Yankees designate Eduardo Nunez for assignment - MLB

Eduardo Nunez, who not so long ago was viewed by many people as the Yankees’ heir apparent to Derek Jeter, has been designated for assignment.

Nunez was never actually a very good bet to become the Yankees’ long-term solution at shortstop, which some jerks liked to point out on the internet in 2011. Still, it’s somewhat surprising that New York is cutting bait completely considering he’s been a semi-regular as a utility man.

However, he can’t play defense well enough for shortstop and can’t hit well enough for third base, batting .267 with 10 homers and a .692 OPS in 827 career plate appearances through age 26. Yangervis Solarte is the Yankees’ new utility man with Brendan Ryan hurt and Nunez is likely headed to the waiver wire.

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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.