Clemens talks about his future
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jan 31, 2007 
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Roger Clemens spoke to the media for 15 minutes tonight at the New York Athletic Club on Central Park South. He was in town to speak at the St. John’s winter baseball banquet.
Clemens said he had not decided whether he wants to play in 2007. But several times he spoke as though that would be the case.
“It’s not an easy decision,” he said. “Physically I can handle it. Mentally I beat myself up to perform. Once I do sign a contract to continue to play, they don’t care how old I am, they want results. And I want results also.”
Clemens said his main criteria would be playing for a contender. “When you don’t have the opportunity to go to the playoffs and have a chance to win, it’s a waste of time for me. At this stage in my life and career that’s all you’re looking for,” he said. “I still think I can pitch at a high level.”
The Rocket said he speaks frequently with Andy Pettitte and would be spending time with some other Yankees this weekend.
Had I to guess, I would say the Yankees sign Clemens in June and he pitches sometime late that month or in July. But there are many variables. If Houston looks good, Clemens will feel a tug to stay there. If one of the three teams loses a starter to injury, he could get a truckload of money put on his doorstep.
But no matter what, it looks like he will play for somebody.
“I hope they all get off to a great start and I can just fade away and watch some ballgames,” the Rocket said. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Clemens would be nice, but I think the important thing is that Cashman has set us up to not *need* him to join the rotation.
you mean 2007… right, Peter?
Clemens isn’t sure if he wants to play this year?
or are you indicating that Roger doesn’t know if he wants to play NEXT year?
just checking.
thanks for the post.
hope your eyesight is on the mend as time wears on.
as far as where Clemens pitches, I’ll say again:
I think it all depends on overall record and, more loosely, an in-season reputation among the other teams. If one of these teams gets out on a Phoenix Suns/Dallas Mavericks style pace – jumping out to a ten-game lead in their division early – I think that will help “push” him in that direction for that team.
he’s not looking to be the ace of the staff anymore.
he’s looking to fill in, put in quality start after quality start… pray to the Lord of Run Support that She graces him with Her presence every fifth day… and get hella-cash for it.
I think he signs with us, too.
if only because, by June 1st, we have a six-game lead in the division… over Toronto.
Sammy: Yes, 2007. Damn eye surgery
No offense, but I don’t believe Clemens.
Rich: What don’t you believe?
Peter,
That Clemens hasn’t decided whether or not he wants to play in 2007. He may not know which team he wants to play for, but I think he knows he wants to play.
of course he knows, I think at this point.
but saying he’s going to play, and then saying outright that he’s not going to play until May/June… well, that’s just bad form.
think about it in a modern comparsion: Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.
why show your hole cards before the flop is shown out there?
he’s got the control right now.
he says he’s going to play right now… and he creates a stir among three teams for the next 4 months. And I think he sincerely respects those teams not to be too large of a distraction for them.
I think he knows whether he wants to play.
he may even know WHERE he wants to play…
… but that may be a stretch.
Peter-
no worries, my good man.
as it’s been stated already, it is highly commendable that you’re posting updates period. Your dedication to the blog is noted amongst the masses here.
well done.
hopes for continued improvement.
I feel a little contradiction here… it appears he is waiting around for a team to need his help but he also wants to be with a contender for a chance to win a World Series. I hope he isn’t going to wait till half-point and then just join up w/the team he thinks has the best chance of going all the way.
I’ll take the Rocket back. He has shown more than Randy Johnson and isn’t that miserable. Also with Mariano and the set-up guys he may actually win a few of those quality starts.
He can feel free to borrow the Yankees’ hummer from Koby or Tajima or Wagyu or whatever and drive it to the Stadium.
Yankees have a crowded rotation (or at least a POTENTIALLY crowded rotation). They have five starters now (Wang, Moose, Pettitte, Pavano, Igawa). And they have a few guys that can step in right now (Karstens, Rasner). And even more on the way (Hughes, Clippard, Sanchez, etc.).
Every single starter in the rotation is either an injury risk or a question mark. So it’s good to have a full stock.
I don’t think any of the young guys are making it out of spring training unless Igawa is a disaster or Pavano gets hurt.
But here’s a question: say it’s June and Boston and New York are neck and neck. Clemens wants to pitch and he wants to pitch for the Yankees. Igawa can be bumped to the bullpen to make room for him. But Hughes is dominating AAA the way he did AA and is clearly ready to go. Do you go with the 21 year old or the 45 year old?
