David Price not opting out of contract - MLB

I don’t think anyone seriously thought that David Price was going to opt-out of his contract and leave the Red Sox. The possibility existed, however, at least until a few minutes ago. That’s when Price told reporters assembled for the Sox’ World Series parade that he isn’t going anywhere.

Price is still owed $127 million for the next four years on the seven-year, $217 million deal he signed before the 2016 season. The remaining amount breaks down to an average of $31.75 million a season. Despite Price’s playoff performance and solid regular season play, no one was going to pay him that kind of money if he opted for free agency. And, for that matter, no one was going to give him more than $127 million over a longer term than four years at this point either.

Until recently there was a chance that Price making that kind of money in his age 33-36 seasons might’ve led to a lot of stress and heat in Boston, but now that he’s a World Series hero, I presume he’ll be cut a lot more slack by the often hostile media and fan base.

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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.