Your daily dose of “A-Rod can never play again” hysteria

By Jan 30, 2013, 6:32 AM EST
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Lots of people spent time yesterday declaring that, despite the fact lots of players have had PED suspensions and have come back to play, A-Rod simply can’t possibly do that. Because he’s A-Rod and that makes things different somehow.

But no one forced that meme more audaciously than ESPN’s Darren Rovell:

 

Yup: The Yankees, A-Rod and an actual doctor should commit insurance fraud. Because A-Rod can’t possibly play again because of … reasons.

At some point people will get a grip. It may not be for a while, but they will eventually have to get a grip.

Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN on opening day

Associated PressMar 23, 2023, 12:09 AM EDT
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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.