Roger Clemens and the Yankees are eagerly eyeing each other from a distance - exactly 1,421 short miles - and though a Rocket Reunion is by no means imminent, it may be inevitable. No shot Clemens will want to sweat it out in Houston all summer the way this hopeless Astros team hits. Though Clemens likes to share most experiences with Andy Pettitte, last place isn't one of them. Clemens' 2005 pitching numbers - seven starts, six runs allowed, two victories for him - are a recipe for unending frustration. A lesser man might start firing beanballs soon. At teammates. It's no wonder Clemens has begun talking casually to friends about a possible Bronx revival. One thing holding him back today is prospect/son Koby's May 28 graduation from Houston's Memorial High School. Presuming the Astros' futility continues and provided the hometown folks understand his lust for a third ring, after May 28, he's good to go. The Yankees are already salivating at this possibility. As one American League executive said, "They'll get the welcome wagon out for Clemens." Word is, it's already being gassed up. Although general manager Brian Cashman said, "I can't comment on other teams' players," he has to know his pitching staff needs this sort of boost. Clemens - 2-1 with a Bob-Gibson-like 1.10 ERA - is not just a potential savior but maybe the only potential savior. If there's one thing needed by this Yankees pitching staff, which currently trails everyone but Texas, Kansas City and Tampa Bay in ERA, it's the greatest pitcher of all time. Walter Johnson isn't available, so Clemens fills that bill. He's the perfect pitching mercenary, having improved his game after "retiring" from superb to ungodly great. And who knows, maybe he takes Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright under his talented wing and makes them better, even passable. To this point, excepting rookie Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees' rotation is an across-the-board disappointment. Yankees people have independently confirmed for themselves Clemens' interest in returning since Newsday first reported Feb. 6 that Clemens and Astros owner Drayton McLane had a handshake agreement to trade him here should the Astros collapse. There are hurdles, of course - Cy Young Jr. isn't moved in a day. But they can be overcome. The Astros would have to continue to plummet like Enron, very possible since McLane and minions badly messed up the winter, losing Jeff Kent and Carlos Beltran without lining up capable replacements. Unlike in the case of Randy Johnson a summer ago, the prospects to go shouldn't be a problem. With Wang, Robinson Cano and Eric Duncan on the rise (and Clemens only a half-year rental), the Yankees are better positioned for that midsummer blockbuster. The matter of Clemens' contract, which calls for a $3-million kicker if he is traded on top of his $18-million salary, shouldn't complicate matters. George Steinbrenner is already into this gruesome season for $203 million. Anyway, by then, he'll be paying Columbus' DH $17 million; $3 million will seem like chicken feed. Clemens has never denied his reunion ruminations. As for McLane, after responding "anything's possible," and effectively confirming the initial report, he recently told The Sporting News "there are no conditions under which I would do that" - an unconvincing denial that did nothing to dry up the Yankees' salivary glands. Before trading Clemens, McLane would have to somehow sell the idea to Houston's fans, a task made easier the farther the Astros fall. As one Astros-connected person put it, "Drayton's going to have to smooth things out." http://www.newsday.com/sports/print...78.column?coll=ny-sports-print&vote17550297=1
The Yankees would have to make a knockout offer for McLane to give up the Rocket, as the would be telling the fans that the season is over. And the Yankees don't have those kind of prospects.
EFF the Yankees, man!!! Lets just have 12 teams from Boston, 12 from New York, & 12 from LA ... & let them all beat the crap out of each other. When the Astros suck, I'd rather watch grass grow than care about baseball.
who writes this crap? unless the yankees magically grow some prospects why would drayton trade his only money maker for nothing? because it's the yankees? i agree with gene baseball might as well just be new york vs boston every game of the season, that way sportcenter can spend most of the show talking about yankee lineup changes. oh, wait, they already do that.
Apparently every writer in New York thinks that the dumb hicks in Texas are just going to give Roger Clemens away. Certainly the sophisticated gentlemen in the northeast can give the hillbillys from Texas the short end of the stick by swapping a couple of outfielders who cannot figure out the class AA curveball for the best pitcher in the game. Give it a rest.
If he loves New York so much, wouldn't he have stayed there in the first place? Seems like the whole reason he is here in the first place is to be near home and with Andy... home is still Houston, and Andy is stll here
it's almost as if the stories are being written like the only players to the trade are clemens and the yankees. oh...the yanks don't have prospect to satisfy a trade?? wow...i never even thought of it from the astros perspective. this is like a proposed trade thread in the GARM. what a freaking joke.
I sure hope he doesn't go back there. My new yorker fan friends will spin it into him regretting he ever went to houston and getting back to the yankees as fast as he can... surely we can't trade him after going on about how we won't trade him.
The sad truth is...we aren't going anywhere this season. The only immediate tradeable commidity we have is Clemens. And if Roger himself is fine with the trade, then as an Astros fan I am fine with losing him for the rest of the season in exchange for a brighter tomorrow.
Guarantee the Astros he will come back for yet another "one more," and that he will retire as an Astro, and I'd be good with a trade to the Yankees, should things fall further apart. Even if he is on the downside, Clemens/Johnson in a rotation? ouch.
Did you feel the team was going anywhere last season when they were 56-60? It is way too early to throw in the towel.
There is no freaking way the Astros will trade Clemens. If they did, the front page story in the next morning's Chronicle wouldn't be about the trade. It would be about how Drayton McLane's body was found hanging from the belltower at Minute Maid Park.
IF we could get even ONE good prospect for Roger (assuming we continue to suck) I'd say do it. He could go play in NY for the rest of the year and even come back to the 'Stros next year!
