if true , the yanks were no angels in the Clemens going to Houston saga.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bb/2352780
:rooter

Good article. Poor MFY's crying over this? It's too bad Everett's not with Houston anymore...isn't he in Montreal now? Those two deserve each other.

So does this article mean that Clemens may now be in the same position sox fans were in when he said he wanted to finish his career in Boston and then bolted for Toronto for more money and blamed it on the Sox. What goes around comes around. I think he might have finally gotten what was coming to him. That said, he's a great pitcher and I would have signed him in a heartbeat if he had shown interest in returning. Its interesting though. Roger Clemens has 192 career wins in a Boston Red Sox uniform, therefore he needs eight more wins to reach the milestone of 200. And more importantly, he is tied with a pitcher by the name of Cy Young for most wins in the history of the Red Sox. I for one, would have thought that stat alone would be able to woo him back to Boston for one more year. I guess not. I guess I actually respect him more for not doing it. I mean showing that his family was more important to him than his own records.

One other quick question....How long do you guys think it'll take him to get pissed off at Jimy for yanking him too early?

Well, all this article does is make me even more angry at Roger Clemens. Why didn't he express such loyalty seven years ago? If he had shown one-tenth of the commitment to Boston in 1996 that he showed last winter to the MFY's, he would have retired as a member of the Red Sox.

Boo - freakin' - hoo, Roger. 'Forced' to accept a $10 million deal last winter, and - horrors! - having to agree to be paid over ten years. We should all be so cursed.

I hope he sucks up the joint in Houston.

Jim D.

Jim, maybe as time has gone on..he has seen the light...

I seem to recall Roger had a deal with NYY that he would get 10M from the team in 2003 even if he signed with someone else. If someone can research this and post please do.

amended 2:55 PM 1/14/04

My braincells still work it turns out

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0804/1413937.html




Since by his own admission he was worried that he was breaking down after 2002, I really question how many teams wanted him. If my memory is correct he signed for 0 for 2003 since NYY was on the hook for 10M anyways.


amended 2:51 1/14/04

Here is the AP story from when he signed last year. Draw your own conclusions

Clemens agrees to $10.1 million, one-year contract with Yankees
NEW YORK (AP) -- Roger Clemens agreed Monday to a $10.1 million, one-year contract that keeps him with the New York Yankees for what will probably be his final season.
"My feeling is right now that I don't anticipate playing past this," Clemens said. "I plan on going out the right way -- like I always have, full throttle."
Clemens, who turns 41 in August, has gone 60-27 during four seasons with the Yankees, winning World Series titles in his first two years. He doesn't want to make a formal announcement about retirement and have honors in each city, like Cal Ripken did.
"I don't want that to be the show," Clemens said. "The show is our entire team. I respect the way Paul O'Neill did it."
Clemens has 3,909 strikeouts, third on the career list behind Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Steve Carlton (4,136). With a 293-151 record, Clemens has a chance to overtake Tom Seaver (311) and Gaylord Perry (314), which would put him in 15th place on the career list.
Clemens was 13-6 with a 4.35 ERA in 29 starts last season, battling leg problems. New York wanted him to win No. 300 in pinstripes.
"To win 300 in the Stadium or in the uniform would mean everything," Clemens said. "It would go hand in hand with the championships."
If he played two more years, Clemens could move past Phil Niekro (318), Ryan (324) and Don Sutton (324).
"Yeah, I could pitch 'til I'm 45," Clemens said. "I think I could come close to Nolan's records. But I want to win another championship."
New York now has eight starting pitchers, a group that also includes Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, David Wells, Cuban defector Jose Contreras, Orlando Hernandez, Jeff Weaver and Sterling Hitchcock.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says the surplus of starters allows him flexibility to make moves before opening day. Hernandez and Hitchcock appear to be the most likely to be traded.
"Either we'll have superb depth or we'll be able to trade from a strength," Cashman said. "That's obviously a position of strength to deal from. When the dust settles and the season gets underway, usually injuries hit. It's like thoroughbreds -- one thing leads to another. Or we'll be able to utilize that depth in a trade."
New York also wants Clemens to set an example for younger pitchers, such as Weaver. Cashman remembered the day in July 2001 that Clemens volunteered to pitch in Detroit on short rest when Adrian Hernandez got sick.
"I'm going to be 41 this year, and I plan on leading this staff in a number of ways, on the field and off the field," Clemens said. "I'm going to continue to push those guys."
Under the new deal, Clemens will not start receiving his salary until 2004 and will not get the entire amount until 2014, making the present-day value of the contract about $8.1 million, according to calculations by the commissioner's office.
"Once we knew something was going to happen in New York, there was no other choice for me," Clemens said.
Clemens was coming off a $30.9 million, two-year agreement with the Yankees. The pitcher would not accept less than $10 million for next year, and the Yankees would not agree to a deal that counted for more than about $8.15 million against the luxury tax.
"It was a marriage that was never meant to be disrupted," Yankees general Cashman said.
Clemens' agents, Randy and Alan Hendricks, have said their client was offered $12 million to sign with another team, but the six-time Cy Young Award winner wanted to return to the Yankees. Randy Hendricks has said it's unclear if Clemens will pitch after the 2003 season.
Under Clemens' previous contract, he gets $10.3 million in 2003, money deferred from his previous deal. Under the new contract New York pays him $600,000 in 2004, $700,000 in 2005, $900,000 in 2006, $950,000 in each of the following six years, and $1.1 million in both 2013 and 2014.
New York's payroll for luxury tax purposes is about $155 million, according to the team. Yankees president Randy Levine, who structured the deal with Randy Hendricks, defended the team against criticism that it spends to much. Last week, Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino called the Yankees "the Evil Empire" after they signed Contreras to a $32 million, four-year deal.
New York estimates the amount it will pay in revenue sharing will increase from $32 million in 2002 to $46 million next year, and is planning on a luxury tax bill of about $9 million. Levine cited the increased payments by the Yankees and said other teams should stop complaining.
"The days of trying to shed or hide your own problems by blaming the Yankees are over," Levine said. "If those teams chose not to spend on players but use it for whatever means they decide to, that's their problem. The Yankees are about winning.
"We're playing by the rules of the agreement. There are teams that are getting millions and millions and millions in revenue sharing. Those teams should worry about their own business and be creative as we were here."