Clemens signs with Yankees: What’s your view?
May 6th, 2007 by Bill Burt
I have a column in Monday’s Eagle-Tribune Publishing sports sections on Roger Clemens signing with the Yankees to the richest one-year deal ever for a pitcher … about $24 million.
The Yankees had to make this move for two reasons:
- They couldn’t chance the Red Sox opening up their secret vault again and all but clinching the American League East by adding Clemens to their staff.
- They are desperate for a good to very good starting pitcher before they fall too far behind the Red Sox (20-10) in the A.L. East and the Cleveland Indians (18-10) or the Detroit Tigers (19-11) in the Wild Card race.
Let me know your thoughts about Clemens, who is always a hot button issue in every water cooler discussion in New England.
I will answer questions later on Monday.
11 reader comments to “Clemens signs with Yankees: What’s your view?”
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1Chuck said:
While I harbored semi-secret desires to see Roger return to wear a Sox uni, I have no problem with the Sox not opening their ’secret vault’. They don’t have the over-riding need for another starter. The Yanks on the other hand a in serious need.
Let King George do his regular thing, and spend like a drunken sailor. A lot of good it has done him over the last 7 years.
Another thing that the Yankees ought to consider is how effective Roger will be for $5+ million a month. Despite his ancient body, Roger has posted ERAs below 3 in each of his 3 years in Houston. But lets face it, in the National League you only have to face 8 batters. Returning to the AL could very well take some adjustment. Just ask Josh Beckett. The last time Roger had a sub-3 ERA in the AL was 1998.
Well, at least this might make people apy attention to the Sox-Yanks games….
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2tim said:
we don’t need him. keeping the spot potentially open for lester is exactly what should be done. our rotation is formidable. lester showed us last summer he could be fantastic. there’s really just no need to spend 28 million for him.
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3Alex said:
Not a huge problem with it. I’m younger than most of the Red Sox fans that vividly recall the later stages of Clemens’s tenure with the Red Sox, so I don’t harbor many bad feelings. This undoubtedly makes the Yankees a better team than they were yesterday, one starter who was averaging five, maybe six innings of crappy pitching is now replaced by a guy who can average six innings of pitching certainly solid enough to keep the Yankees in the game (and with that offense, that’s all that matters). I can see Clemens putting up an ERA somewhere in the high 3s, low 4s at best…I really think after seeing Randy Johnson the last few years that you simply can’t tack a run onto their NL ERA and that’s it. I don’t think it makes them a better team than the Red Sox, however; if there was reason to believe that Pettitte (not to mention regressing and having his metrics catch up with him) and Mussina will stay healthy the rest of the year (there isn’t), Wang will repeat last year, and so on, then yes, there would certainly be great cause for concern.
I do think that Sox fans out of bitterness and slight jealousy are understating the importance of this - as a resident in southwestern CT, I see pretty much every Yankees game. This was a move the Yankees absolutely needed to make. Without question.I certainly wouldn’t have been upset with Clemens’s acquisition, but I think that Schilling’s right that Clemens wouldn’t be the reason that the Red Sox win or lose the World Series. It was more, “if they get him, good, if they don’t, it’s not the end of the world.” He simply doesn’t make or break this team. If Beckett didn’t show the significant signs of improvement this year, I would probably think otherwise. He would’ve put the Red Sox over the top, but there are so many factors that go into postseason success (luck, for starters) that I don’t think it’s really worth dwelling on.
It makes for a far more riveting race now. I can already hear “Where’s Roger?” Music to my ears.
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4Glenn Ordway's Second Chin said:
“The tabloids are going to eat this up like Roseanne used to eat Twinkies.”
Way-oooooh. Move over, Bill Simmons. There’s a new wacky cutting edge loose cannon on the Internets. He is four-feet-tall and thou shalt know him by his motor scooter. Vroom vroom.
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5Mike said:
This is not a big deal at all. The rotation is still depleted and pieced together at best. Clemens only increases their average age.
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6JIMMYBOYz said:
I don’t care for the New York Yankees.
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7Bill Wayland said:
I was surprised this morning to hear Barnicle & Shaughnessy on 96.9FM worrying about the effect of Schilling’s take on the Clemens deal. (I was surprised to hear Shaughnessy worrying about anything.) Curt’s remark or David’s shrug weren’t a challenge, simply a reasonable read on the relative strenghs of the two pitching staffs.
Desperate Yankees? An announcement by Roger on the PA system? Couldn’t you hear the bugle blowing to the desperate troops? A whole new meaning to “grandstanding”. -
8John said:
I think this deal gives the Yankees a real chance at the division. Once they get healthy their staff won’t be as bad and the Red Sox will be in trouble if they can’t play good baseball like they have been.
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9Tim said:
Clemens signing with NY doesn’t surprise me the least bit. And him saying it wasn’t about money is the equivlent of George Bush saying “no new taxes.” The guy has always been out for himself financially. He obviously shows he has no feelings for Boston, with not even considering going there. Whether is picking up a few extra million, or latching on to obvious WS Champions (1999,2000 NYY) this guy cares only about himself. He is even ignorant enough to believe he can be as effect in the AL East as he was in the NL Central. I have all the respect in the world for his career, but good ol’ Rog may be biting off a little bit more than he can chew this time around.
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