Angels sign catcher Chris Iannetta to three-year extension - MLB

Chris Iannetta’s contract included a $5 million mutual option for 2013, but the 29-year-old catcher and the Angels have torn that up and agreed to a new three-year, $15.5 million deal that runs through 2015.

Iannetta fell out of favor in Colorado and was traded to the Angels last November for Tyler Chatwood. He missed three months in the middle of the season with a fractured wrist, but played well after returning with a .258 batting average, six homers, and a .741 OPS in 53 second-half games.

His overall numbers weren’t great, but that was to be expected once Iannetta was no longer calling Coors Field home for half his games and a solid defensive catcher with a .338 on-base percentage and a little pop is definitely starting-caliber.

Iannetta sticking around for the next three seasons is bad news for 24-year-old prospect Hank Conger’s chances of ever being the Angels’ starting catcher and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the former first-round pick shopped this offseason.

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.