Kendrys Morales has been shut down - MLB

Kendrys Morales hasn’t been right all spring, as he continues to struggle back from the broken leg that cost him the bulk of 2010. Now Mike DiGiovanna reports that the Angels have shut him down due to soreness on the ball of his left foot. He’s back to Los Angeles, where he saw a doctor yesterday.

It’s been a nightmare spring for the Angels. Morales can’t play, Scott Kazmir has shown no indication that he’s returning to form and Joel Piniero has been hurt. I’m getting ready to start the previews for the AL West teams soon, and I gotta tell ya, the Angels don’t figure to rate terribly high.

On the bright side, just this morning, I bet Tiffany a dinner out in New York city next fall that the Angels wouldn’t win the AL West, so this is sort of good news for me.

Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN when the defending World Series champion Houston Astros host the Chicago White Sox on opening day.

Clemens made four appearances on last year’s KayRod Cast with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. He will be stepping in on March 30 for David Cone, who will be doing the New York Yankees opener against the San Francisco Giants on YES Network.

“Roger has been sort of a friend of ours for the last year, so to speak, he’s in. He’s been engaged, knowledgeable and really present,” said ESPN Vice President of Production Phil Orlins. “You know, whatever past may be, he’s still tremendously engaged and he really brought that every time he was with us.”

Clemens was a seven-time Cy Young winner but his career after baseball has been tainted by allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. He is a Houston native and pitched for the Astros for three seasons.

Orlins said that with the rules changes and pitch clock, it is important to have a pitcher in the booth with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“We don’t feel like we have to have the dynamic of Eduardo with a pitcher, but we certainly think that works. Throw in the added factor of rule changes and it is better to have a batter-pitcher perspective,” Orlins said.

Orlins did not say if this would open the door for future opportunities for Clemens as an ESPN analyst.