Red Sox skipping struggling John Lackey's turn in the rotation - MLB

Yesterday’s rainout forced the Red Sox to juggle their rotation and they’ve decided to skip John Lackey’s turn altogether rather than push everyone else back.

So now Lackey, who was the scheduled starter for the rained out game, will make his next start Tuesday against the A’s in Oakland.

Lackey has a 15.58 ERA through two starts, allowing 15 runs on 17 hits in 8.2 innings, and the Red Sox opted to skip him rather than the similarly struggling Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Lackey is making $15.25 million this season and is owed another $15.25 million in 2012, 2013, and 2014, so the Red Sox have little choice but to be patient with the 31-year-old right-hander. He has a 4.83 ERA through 35 starts with the Red Sox, allowing opponents to bat .283 with a .795 OPS after limiting opponents to a .263 batting average and .720 OPS in eight years with the Angels.

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.

Red Sox skipping struggling John Lackey’s turn in the rotation

Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN on opening day