The Brewers made a run at David Price in July

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that the Brewers attempted to trade with the Rays to acquire ace David Price, but talks broke down because they were unwilling to part with pitcher Jimmy Nelson. Price, of course, wound up being traded to the Tigers in a three-team trade that also involved the Mariners.

Since joining the Tigers, Price has posted a 4.41 ERA with a 35/7 K/BB ratio in 32 2/3 innings across five starts. In his last start, Price failed to record an out in the third inning after the Yankees strung together nine consecutive hits.

Nelson, 25, made a spot start for the Brewers in late May, then joined the rotation in mid-July, just ahead of the All-Star break. In nine starts, Nelson has a 4.10 ERA with a 45/15 K/BB ratio in 52 2/3 innings. The right-hander was rated a top-100 overall prospect entering the season by both MLB.com and Baseball America, according to Baseball Reference.

The Brewers entered Sunday’s action clinging to a one-game lead over the Cardinals in the NL Central.

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.