The MLB hot stove market for TV game/studio analysts is heating up this offseason as new billion-dollar media-rights partners start recruiting talent.

New MLB partners NBC Sports and Netflix will be bidding for new and current talents against incumbents ESPN, TBS, MLB Network, and Apple.

A surging MLB will enter the new season with more business momentum than in recent years. Similar to last year’s NBA gold rush, when new rights partners NBC and Amazon Prime Video grabbed dozens of talents, most hires will probably be newly retired MLB stars who provide a fresh-off-the-field perspective. 

But there will also be other TV free agents seeking greener pastures. And those with expiring contracts who see this offseason as the best window in decades to seek opportunities.  

“Suddenly, it’s a great time to be a baseball talent,” one TV executive tells Front Office Sports. “Those NBA guys made out like bandits last season.”

Here are 12 names to keep an eye on as MLB’s rights partners fill their TV benches before Opening Day on March 25, 2026:

Clayton Kershaw: The newly retired Dodgers superstar looks like the overall No. 1 pick on the TV board. Coming off his third World Series championship, the three-time Cy Young Award winner raised eyebrows by declining a job in the front office to spend more time with his family. (He and his wife are expecting their fifth child). Kershaw could give viewers insight into the current Dodgers dynasty as well as Shohei Ohtani—the modern-day Babe Ruth. But several sources believe he wants to step away from the game, much like Derek Jeter did after his retirement. “He’d be great. He’s done a lot of work being mic’d up and had fun on Dodgers and national telecasts,” said one TV executive. “The question now is: Does he want to go right back into it?”

Anthony Rizzo: His outgoing personality makes him perfect for TV. The 36-year-old’s experience with the Yankees and Cubs makes him a fan favorite with TV viewers in New York and Chicago, the country’s first- and third-largest TV markets. The 2016 World Series champion with the Cubs can dissect the pressure of playing on the biggest stage. The veteran first baseman dipped his toe into the water as a pregame studio analyst with TBS this season. “Rizz played the New York media better than anybody—and that’s not easy,” says a source. “He always had a smile on his face.” But another TV executive wasn’t so optimistic. “Rizzo wants in. But he’d need to put in the work—and open up more.”

Todd Frazier: This Jersey guy, nicknamed “The Toddfather,” comes off like a regular Joe talking baseball over a beer. The 39-year-old pride of Rutgers University made his bones calling a wild-card playoff game for ESPN this fall. Frazier, a Home Run Derby winner, returned to his roots to call the Little League World Series for the four letters. The former Reds, Yankees, and Mets slugger also pinch-hit for YES Network’s studio coverage of the Yankees.

Foul Territory: The digital MLB show is hosted by Scott Braun with rotating former players, including Todd Frazier, A.J. Pierzynski, Erik Kratz, Cameron Maybin, Trevor May, Jason Kipnis, and Jonathan Papelbon, along with insider Ken Rosenthal, former GM Jim Bowden, and former manager Buck Showalter. The show has lively discussions, and it also gets big-name interviews and makes news out of them. In a world where Netflix is adding sports podcasts and NBC has relaunched NBC Sports Network with some talk content during weekdays, this program is worth considering. 

Ozzie Guillén: If there’s a baseball version of Charles Barkley, it’s Guillén. The former White Sox shortstop who won a World Series as manager of the team in 2005 is a great studio analyst for White Sox games on CHSN, mixing a combination of humor and sharp analysis. 

Evan Longoria: The former Rookie of the Year played in two World Series with the Rays. The telegenic 40-year-old “Longo” also drew endorsement deals with Gillette and New Era hats. Yes, his bare-handed catch that went viral for Gillette was staged. No, he’s not related to Eva Longoria.

Nick Swisher: Swisher, who was previously an analyst for Fox Sports, is a gregarious storyteller with the added benefit of having been an All-Star and World Series champion with the Yankees. 

