610: Clemens' Decision on Next Year (decided but not announced)

Duh. What you are conveniently omitting is that signing Clemens precludes the Astros from adding a bat unless Drayton decides to spend some of that World Series cash that came in the door. It's a zero sum game. What you give Clemens, you take away from building a championship caliber offensive team. Of course, if Drayton decides to increase the budget, then we could do both. That's a big if.

You think we could have used a bat in the WS? In case you missed it, we didn't score in the last 15 innings.

 

Of course, what you're missing is that it's highly doubtful that Clemens will comeback unless he believes that something is done to address the offense. Basically, I believe that if Clemens wants to comeback, he will only do so if the offense is improved, and Drayton will do whatever it takes to have another season of Roger and his near-guarantee sell-outs.

And I know how happy that made you. You couldn't even enjoy the historic run made by our outstanding team. You instead spent your time b****ing that we didn't add Randy Winn or Larry Bigbie. By the way, please find one quote from me where I said we did not need a bat. Thanks in advance.

 

That's true of any team. Our salary was about 12th in the league, not much lower than the Cardinals who everyone says pays their players well.

 

He's done.

 

mr mooch.. why do you think Andy would leave?

Why would he have signed here if he wasn't gonig to retire here at home? If he was so loyal to NY he'd have stayed there .. I would think

or i hope..

 

Clemens actually brings in quite a bit of revenue for the team, so it's not at all a zero-sum game. Spending on Clemens costs less than spending an equal amount on another player.

As for adding a bat. Any bat that was ever being discussed was in LF. That would have put either Burke or Lamb on the bench (or in Burke's case, off the roster) - these were our 2nd and 3rd best hitters in the playoffs, both with OPSes over 0.900. It is unlikely that any added bat would have performed at that level, and most likely than not, it would have reduced the overall performance of the team. Unless you wanted to replace Ensberg during the season, of course.

 

Ahh...the Astros lose in the World Series and a certain someone pops out of oblivion to bash them.

 

I dont think Andy will leave. However, him leaving NY was more due to NY not trusting his elbow than Andy not wanting to be there.....and they were right...however, i dont think they could have ever imagined that he would come back to be as good as he was after the surgery. Lucky us!

 

If anything, it's the opposite. Why delay retiring? It's not like he can't have a press conference whenever he wants. He's Roger f'n Clemens, he can announce he's retiring at 4:26 a.m. and every member of the media will be there and we'll all be glued to our televisions. An announcement to come back would need to be delayed because he wants to be able to negotiate the highest possible price for himself from Drayton McLane.

You're a great poster cabbage and I respect your opinions, but I'm the complete opposite of you on this. Obviously I'm not a player either, but I still have that sour taste in my mouth, and I'm ready for next season to begin tonight... I'm ready for more baseball. I'm ready to prove we can make it one more step. His goal was to bring his hometown a world championship, and after coming so close, I don't think he's going to give up on a championship-caliber team. Especially with his competitive fire... can any of you seriously imagine him walking out on the game after a mediocre postseason and a 2-inning start in the World Series?

I also think the "can barely walk" is a little exaggerated too... in the interview last night on Fox (see the AD link), he said he was a little "hurt and sore" but certainly didn't make reference to anything that extreme. He was also ready and prepared to start Game 5 on his regular four days rest.

 

In case you missed it, we wouldn't have made the world series without Roger.

 

Agreed...I love the guy and what he did, but honestly, if he couldn't go, he wouldn't...Although, tons of money is hard to stay away from...

 

I guess I don't really have a rooting interest in this one way or the other... mainly because I know its Clemens decision, and he's given all he can to this ballclub in the last two years... thus, I wouldn't be too torn up if he decided to leave.

Also, I know that while it may seem bleak if he were to leave, and we couldn't get a capable replacement... I do know that the current "core" of young players we have are likely to be here for long enough to not make it a "world series" or bust type attitude that teams like the Cardinals had this year, and the Yankees have every year.

Also, I have faith in the farm system... namely, Jason Hirsch (a 6'9 righty who was dominant at AA this year), and Troy Patton (who will likely get promoted to AA sometime next year... and after that, he's only a phone call away from the big leagues).

 

you heard it here first

a 10 year contract worth 200 million

 

04's was our WS or bust year with so many veterans and soon-to-be free agents. This year was essentially billed as a rebuilding year of sorts with all the young guys on the roster. The fact that the team made it to the WS with these young guys makes the future of this club even brighter. You keep that young core of Oswalt, Lidge, Qualls, Burke, Willy, Backe, Berkman and Everett (pending his bat) and surround them w/ solid veterans like Pettite, Wheeler, Bidge, Palmeiro and Viz, then our future will continue to look bright. There are some key question marks (Clemens and Bagwell) but the situation definitely isn't as bleak as it was last year.

 

The job was not complete! We were 10 runs away from wining the World Series (we lost all four games by a total of six runs). As close as we got and as much as our bats seemed to be frozed in the WS, I would absolutely love another chance, hopefully Roger feels the same way.

 

I know we were so close to it all last year... but there's no guarantee that re-tooling, re-building, and expanding the payroll will get us back to the WS next year... or even the year after that.

A big payroll and roster depth puts you in a great position to MAKE the playoffs... but once you get there, you need to have clutch performances, no injuries, and a little luck to actually win series and get to the WS.

On paper, the Cardinals had much more depth, a better lineup, and good enough pitching to almost guarantee a World Series appearnce... they even beat us 11 out of the 16 regular season games. But, in the playoffs, a few bounces go our way, a few HR's find the seats, and all of a sudden we beat them 4 out of 6 games (and probably should have won 5 out of 6). Likewise, the Yankees had a number of opportunities to win their series against the Angels... but their best/highest paid player didn't show up at all. A guy can hit 50 HR's over 162 games... but it is possible to slump for 2 weeks and be virtually worthless come playoff time.

The best this team can do is hang on to the young guys, continue to look to add key role players (not neccesarily superstars) via free agency, and just hope that the dominos line up again like they did this year. The best part about this team is that the majority of the everyday guys are pretty young... and the farm system is not entirely depleted (and there could be a couple of GEMS in there).

 

Wow! My dad said the exact same thing when I was at home a couple of weeks ago.

 

Anybody watch the ABC 13 Sports segment today? Supposedly Bob Allen had a private talk with Rocket and confirmed that Clemens has 3 tears in his back and that he will not be able to come back until the 2nd half of 06.

 

How did we go from hamstring injury to tears in the back?

I don't think he comes back, either. There's just no way he would make such a quick decision on this subject if it weren't bad news.

Edit: Hmm...after reading the other link...it sounds more promising then I originally thought. He had to have loved the last season with Pettitte and our club regardless of the injuries. There's hope yet. I would be very surprised if he only came back for the second half, though.

 

I can't be the only one who thought that was tears, not tears. And I just figured it out. It makes a lot more sense now.