Allen Craig to remain in walking boot for another week - MLB

The Cardinals ruled out a left foot fracture for Allen Craig last week, but he’s still a little while away from returning to the starting lineup.

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said that Craig was re-evaluated earlier today and will remain in a walking boot for another week. It was described as a precautionary measure more than anything else, as doctors don’t want him to push it and aggravate the injury.

“Obviously he got re-evaluated today. You may actually see him in a boot. There’s nothing for alarm. They just feel like he’s still at a volatile stage in the sense that as he’s improving they don’t want him to have a setback by being in a tennis shoe or running shoe. So for the next week or so he’ll be in this soft boot. Everything is positive. When this injury occurred we did not know when to expect him back. We still don’t know exactly. But we’re optimistic that he’ll play this year.”

Craig has thrived as the Cardinals’ primary cleanup hitter this season, batting .315/.373/.457 with 13 home runs and 97 RBI in 134 games. He is missed right now, though St. Louis is fortunate to have Matt Adams as a fill-in option at first base.

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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.