Paul O’Neill will be back in the booth with his fellow broadcasters.
The YES Network analyst has been calling games remotely since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. O’Neill had not been vaccinated as of last August and at that point, the YES Network’s mandates would not allow him to work in the booth.
But O’Neill will return this season, according to Newsday, though it remains unclear whether YES’s mandate changed or if O’Neill got vaccinated.
“This situation will find itself through and I’m sure Paul will find himself back in the booth at some point.” YES’s president of programming and production, John Filippelli, told The Post’s Andrew Marchand last season of the unusual situation.
“It is certainly not ideal, but we have managed to figure it out and work through it. I don’t think we have suffered at all, I really don’t. Have there been some hiccups? Do I think it is ideal if it keeps going? No, I don’t, but I do think we have managed to make it work and I think our fans have accepted it.”
O’Neill’s return comes with YES Network in a bit of a transition when it comes to its rotating group of analysts. Cameron Maybin and Carlos Beltran, both of whom were added last season by YES, will not be back.
YES opted not to bring Maybin back, while Beltran recently joined the Mets front office. Marchand reported YES had interest in two Yankees legends, Derek Jeter and Don Mattingly. However, Jeter is now joining Fox Sports as an analyst and Mattingly was hired as the Blue Jays’ bench coach.
O’Neill, 59, was honored by the Yankees and had his No. 21 retired by the franchise last August
“There’s so many dreams in life that don’t always come true. That’s why I’m really celebrating this day, because this is the biggest dream that I’ve ever had in my life,” O’Neill said at the time.