Miller-Morgan Move: Maybe Meaningful

After 21 years working together and with their contracts expiring, Jon Miller and Joe Morgan were dropped from the broadcast booth for "Sunday Night Baseball" on ESPN.

The all-sports network announced the long-rumored move Monday, but no replacements were named. Apparently, Miller might continue to work with ESPN Radio, but Morgan will not return in any capacity.

Keeping Miller on radio would be nice. He's one of the few remaining "voices" of the sport, which has a rich tradition on radio, and he remains sharp. He was just named to the Baseball Hall of Fame as the 2010 Ford C. Frick Award recipient this summer. He also serves as the voice of the San Francisco Giants. For years before that, he was the voice of the Baltimore Orioles.

Morgan, often criticized as too talkative, should land somewhere. The former Cincinnati Reds second baseman was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990 and he has plenty of knowledge to share.

Where ESPN turns next might be the most meaningful part of the move. And it could be a big move, because "Sunday Night Baseball" production personnel might be involved in the shakeup as well.

By dumping the Miller-Morgan tandem, which might not necessarily have run its course but could logically be due for a change after two-plus decades, ESPN has a chance to reshape its baseball broadcasts. How and why provide the challenges, though.

Most baseball broadcasts have remain relatively unchanged for the past 30 years. More technology has come along (including the ability to supposedly chart the strike zone) and networks have tried in-game interviews with managers and players, but broadcasts maintain the same core DNA as their predecessors from the 1970s.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, because the game itself has not changed all that much and because baseball, more than almost any other sport, values tradition.

Still, there are some (both in baseball and in the media or with TV partners) who have lobbied for some change in recent years and this might be ESPN's opportunity to reshape how it broadcasts baseball.

No changes are going to suddenly attract millions more viewers to "Sunday Night Baseball" or to baseball in general. In fact, with so much baseball on TV, it's always hard to separate what's important from what's mundane. But if ESPN wants to alter its approach a bit for the prime-time broadcast, or reshape things this would be the time to implement those changes.

If it does try something different, it would make the Miller-Morgan move more meaningful. If not, it's just a little move to put different people behind the wheel of the same vehicle.