Red Sox sign Ryan Roberts - MLB

In the wake of Will Middlebrooks’ calf injury the Red Sox have signed Ryan Roberts to help fill in at third base, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

Roberts was released by the Cubs at the end of spring training and hasn’t topped a .700 OPS since 2011 with the Diamondbacks, hitting .247 with five homers in limited action for the Rays last season at age 32.

He does offer plenty of positional versatility defensively and figures to see most of his action against left-handed pitching, off whom he’s hit .266 with 21 homers and a .785 OPS in 601 career plate appearances.

(Roberts also significantly increases the Red Sox’s average tattoo count, which is always a huge factor in any pennant race.)

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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.