Twins promote Alex Meyer, send Byron Buxton down - MLB

Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports the Twins are promoting Alex Meyer.

Meyer used to be a starter than got switched to a relief role and now is starting again. Control has always been an issue for him but he throws hard. He pitched in two big league games last year and got clobbered. This year in Triple-A so far he’s pitched in three games, starting two, and has struck out 19 guys and only walked four in seventeen and a third innings. Perhaps he’s finally put it all together.

UPDATE: It wasn’t just a big name coming up. It was a big name going down: the Twins optioned Byron Buxton and Max Kepler to Triple-A Rochester as part of the Meyer recall. Buxton, one of the top prospects in all of baseball, has struggled mightily in the early going, with only seven hits in 45 at bats in 49 plate appearances this year. With his time up last year he’s hitting .195/.239/.316 in 187 major league plate appearances. That won’t cut it. He needs more time.

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.