The Indians ship Danny Salazar to Columbus

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Danny Salazar debuted with the Indians last year and made quite an impression, posting a 3.12 ERA in ten starts. This after some promising numbers as he rose through the minor leagues. This year, however, he has been awful, going 1-4 with a 5.53 ERA, walking more batters than he walked last year and allowing way more hits.

That was enough for the Indians: they just optioned him to Triple-A Columbus. To replace him on the roster they called up left Kyle Crockett from Double-A Akron.

Assuming Salazar figures it out in the minors, he’ll be back soon. He’s way too important to the Indians future not to be.

Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN on opening day

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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.