Roger Clemens is part of the plans this year for Major League Baseball’s Opening Day on ESPN. Will he be involved more than that? The network’s VP of production doesn’t quite know yet.
“TBD. Not going to speculate,” Phil Orlins said on a conference call with the media. “Roger has been sort of a friend of ours for the last — well, at least the last year, so to speak.”
Orlins noted that the legendary pitcher made multiple appearances last season’s on the network’s KayRod Cast. He was impressed by how much Clemens wants to focus on the modern game in his appearances.
While Clemens will be on the opening night broadcast, Orlins reaffirmed the network’s commitment to David Cone as its top analyst. This year, Cone is contractually obligated to be on the YES Network on Opening Day. That creates a hole next to Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.
“We just thought under the circumstances, then — we don’t feel like we have to have the dynamic of Eduardo with the pitcher, but we certainly think that works,” Orlins said. “Then throw in the added factor of rule changes and things of that nature, so much the better to have a pitcher’s perspective on that batter/pitcher dynamic under the pitch clock.”
