May 6, 2007
JUMPING UP AND DOWN ON THE PANIC BUTTON:
Clemens announces return to Yanks (Bryan Hoch, 5/06/07, MLB.com)
Following the playing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," public-address announcer Bob Sheppard instructed the crowd to draw its attention to the owner's box and the video screen.The image of Clemens, holding a microphone, drew a loud ovation from the crowd at the game between the Mariners and Yankees, but his comments would soon be drowned out by an even more raucous ovation from the paid attendance of 52,553.
"It's a privilege to be back," Clemens said. "I'll be talking to you all soon.
What's the over/under on their getting 20 starts from a 45 year old in the AL East?
MORE:
7Roger Clemens-S- Yankees (Rotoworld, May. 6 )
ESPN's Dan Patrick is reporting that Roger Clemens will receive a prorated salary of $28 million after signing with the Yankees on Sunday.That means he'd earn $4.67 million per month or $18.67 million if he returns at the end of May as planned. So much for the Yankees' payroll reduction. This will put them back over $200 million, even after factoring in what the Rangers are paying Alex Rodriguez. In addition to the record salary, Clemens is expected to have the same travel privileges he did in Houston. So if he isn't pitching, there's a good chance he won't be with the teim (you can't tell us there's no I in team).
Heck, he only averaged 6 innings a start in the NL Central. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 6, 2007 4:03 PM
At 4 1/3 innings per start, the mean for Yankee starters, that's only 87 innings. Joe Torre gets more than that out of his relievers. I think they'll make it.
Posted by: pj at May 6, 2007 4:29 PMSo oj, think you might try and pick him up off of the WW in your league?
Posted by: Bartman at May 6, 2007 5:48 PMHere's hoping he's the DamnYankees Matsuzaka.
Go Devil Rays!
Question is whether Clemens' recent success has been due to pitching in the NL. He wasn't doing too well when he left the Yanks a few years ago - hard to believe he will pitch better now.
Posted by: AWW at May 6, 2007 9:36 PMHe's owned already. I have Hughes.
Posted by: oj at May 6, 2007 9:40 PMWell, just to break up the usual gleeful Yankee doom-mongering around here, let's see what Jerry Crasnick has to say about the step-up from NL to AL hitting:
Yes, Clemens averaged just a tick less than six innings per start with Houston last season. But he still struck out 8.10 batters per nine innings -- more than Schilling, C.C. Sabathia, John Lackey and A.J. Burnett, among others. National League batters posted an anemic .593 OPS against him."He's still Roger Clemens, and the momentum he brings [to the Yankees] doesn't make me feel good," an AL East official said. "We were glad to see him in the National League. I wish he had stayed there."
In hindsight, it's amazing how dramatically a team's fortunes can change in a week. Last Sunday, the Yankees lost for the fifth time in six meetings with Boston. Mike Mussina was waiting to come off the disabled list, and Chien-Ming Wang had a split fingernail. Manager Joe Torre was monitoring yet another Carl Pavano side session in the bullpen, and Marty Miller, the team's director of performance enhancement, was taking heat for a seemingly endless run of strains and pulls on the roster.
Things got even worse in Texas on Tuesday, when rookie Phil Hughes left a start after 6 1/3 no-hit innings with a pulled hamstring. That's when Miller was destined to become the team's former director of performance enhancement.
Today? The Yankees can look forward to running out a rotation of Mussina, Wang, Pettitte, Clemens and Hughes sometime in June. For a team that leads the majors in runs scored, that group has the potential to be more than good enough.
I heard Joe Morgan talking about this during the Giants-Phillies game tonight and he was saying something similar. He also pointed out the psychological factor for Andy Pettitte now that his good friend is back in pinstripes.
The bottom line is we're only a little more than a month into the season and the Yankees, for all their pitching woes, have an insanely good starting lineup.
Posted by: Matt Murphy at May 6, 2007 10:58 PMHe was in the NL Central and facing pitchers, a year younger, and still benefiting from the years of 'roids. He's better than anything they have, but won't be healthy and can't pile up the innings to get to Rivera. If they'd traded for a Roy Oswalt or Carlos Zambrano it would be scary for the AL. Spending $20+ million on Roger isn't.
The Sox overbid too, but their $18 million and don't come back until July was a bit more realistic.
Posted by: oj at May 7, 2007 6:50 AMFortunate for the Yankees that Hughes pulled that hamstring; otherwise Torre would have worn him out by August for sure. Now they have a small, but realistic, shot of backing into the playoffs with Clemens and catching Hughes on a hot streak to carry them through there.
I'm still dubious they can make the playoffs, though; the AL East is just too tough.
Posted by: Mike Earl at May 7, 2007 9:25 AM