ESPN is reporting the Yanks are paying the Rocket the pro-rated portion of a $28M annual salary. That works out to about $4.5M per month, or $13, 461.54 an hour.
So this whole baseball thing pays pretty well, huh?
(hat tip to Pinto)Â
by Mike 5 Comments
ESPN is reporting the Yanks are paying the Rocket the pro-rated portion of a $28M annual salary. That works out to about $4.5M per month, or $13, 461.54 an hour.
So this whole baseball thing pays pretty well, huh?
(hat tip to Pinto)Â
by Mike 9 Comments
Wanted to start a new thread for the huge postgame press conference. Both Ben and Joe were at the game, so I’m sure they’ll chime in eventually. Stick around for updates.
Update 1: Kay just referred to Clemens and Hughes as “Rocket and Bottle Rocket.” Oh haha. Hughes had better be sponge when Clemens is around, and I’m sure he will be.Â
Update 2:Â Cashman gave your basic “we’ve been working on this deal since the winter” schpeel to kick of the press conference.Â
Update 3: Randy Hendricks (Roger’s agent) is talking; he said the Yanks were only team of the 3 that wanted Clemens right now – Houston and Boston wanted him back later in the year.
He’s back!!!
He just announced it from King George’s box during the game. Details forthcoming…
(Big ups to Scotty for sticking up for his teammates. It’s about damn time someone did it.)
Update 1: Kay just said he’ll be in the rotation within a month. But then again, this came from the same guy who asked Al Leiter if he “ever ate cotton candy” earlier in the game.
Update 2: Clemens is in the YES booth with Kay and Leiter and said that the deal was in place last night, but he didn’t tell anyone until it was finalized today. No one on the team knew, not even Andy. He also mentioned that we was looking at the 3 teams (I assume Yanks, Sawx and Astros), and said that “things changed in a hurry.” That’s gotta mean they pressed him because of these injuries.Â
Update 3: Roger says he hopes to be on the mound by the end of the month, if not then by early June. He also said Jeter was bugging him “once a week.” Rocket also said he looks forward to working with all the young pitchers.Â
Update 4: Clemens said the deal doesn’t included any of the special travel provisions he had with the Astros.
Update 5: When asked, Clemens said he choose the Yanks because of “his teammates,” because “they know how to win,” and also cited the “the manager” and “the best closer in the game.”
Update 6: Clemens said he doesn’t know the details of the contract, but said it might be a 3 or 4 year deal…then laughed. I’m not sure how applicable Update 4 is then…
Update 7: Just a thought on my part, but the biggest winner in this deal is Phil Hughes. There’s not a better mentor imaginable…
Update 8: Clemens said he’ll sit down with the Yanks within 48 hours to determine how he prepares (ie minor league starts, etc). Clemens is done in the booth with Kay and Leiter.
Wang-Pettitte-Clemens-Moose-Hughes…fucking awesome!
Update 9: There will be a press conference on YES after the game.
Update 10: Hideki Matsui gets his 2,000th career hit and joins an exclusive club, benches clear and near a brawl, and neither is the biggest story in the game. Wowza, what a weekend. Jeter just said he knew Rocket was coming back (then giggled) and said he WAS NOT bugging him every week. Derek, you’re such a tease.
Update 11: The Worldwide Leader finally caught on.
With a recent injury to Chien-Ming Wang and a scare concerning Andy Pettitte’s back, the Yankees acted quickly to shore up their rotation this weekend. On the eve of Opening Night, the Yanks landed future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens. Clemens, who will rejoin the Yanks at the end of April, will help solidify the Yanks’ rotation and should push either Carl Pavano or Kei Igawa off the team.
The move comes as a surprise to those of us following the mundane ins and outs of Spring Training for the last month. In fact, as recently as Thursday, Clemens said he would not decide on his pitching fate until the end of April. But, according to reports, the Yanks overwhelmed Clemens with their multi-million-dollar offer, and the Rocket will once again try to end his career with a World Series victory on the game’s brightest and grandest stage.
While this move seemingly flies in the face of what Brian Cashman has done over the last few months, Spring Training showed us that Phil Hughes was still a few AAA outings away from reaching the Majors, and the Yanks just aren’t confident that Carl Pavano who hasn’t pitched regularly in over two years, and Kei Igawa can stump hitters for 162 games. With Clemens in the rotation, the Yanks will be able to go arm-to-arm with any competitor in the league. And since Clemens is only sticking around for one year, the Yankees don’t need to overextend themselves to win now.
So with Clemens on board, all eyes are turning now to Scranton-Wilkes Barre. Just two hours away from New York City, you can bet that the Yanks’ new AAA with see some record-breaking crowds with Clemens arrives in Pennsylvania for his tune up in a few weeks. And now with Clemens on board, the Yanks are the clear front-runners for the AL East crown. With Opening Day just 33 hours away, the news could not be better for Yankee fans.