The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

Why is this even surprising?

Real quick update tonight on the most obvious story of the day: Roger Clemens' return to the New York Yankees.

Listen, I shouldn't be surprised by this move at all. I've rolled my eyes every time a pro athlete said "It's not about the money - I just want the best chance to win one (more) ring before I'm done." There is only one franchise in pro sports where players say that and fans actually believe it - I happen to be lucky enough to root for them every Sunday in the fall and winter.

Make no mistake about it - had the Red Sox been the team to make this move, I would have (obviously) had a completely different view of it. I probably would have been perfectly happy with the signing (though not at these numbers), and been very happy to watch Roger Clemens as my team's #4 starter. But the way this went down just reinforces that no matter what a player says, it's always about the money.

The Yankees' rotation is in shambles - Mussina has aged very quickly the past few years, Wang can either be dominating or completely hittable, Andy Pettite isn't the Andy Pettite of 1996, Randy Johnson plays 3000 miles West now, the Yankees should sue Carl Pavano for fraud after his doctors announced he needs Tommy John Surgery and will miss the rest of this year and probably half of '08, and the rest of the rotation is in a "Play it by ear" state right now.

This was a logical move for the Yankees - pay whatever it takes (in this case, the prorated portion of a ludicrous 1yr, $28M... about $4.5M per month) to get the best available pitcher on the market. For Clemens, he gets to play in a city that will love him and if he can somehow turn around that rotation - give them a solid 5-6 innings every five days, straighten out Andy Pettite, teach some of the younger anything, then he'll be worth every penny.



Here's the real problem I have with this, and yes, I freely admit that this is probably 80% Red Sox Fan bias and 20% rational sports' fan thinking. Clemens has always maintained that the only way he would come back is if A) The Astros, Red Sox or Yankees were looking like legitimate World Series candidates, B) He could get his preferrential "Pitch Monday, fly home Tuesday through Friday, Pitch Saturday" routine, and C) One of those three teams would throw gobs and gobs of money at his feet and proclaim him Savior of the City and new Supreme Overlord. (That might be overstating it a little bit, but the only professional athlete I have ever seen with a bigger ego than Roger Clemens is Michael Jordan. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, in fact in some cases, its a necessity. I'm just sayin', is all...)



So what happened to Requirement A? The Yankees are 5.5 games out of the first in the division lead and 4.5 games out of the Wild Card race. Houston's 7.5 out of the division and 6 out of the Wild Card. Yes, I realize it's the first weekend in May.

By contrast, Boston is the best team in the American League, and only 0.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for best record in the bigs (there's your credit Vinny). More importantly, the Red Sox are setup the best to continue this level of play through the summer and into the stretch drive of September.

Where the Yankees' biggest fault is their rotation, that is the Red Sox' biggest strength. The Yankees' closer spent April answering questions about whether or not he had lost it - the Red Sox closer has had only one hiccup this season, and has otherwise been nearly untouchable.



But here's the biggest thing - the most frustrating part of any pitching staff is building the middle relief in a bullpen. The Yankees' middle relievers are on a pace to burn out sometime in June; their most reliable man in the pen aside from Mo Rivera is Scott Proctor, who has already appeared in 18 of the Yankees' 30 games. So when Roger comes in and gives 5-6 innings (max) per start, who gets the ball to Mo?

There's no doubt in my mind that Clemens will be successful; let's face it, the guy is the best pitcher of the past 30 years, and probably one of the top 5 all-time. But while he might get his numbers, I just don't see this ending well by the time September rolls around. And anything less than a trip to the World Series is going to be seen as a colossal failure.



But hey - on the bright side, at least A-Rod isn't the most overpaid Yankee anymore. By the way - I want him on the mound for the June 1st series... in Fenway. That would turn into an absolute bloodbath, one way or another.



Personal note - I'm leaving my house to move to Pittsburgh very early this Thursday morning. I'll be driving the entire way, taking short stops for food, bathroom breaks... and possibly to write some stuff on here about the move. I'm going to do my best not to shift this blog to a personal site - I am, however, planning to start a mirror site with random thoughts on the process of moving and starting a new life. I'll have more info on that soon. But I will probably not be setup in Pittsburgh for a week or so, and even then, I'll have to move almost immediately out of the temporary housing I am being given and into an actual apartment somewhere in the city.

Just an update. See you all back here soon.

Lata.

Labels: Fat Roger, It's all about the Benjamins, MLB, Never believe an Athlete

posted by Big D @ 10:49 PM