Jake Arrieta will not opt-out of his contract - MLB

Jake Arrieta inked a three-year, $75 million deal when he signed with the Phillies before the 2018 season. It contained an opt-out after the first two years. You will not be at all shocked to learn that, per Jon Heyman’s report today, Arrieta will not be opting out of the final year of his contract.

Under the deal he stands to make $20 million in 2020, after making $30 million in 2018 and $25 million in 2019. After a year in which posted an ERA of 4.64 in 135.2 innings over 24 starts, missing time due to bone spur surgery there was no way he was going to get more than $20 million as a free agent, so he’s probably wise to stick with the bird in the hand.

Arrieta is expected to be good to go for spring training next February.

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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.