I think it will be a tough decision for them. And I think fans will be split fifty-fifty. Personally, I would go with Hughes, because I almost always prefer youth to age (even if it’s something that has aged as well as Clemens).
i maintain that clemens is going to love the symmetry of finishing his career in boston too much to stay away. especially with the team they’ve assembled this year.
on a totally unrelated note, pete, are you – avid sorkin fan – willing to concede that studio 60 has become a massive, steaming pile of crap?
Roger is in his mid 40′s, Bernie is 38. the Yankees want Roger back, but not Bernie? What is going on here?
Roger is a starting pitcher, and the Yanks have an iffy rotation. Bernie is an outfielder and the Yanks have four good ones already, that’s whats going on.
Why not go with both Hughes and Clemens???
You can never have enough starting pitching. It would be like two deadline deals and you dont have to trade anything away for it.
Russell — I think that is precisely what he’s going to do. Instead of going to the team that needs him most, he will, essentially, be going to a team that needs him the least. What will be interesting will be to see if that team (Boston or New York — I think Houston would be a no-brainer) would still want him if they don’t NEED him.
As far as the symmetry of ending it in Boston, can anyone be sure this IS the end?????? With Roger, who the heck knows.
Kasey — I think Studio 60′s biggest problem was in how it described itself. It’s not a comedy, and it’s not even really about putting together a late-night live comedy show. It seems to be more about the politics of a television station, one of whose shows is said late-night comedy. I mostly watch that show for Matthew Perry — I think he’s terrific. And the few times that Timothy Busfield is on, ’cause he’s really good, too. But I dislike Brad what’s-his-name (from West Wing), and I dislike the blonde love interest of Matthew Perry. I am disappointed in the show, but I’m not ready to stop watching it yet.
I agree with Jake. However, if you HAVE to make that choice, you chose Clemens based upon his obvious proven track record, especially knowing how Torre likes to go with experience wherever it makes sense to do so (and sometimes where it may not as much…). It’s not like we’re saying sign Clemens over Hughes, we already have Huges under contract. I’m as anxious as anyone to see Hughes and hopefully to see him dominate, but he’s still never pitched in the majors and come October, IF you have to make that choice, you have to go with the guy who has 2 WS rings with us and still dominates games. There really is no question there, there’s only one answer.
As far as Clemens not wanting to be an ace, his ego is way too big for him not to expect to be a front-of-the rotation guy. He thinks he is the best every minute of every day, and that’s a good thing, it’s what keeps him hungry and keeps him competitive.
and I do not for a second think that Clemens cares even a little bit about the symmetry of closing out his career where it started. He cares about 2 things: Winning (ie. getting another WS ring) and $$$. He will pitch in NY because we’ll be in the best position to give him both, and his ties to NY are MUCH stronger than any desire for symmetry. He has very close friends on the Yankees, probably still has an enemy or two in Boston.
As far as whether or not we or Boston will need Clemens, I defer back to Jake, you can never have enough quality starting pitching. If we’re talking about June or so, there’s a lot of games left to play and anything can happen. I go back to what I said in other posts yesterday, if you can get Clemens, you do it. It’s not a long-term committment and we have the extra money. Igawa can always be shifted to the bullpen and if there’s still no room, Pavano probably gets traded.
I stand by the fact even if Pavano does well this year, it will take A LOT for him to earn enough trust to be considered a long-term investment, someone we want to keep around for 3 or 4 or 5 more years (or even the 1 more on his contract). I think if he brings value and we have a surplus, he’s gone regardless.
Chris, I agree with you about Pavano. I think if he does well, and the Yankees can unload him, they will, as long as they can get something of value for him. Mike Mussina was quoted in the paper (Star Ledger) the other day as saying that Pavano had to earn back that trust from his teammates. It seems to me that if Mussina (a quiet guy) is mentioning this, it is a real issue with the team. And the only way for Pavano to do that is to keep quiet, pitch well, work hard and stay healthy (at least, not take risks that will put his health in jeopardy, inasmuch as accidents do happen.)
And yeah, if the choice is Clemens or Hughes, you gotta go with the guy with experience.
