depend on which Suarez shows up? If it’s the guy who has crushed the ball everywhere except for Seattle in the last few years he would help a whole lot.
@Brian, if the 2018 Geno showed up, then sign him up. After that, though he had a couple of big HR years, his BA went down and his SO’s went up. Since I don’t subscribe to the theory that BA is meaningless and that HR/SO is the modern game, I’ll pass.
Hays signing elsewhere amounts to at least the Reds being saved from themselves. It might also be an indication that the Reds are focused and perhaps tentatively committed elsewhere, pending the TV revenue amount being settled at a favorable level for that deal.
Rather optimistic? Who are you thinking?
Andujar or Eugenio
Jim. Isn’t it also quite possible the Reds will sign neither and are in fact done with their off season additions?
More disappointing to me is Arraez being gone now. Probably wouldn’t have paid him either though. He got $12 M for one year.
I’m personally glad Hays is off the table. To me he’s not good enough to block the young guys which is what he was doing last year. Near the end of 2025 Tito pretty much said Hinds was hitting much better including BA but he needed to play every day and that wasn’t available. Hope he has the same thoughts this year.
I think Joey Votto has Tony Romo potential in the booth. Both are super smart and huge fans of the game.