Daily Report – 3/24/25

Here is today’s report and weekend recap:

Yankees

Because they are out of Minor League options, Oswald Peraza and Yoendrys Gómez will likely fill some of the voids on the Yankees roster. According to Chris Kirschner, there is a good chance Peraza will end up with another club by Thursday. Perhaps something similar will happen to Gómez.

The Yankees announced on Saturday that JC Escarra will back up Austin Wells at the catcher position this season. He used to drive Ubers to support his family, and now he’s in the Big Leagues. My friend Cody Charneski and his team got some great footage of Boone telling Escarra he made the team. Escarra had no idea he was being watched by cameras.

Also, I reported earlier today that the Yankees signed lefty Ryan Yarbrough to their bullpen. This is a crucial addition for the Yankees.

I will not report full roster details yet because the Yankees are still fielding calls for Oswald Peraza and others. I will provide full roster information ahead of Opening Day.

Meanwhile, today in Port St. Lucie, the Yankees played the Mets, and before the game, Aaron Boone exchanged words and a hug with Juan Soto. “I told him he looks terrible in that uniform,” said Boone. SNY released a recording in which Soto congratulates Boone on something, likely his contract extension.

I wanted to add one thing: I was watching the documentary “The Pursuit,” which the Mets produced about their process of requiring Juan Soto, and Brandon Nimmo mentioned that he had texted Juan Soto during his decision-making process to inform him that the Mets look to be a winning team for many years to come. When he signed with the Mets, Soto mentioned a key factor in his decision was that he believed the Mets would be a winning club for a long time, and for longer than the Yankees. That’s what he said, but perhaps not what he really believed (he either wanted the most money or simply wanted to be a Met).

But what’s more intriguing is that Soto changed his number during the offseason, and none of the Yankees players, coaches, or staff had his new contact information. However, Brandon Nimmo did. And Nimmo said that Soto responded to him, thanking him for reaching out. Isn’t that interesting?

Rangers

This weekend was special for the Rangers as the organization honored their legendary play-by-play announcer, Sam Rosen, before Saturday’s game against Vancover. Rosen has been the voice of the Rangers for 40 years, and he plans to retire at the end of this season.

The Rangers honored Rosen with a special on-ice pregame ceremony, MC’d by current broadcast partner Joe Micheletti, with some cameo appearances by former broadcast partners John Davidson and Phil Esposito.

“I’m trying to drag this team into the playoffs with me,” Rosen told the media before Saturday’s game. “I walk around the locker room at practice giving them encouragement, ‘Come on guys! You can do it!’ They’re not listening to me.” Rosen told Henrik Lundqvist on his Club 30 podcast that he wants to retire while he is still at the top of his game. He wouldn’t want to be remembered any other way.

Rosen’s retirement comes at a time when New York City recently lost two of its most memorable MSG Networks broadcasters, Greg Gumbel and Al Trautwig, both of whom Rosen had the honor of working with.

As they were on their feet at the Garden on Saturday afternoon, Sam Rosen took in the atmosphere as the Garden faithful chanted his name. When he approached the glass podium to speak, he said, “I’m the little kid from Brooklyn, and here I am being honored by you and Madison Square Garden and by the New York Rangers. I have truly lived the dream.” His personality lit up the Garden as the entire crowd listened to him carefully. There was a tear in his wife Jill’s eye.

The Rangers gifted Rosen a custom jersey signed by the entire team, featuring the number 40 stitched into the sleeves and back, with words spelling “ROSEN” carefully placed above the letters. Phil Esposito and John Davidson gifted Rosen a gold microphone with a Rangers logo on it.

All season long, Rosen has embarked on an all-inclusive NHL stadium tour across the US and Canada. Teams around the league have honored him with gifts and video board presentations. “The last road trip I sat, and I thought about every city in the league and I realized that in every city I have people that I know very well, care about, and care about me,” said Rosen.

Before the game, MSG Networks also honored Rosen. Rangers studio anchor John Giannone said, “What an honor it is to share this day with a man whose voice and face and excellence has graced our world for the last 40 years.” When Saturday’s game began, MSG displayed a multi-layer video graphic with flashbacks of Rosen’s best calls set in an evolving timeline of televisions.

Current and former Rangers, including Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Mark Messier, and Adam Graves also offered words of thanks to Rosen with a video framed around his famous call, “It’s a power play goal!”.

MSG Networks also featured Rosen in interviews with John Giannone, Joe Micheletti, and John Davidson. In his conversation with Davidson, Rosen recalled how in 1994, they were anchoring the Rangers’ Stanley Cup parade from the MSG studio, and two police officers entered the studio and escorted them to the parade. “All I know is they said, ‘You guys are coming with us,’” Rosen reminisced, adding that Davidson nearly forgot his suitcase! The police car sped down the Canyon of Heroes with its lights flashing while Sam and JD jolted around in the back seat.!

“And all of a sudden, we’re down there, and I look, and all [I saw] was people. Faces. That’s all there was,” said Davidson. What a spectacular memory.

Rosen is most famous for his call, “It’s a power play goal!” He came up with the tone for the call while working as a public announcer for the New York Cosmos. His other famous call: “The waiting is over! The New York Rangers are the Stanley Cup champions! And this one will last a lifetime!” I only wish it could last less than a lifetime.

A special Sam Rosen call for me came in 2022 when Artemi Panarin walked it off for the Rangers in overtime on Garden ice, on the power play, in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs against Pittsburgh. “He shoots, he scores! He scores! Rangers! Rangers! Rangers WIN! At 4:46 of overtime, Artemi Panarin! It’s a power play goal! And the Rangers WIN!”

“Just to know the people in different cities, announcers, players, players who played here, players who knew me from doing national games, it was really good to get that feeling that you’ve built up great relationships throughout the years. Very special,” Rosen said.

Congratulations, Sam! We salute you.

Knicks

I will dive deeper into the Knicks in tomorrow’s report. On Saturday night, they beat Washington 103-122. Despite leading by 33 points at one point in this game, Washington crept to within four. The Knicks miss Jalen Brunson dearly, but he is within two weeks of returning, per Alan Hahn on MSG Networks.

Washington had a biggest lead of two points while the Knicks led by as many as 33 points. The score was tied once with one lead change and a longest run for 15.

That will conclude this report. Enjoy your evening!