Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 12, 2004
Farewell Tour II

As Yogi once said, "It's not over 'til it's over." Roger Clemens has signed with the Houston Astros. I'm surprised it's only for $5 million dollars. That says to me he really wants to pitch for Houston, rather than being mercenary. Jose de Jesus Ortiz has more in the Houston Chronicle:


McLane gave the hard-throwing righthander the parameters of a one-year contract offer on Dec. 23, and he worked out the rest of details on the deal with agents Randy and Alan Hendricks. After that, Clemens gave his decision to the Hendricks, who hammered out the deal.


"He told me he had decided to play and to get a deal done, so we did on Sunday," Randy Hendricks said. "I think a big factor was the outpouring of affection from the Astros fans all over Texas. His family is supportive and the Astros have been terrific throughout the process. Ultimately, the desire to help the hometown team was what made the decision (and Andy being here was extremely important as well)."

Clemens, 41, will now try to add to his 310 career victories. He will join Pettitte, Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller to throw at the National League Central champion Chicago Cubs' talented rotation of Mark Prior, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano.


Clemens was just a few strikeouts short of Steve Carlton for 2nd place on the all-time list. I wonder if that entered into his thinking at all?

Clemens is still a good pitcher. His strikeout rate was below 9.0 per 9 last year, but is still high at 8.1. He did allow a career high 24 HR last year, which won't be helped by Minute Maid Park. He's declining, but he brings 15 win shares to the team, which is five more than any Astros starter had last year. A good signing at a good price.

Update: Michele, as usual, has strong thoughts about Clemens. :-)


Posted by David Pinto at 01:05 PM | Free Agents | TrackBack (1)
Comments

What are the legal/contract implications of Clemens going to the Astros? Don't the Yankees have any rights to Clemens? Did they have to ok this deal?

Posted by: pchuck at January 13, 2004 02:59 PM

Good point about being 2nd all-time in K's. In fact, the Houston Comical (www.chron.com) reported that one of Clemens' sons told old Dad that he wanted Dad to be #2 on the strikeout list when he gave him an Astros hat for Xmas. This is not a small thing for a Houstonian (as I am), with Ryan at #1. After K #37, I expect game stoppage and a picture with Ryan and Clemens (both Houston boys).

Posted by: Pat Hajovsky at January 13, 2004 06:46 PM

http://www.chron.com/content/news/photos/04/01/12/matchup/index.html

The Houston paper has a cool online look that you can match NL Central starting (projected) line ups.

Welcome Roger and Andy glad to have you home. So long Cubs.

Posted by: john beard at January 13, 2004 09:45 PM