jewunit said:

He's such a bitch.
The way he treats all this annoys me. Either play or don't. Fucking signing with teams half way through the season, not traveling if you don't want to, setting your own schedule blah blah blah.

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OneMoreRobot3021 said:

Post Gammons' take on it.

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Quote:

Simply, Yankees had the cash

((Mtt Note: Gee, Go Figure))

posted: Monday, May 7, 2007 | Print Entry

In the end, the Astros were not surprised. Neither were the Red Sox. The Yankees are the Yankees. Joe Torre is Joe Torre. Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi are still in pinstripes. And they have the cash flow to spend $6.5 million a month (including salary and luxury tax) -- $2.9 million more than the Astros paid last year, considerably more than where the Red Sox left it -- to bring the best pitcher in modern baseball history to the rescue of a tattered pitching staff.

There were allures to Houston and Boston. The Astros are his hometown team, his son's employers. The Red Sox would bring his career full circle and allow him to break the tie for franchise wins (192) with Cy Young. When the Red Sox met with Randy Hendricks Tuesday, they made an $18 million prorated offer that essentially included the same timetable as last season, which meant working his way through the minor leagues in June and joining the Boston rotation sometime around June 20-22. During that time, the Red Sox would continue with their current rotation, which is 16-9 with a 3.79 ERA -- despite the fact that Jon Lester is still out and Daisuke Matsuzaka still hasn't honed his mechanics -- and try to build on their lead in the American League East.

The Astros need Clemens; Jason Jennings is hurt, Woody Williams has a 5.49 ERA, and -- other than Roy Oswalt -- they are trying to make do with youngsters like Matt Albers and Wandy Rodriguez.

The Red Sox wanted Clemens for September and October. They wanted to make sure he was fresh come the final stretch and postseason after turning 45 on Aug. 4, especially in the AL East, the toughest division for any pitcher. Now they continue with Julian Tavarez until either Lester is ready, or they consider moving up 22-year-old Clay Buchholz (4 GS, 22 1/3 IP, 17 baserunners, 27 K at Double-A Portland) in August, or they make some sort of deal. Meanwhile, they will take their money and reinvest in the draft.

The Red Sox and Yankees finance a lot of bills around baseball, so when they spent $14.5 million and $14 million, respectively, on the draft last year -- and the third-highest team spent $5 million -- they can do these things.

This all comes back to money. Few agents have ever done better for their client than the brothers Hendricks for Clemens -- from his early days in Boston to using the Red Sox against the Yankees to get the Toronto deal, to using the Red Sox and the Yankees to milk Drayton McLane. Now this. So the Yankees are paying more than $8 million a month in salary and luxury tax to Clemens and Carl Pavano in the five hole?

They can afford it. Clemens pitching against the Red Sox in September will be must-see theatre, and George Steinbrenner had seen enough of 10 starters in 30 games. We could hear him humming along with Jackson Browne's "It ain't like him to argue over ten …"

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OneMoreRobot3021 said:

This is gonna raise the bar on Pettitte's game too - and wait till we get Phil Hughes back. The pricetag may seem steep but the experience of having Phil Hughes (who's already garnered comparisons to the Rocket) be under Clemens' tutelage (Clemens really likes teaching young players..you might think he's a dick, so might I, maybe, but that's the truth of it) for half a season..

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Exactly.

Also, love him or hate him, he won his rings playing with NY, and he's back to help us win another.