The Yankees’ newest announcer is already catching some flak.
WFAN’s Boomer Esiason didn’t hold back after Dave Sims elected to skip the Yankees’ series against the A’s, fewer than 40 games into his tenure as the radio station’s play-by-play announcer for the team.
“I’ve worked with Dave, great guy,” Esiason said on the “Boomer and Gio” show Monday morning. “We love Dave Sims, but I’m gonna call it out as I see it. You just got started as the Yankee announcer, and he’s 40 games into his career as the Yankee announcer, and he decided to take off.”
Esiason did preface his criticisms by saying, “Unless there’s something major going on that I don’t know about, then I’ll gladly retract the criticism.”
But Sims’ situation didn’t warrant much empathy from Esiason.
With the Yankees scheduled in Seattle for three games following the A’s series, Sims, who worked on the Mariners’ broadcast team for 18 years, elected to take the A’s series off and head to Seattle a few days earlier to spend time with family.
“I may be a New Yorker through and through, but coming back to Seattle also feels like coming home,” Sims wrote. “I’ll be skipping the A’s series to have a few extra days here to spend with family & friends. Grateful.”
The show acknowledged Sims’ post and the fact that it was Mother’s Day weekend, but Esiason still rebutted.
“I mean, there’s plenty of time in the offseason to be spending with family and friends,” he said. “I mean all those players have moms, coaches have moms.”
Sims took over the play-by-play role ahead of this season after John Sterling retired, 36 years after taking the role.
“What are you doing? You just took the Yankee job! It’s supposed to be the job of your life,” Esiason said. “If he had been here as long as John Sterling had been here — if John wanted to take a weekend off later on in his career, totally acceptable.”
Ultimately, Esiason understood Sims’ side, but still felt as though he was a bit early into his tenure to be taking time off.
“I just found it very interesting that 40 games in, we’re already taking the weekend off,” Esiason said. “I’m sorry, but that’s just my stance.”