I agree but don’t let Mussina fool you, he’s not all that quiet lately. That’s not a bad thing in this case. Starting with the frustrations he had with A-Rod costing him some W’s last year, he’s been pretty outspoken. Not a loud-mouth or anything, but outspoken, calling people out.
To me, this is a touchy subject because, to think of an athlete, I wouldn’t want my teamates talking smack in the papers, come talk to me and call me out inside the locker room/club house, not the papers. BUT, as a fan, it’s the only way we know what’s going on behind the scenes and for whatever reason, we get wrapped up in the drama probably A LOT more than we should…
I don’t watch football and wonder if Urlacher wants to bash Grossman’s head in, but with baseball I think we get more caught up, maybe because it’s such a long season and there’s so much talked about in the media.
You’re right, Chris. Baseball ends up being a sort of sports soap-opera, because like the soaps, they’re in your home almost every day. And it’s a long season, so I think the personal aspect adds interest. And I think also, in baseball, although it’s a team sport, there is so much individual attention. Only one guy gets up to the plate at a time. One guy pitches the ball. One guy fields the ball. So there is this individual focus. Then you add the media to the mix, looking for angles for stories, but also looking for answers as to why a team is winning or losing. It’s a more nuanced game, in my opinion, that football.
I do think there’s a tendency to get over-involved in that stuff, and I do agree, that if Mussina had that to say in the papers that hopefully he’s said it to Pavano in private at some point. When I said Mussina was “quiet,” I suppose what I meant to say is he’s a guy who doesn’t say much, so when he does, you tend to listen and take it at face value. And perhaps he’s willing to be more outspoken these days is because he is the veteran on the staff, and he’s got credibility.
agreeance on the point the yanks would probably choose clemens over hughes if it came down to it at midseason. keeping him away from boston and upsetting thier fans would be an added bonus…
and to add to the baseball=soap opera subject, another to go along with the individual attention is the fact that we can see their faces before, during, and after every play, reading lips and seeing their true reactions to things, and not just when jeremy shockey’s hair makes his helmet pop off…
Good point saucy. And that adds to something I said the other day about being able to see Jeter and A-Rod joking around in the dugout. You can fake the congratulatory high five and answer diplomatically in the media, but I highly doubt they’re sitting in the dugout like, “hey, laugh so it looks like we get along…, the camera might be on us.” We do get a better read of what’s going on then just the occasional sight of T.O. stomping back and forth on the sideline like a child and Donovan McNabb chasing after him trying to make a point…
[...] Peter Abraham at Lohod thinks Clemens will sign with the Yanks in June. [...]
Boston fans treated Clemens’s family pretty shabbily when he was with the Yankees. Why would he want to play for such a two-faced fan base?
I don’t think Clemens and Shilling can co-exist on the same team. Maybe Roger comes to the Yanks in 07 and Boston in 08…
Good point, but I think they were friends at one point. Schilling used to give Clemens credit for helping him develop into a more dominant pitcher. Something about either working our or just the importance of lower body strength for a power pitcher.. Not what their relationship is now or if Schilling’s ego could allow a peaceful and productive existence now though.
Doesn’t matter, he’s coming to NY. I’ll be shocked if he goes anywhere else. Maybe not Houston because of the family factor, but I think their 1/2 run per game support has worn on him enough to put a bad taste in his mouth. The guy gives up 2 runs a game and can barely stay above .500 down there… Boston will be nothing more than a bargaining chip to drive up his price with the Yankees.
googled it and found this from last Spring from the Boston Globe:
Schilling thinks Clemens return would be thrilling
By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff | March 20, 2006
SARASOTA, Fla. — Curt Schilling scowled at the suggestion he would be cool to the possibility of Roger Clemens coming to the Red Sox.
”Must be the same people who think I have to be a No. 1,” Schilling said yesterday. ”I want to be a No. 1, [but] I don’t have to be. If he was No. 38 and he wanted to be the No. 1, I’d give him my number and my spot.”
Still don’t think Boston has a real shot at him, but at least sounds like Schilling woudn’t be the roadblock. Unless the Yankees weren’t willing to pay top bid, which it sounds like they are, I don’t see him going to Boston at all except to square off AGAINST Schilling…
Kasey: Yes, Studio 60 is awful. It’s just pointless and the “drama” aspects really aren’t that dramatic.
That said, the woman who plays Harriet Hayes will go on to big things.
i think clemens will go to the jays…
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