Jose Fernandez admits to pitching through soreness before needing Tommy John surgery - MLB

Marlins ace Jose Fernandez just told Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald that he experienced elbow soreness in his second-to-last start, but continued to pitch through it and then made one more start before being shut down on the way to season-ending Tommy John surgery.

The 21-year-old right-hander explained that he did so “because we were in first place” and then added:

Health and all that stuff comes first for some people. For me, my team comes first. That’s who I am. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing but this is my team and I give my life to my team. That was the right call.

Of course, now he’s unavailable to his team for the remainder of this season and likely part of next season. And he’s put his future in some doubt as well. Who knows if immediately leaving the second-to-last start when he felt a “pinch” would have changed the end result for Fernandez, but trying to pitch through the discomfort certainly didn’t help anything and didn’t do the Marlins any favors either.

Oh well.

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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.