David Ross: Ross won World Series championships with the Cubs and White Sox in a catching career that spanned from 2002 to 2016. He later became the Cubs manager. He has an endearing personality and a wealth of baseball knowledge. 

Joe Maddon: If Maddon doesn’t return to the bench as a manager, the 2016 Cubs World Series champion skipper could be an excellent analyst on games or in the studio. He already hosts a podcast, The Book of Joe, alongside veteran MLB reporter Tom Verducci. 

Doug Glanville: His analytical style positions him for bigger things at ESPN—or elsewhere. The 55-year-old joined ESPN in 2010 for a seven-year run before returning in 2019. He’s a published author and part-time professor. How many baseball analysts can boast they graduated from Penn with an engineering degree?

David Samson: Networks have been hiring front office insiders to help break down the business minutiae of their leagues—for instance, NBC recently hired former Hawks exec Grant Liffmann. The former Marlins president who hosts Nothing Personal on Meadowlark Media would be primed for a studio role. 

Hunter Pence: The two-time World Series champion with the Giants joined ESPN’s studio coverage during the wild-card playoffs this year. The 42-year-old boasts the type of quirky personality TV producers love.

Even those who have been critical of Jake Paul’s boxing career are willing to give him his flowers for taking a big risk in fighting former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Netflix on Dec. 19 in Miami. 

Among those is Mike Coppinger, the boxing insider for Ring Magazine and cohost of Inside the Ring on DAZN. 

“It’s really an incredible leap in opposition,” Coppinger told Front Office Sports. He said that while it’s normal for “essentially a novice boxer” like Paul to fight “easy opposition” on the way up, Paul had been doing it in high-profile events. 

“The difference is that Jake Paul was doing it in pay-per-view main events,” Coppinger said. “So, to me, it felt like a few fights ago, he needed to kind of start fighting real opposition and stop with the former UFC fighters or exhibitions like against 58-year-old Mike Tyson. That wasn’t called an exhibition, but it might as well have been.”

Paul had been slated to fight Gervonta Davis, who weighs just 135–140 pounds, before Davis was accused of domestic violence in a civil lawsuit filed by his former girlfriend. Joshua weighs about 100 pounds more—and he has about 100 million reasons to take this fight seriously.

“My understanding is that Joshua has a two-fight deal that’s backed by the Saudis next year,” said Chris Mannix, a boxing reporter for Sports Illustrated and DAZN. One of these bouts would be a mega-fight against Tyson Fury. “I don’t know the exact terms, but given what he’s been paid in the past, that’s probably something that’s going to approach nine figures,” Mannix continued.

If Joshua has a lackluster showing against Paul, who has become one of the top draws in boxing but is not regarded as one of the greatest fighters, the intrigue for that mega-fight is out the door.

Joshua walloped former UFC fighter Francis Ngannou in a second-round knockout last year. 

“He’s a massive puncher,” Coppinger said of Joshua. “So there’s real danger here for Jake Paul. And the conventional wisdom is that he’s going to get knocked out, and probably violently, early on.”

In the latest odds on FanDuel, Paul is +680 while Joshua is -1200—and Joshua is -475 to win by knockout.

“I think the danger is that a guy that’s never been hit by someone like this gets Francis Ngannou’d in the first or second round and is never the same,” Mannix said.

So what’s the upside for Paul in even taking this fight?

“There’s a massive inherent risk for Jake Paul. So that’s why I’ve been giving him a lot of credit—I think you need to be consistent if you’re gonna be critical of the opposition,” Coppinger said. “I think Jake Paul might be looking at this as, Well, Joshua was knocked out last year in five rounds by Daniel Dubois. He’s been knocked out by Andy Ruiz. He doesn’t have the best chin, if there’s any real flaw in his game. Jake Paul could definitely punch, even for his level. I think he could punch. It’s a heavyweight fight. Anything can happen, but certainly it would be a massive shock if Joshua didn’t knock him out.”

