As many of you baseball fans know, Roger Clemens is going to pitch another partial season, and he was choosing between the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox. The Astros don’t have much chance of making it to the postseason this year, so they were probably eliminated for that. Both the Red Sox and the Yankees have a good chance of making it to the playoffs. So why did Clemens pick the Yankees over the Red Sox this year? Some say it was because of his friends Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, but perhaps there was another reason : The Yankees are the only team where his five-inning starts will make him the staff ace. 🙂
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Buffet o' Blog 
Beppo
It probably didn’t hurt that the Yankees are going to pay him about $4.5 million per month. His contract is for $28,000,022, for one year. (The last two digits match his uniform number.) The salary will be pro-rated, because he missed the first couple of months, so he will get “only” $18.5 million out of the deal. The Yankees will also have to pay an additional $7.4 million in luxury tax for going further over the payroll “threshold”. I doubt any other team could pay this much for a 44-year-old pitcher.
It’s going to be really amusing if the Yankees don’t make the playoffs this year, even with their $200 million payroll.
DieHard Yankee Fan
Beppo, you need to recognize! Yankees are gods among men! Did you see how A-ROD (the best player ever) (for now) been breaking records all over the place.
Clemens is the best there is at 44! People half his age can’t compete. He knows where the money (and the glory) of baseball is…..NEW YORK CITY!
We get what we want here in New York. We are so spoiled and we don’t give a care what anybody says as long as we win. Winners=New York City
plain and simple.
Say what you want but if I had the goods like Clemens, I would be milking it for all its worth. He isn’t getting any younger.
Plus, who likes the Red Sox anyway??? I don’t.
Steinbrenner is the best CEO/PRESIDENT/OWNER OF MENS SOUL AND CAREERS in baseball.
Word to your mother!
Logic Man
Does it make sense to pay that much for one guy? Is he really worth it? I mean, he doesn’t get people to championships by himself so why spend all of that money?
The dough could be used to by a collection of really good teamplayers to enhance the overall quality of the team.
I am not criticizing Clemens, I think he is a great pitcher and a good person in general. I just wonder how many hot dogs have to be sold in yankee stadium just to pay for his salary alone.
And DieHard….I recall the Yankees loosing to the Red Sox at a moment when the Yankees had the series in their hands. I think there is a record for that somewhere called “Greatest choke ever by a team.”
Karen
I hope Roger and his man crush will not ever set foot in TX again. I don’t want to hear that “it was not about the money” and “God told Andy to play in NY”. My new favorite team (right behind my Astros) is the Red Sox.
few4th
I don’t blame Clemens for signing with New York. They do have a chance at the playoffs first of all, his best friend does play there, and he will be the best pitcher they have. I wouldn’t have minded seeing him back in Houston, just for the fun of it (I’m an Astros fan), but I would have been frustrated once again seeing Roger pitching great and getting no run support.
Beppo
> Does it make sense to pay that much for one guy? Is he really worth it?
Compared to other players, no, he’s not worth it. But the Yankees are desperate. Their payroll is around $200M, and they’re playing around .500 baseball. And the Red Sox have been beating them. I don’t care for Steinbrenner and the excessive richness of the Yankees’ payroll, but you do have to give him credit for putting his money out there to get what they need. I wish more owners would sacrifice some of their salary to make the team better. I know of one owner who gets $20M/year from the team, then complains that his team doesn’t have enough payroll to compete.
Beppo
BTW, “Logic Man”, thanks for bringing up the “greatest choke ever” (referring to the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS). That never gets old! Being a Red Sox fan, that’s one of the greatest sports highlights of my lifetime. You couldn’t script a series better than that…