Mannix argued that Paul doesn’t even necessarily need to win the fight to come out ahead. 

“The potential reward for losing, if this makes sense, the right way to Anthony Joshua is bigger than the potential reward [on if he had ended up fighting] Canelo [Álvarez],” Mannix said. “Imagine what happens if this fight gets to the fourth or fifth round—all of a sudden Jake Paul has ‘won.’ Anything that happens after that doesn’t matter. He got to the fourth or fifth round with the former unified heavyweight champion of the world. All the pressure going into this fight is on Anthony Joshua; he has got to blow through Jake Paul the same way he did Ngannou. Every round that goes by, Anthony Joshua’s stock goes down and Jake Paul’s stock goes up.”

NEW YORK — After many months of anticipation, Major League Baseball has formally unveiled a set of short-term national media-rights deals to repackage programming forfeited by ESPN, as well as some content previously held by Roku.

Roughly three months after reaching agreements in principle, the league said Wednesday it has finalized new pacts with NBCUniversal and Netflix, and it reached a substantially reworked deal with ESPN. Among the specific pacts, each covering the 2026–28 seasons:

• NBC Sports: A showpiece of this pact is the Comcast-owned outlet picking up Sunday night primetime rights and ending a 35-year run of Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. There, NBC Sports will have a year-round showcase of live sports on the critical television night when also including existing pacts with the NFL and NBA. NBC Sports also picks up exclusive rights to the wild-card playoff round, which posted record viewership last month, as well as Sunday morning rights previously held by Roku, the first hour of the MLB draft, the MLB All-Star Futures Game, and select special-event games. When there are conflicts on Sunday nights with the other leagues, the MLB programming will air only on Peacock. That streaming service will also air one out-of-market MLB game every day of the season. The agreement is worth nearly $600 million over three years, Front Office Sports sources said. 
• Netflix: The dominant streamer gains rights to an opening-night game, which in 2026 will be the Yankees at the Giants, as well as the Home Run Derby, the 2026 Field of Dreams game involving the Twins and Phillies, and a special-event game in each of the subsequent two years. The agreement is worth an estimated $50 million per year, according to FOS sources, and builds upon a separate pact for rights in Japan to the 2026 World Baseball Classic. 
• ESPN: The substantially restructured agreement with the Disney-owned outlet calls for a 30-game national package that will air on ESPN’s linear networks, as well as the new ESPN direct-to-consumer service. ESPN retains rights to the MLB Little League Classic, and it gains rights to sell and distribute, through the ESPN app, local streaming rights to teams whose games are being produced and distributed by the league. The pact also gives ESPN rights to sell and distribute the MLB.TV out-of-market streaming service. The ESPN agreement, previously worth $550 million per year, is worth roughly the same figure in this new form, FOS sources confirmed. 

All told, MLB was able to surpass what ESPN was previously paying alone while also incorporating a pair of new partners. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit in September that such an outcome was happening. 

To do so, however, required folding the MLB.TV rights into the ESPN pact, as well as the access to local rights for the Diamondbacks, Guardians, Padres, Rockies, Twins, and most recently, the Mariners. Striking the new agreements also involved a period of initial acrimony between MLB and ESPN. 

The new deals, however, also arrive amid a rising tide of MLB viewership, with the league posting audience gains during the regular season and then every individual round of the postseason. 

“We think the combination of ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Netflix is a great win for us,” Manfred said Wednesday about the deals in the midst of MLB owners’ meetings here. “This expands our reach, increases our partnership revenue, and given the [ESPN] opt-out before, it was really important to continue that relationship with ESPN … and this brings in two great new partners.”

A consistent theme of each of the pacts, meanwhile, is to create more tentpole events within a 2,430-game league schedule that stretches over six months. 

The league’s existing deals with other rights holders such as Fox and TNT Sports, meanwhile, remain intact, and will also run through 2028—when Manfred intends to pursue a larger restructuring of the national and local media rights.