Sox had their shot at Clemens

by SoxDevil on May 7, 2007 2:15 PM EDT in News

Did Red Sox drop ball on Rocket deal?

The Red Sox had their chance to preempt Roger Clemens's announcement that he had agreed to pitch for the Yankees again. Clemens's agent, Randy Hendricks, was in Boston last week for meetings with Sox brass and had dinner in John W. Henry's box Wednesday night when the Sox made their bid for the Rocket. It was for a prorated $18 million, more than $10 million less than the prorated $28 million Clemens agreed to take from the Yankees. Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, according to club sources, thought Clemens was still days from making a decision -- Lucchino believed this Thursday was the operative date -- leaving the Sox time to tweak their offer if they chose.

Boston Globe

Pedro Martinez, Johnny Damon, Roger Clemens: all free agents that the Red Sox were in the running for and thought they had time to tweak the deal. This seems to be a trend with Red Sox negotiations. Either the Sox F.O. doesn't move decisively enough, or players' agents are being dishonest, or both.

In this particular case, it seems like the Sox F.O. didn't really have their heart in it. $18 M wasn't going to get the deal done.

Poll

Given the opportunity to best the Yankees' $28 M offer, should the Sox have signed Rogah?

Yes

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No

79 votes

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Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

"the Sox F.O. doesn't move decisively enough, or players' agents are being dishonest, or both."

They certainly moved decisively enough on Matsuzaka. But it just seems that the Sox have a limit and stick close to it. I doubt "tweaking" includes an extra $10 million (Clemens) or more years and money (Pedro and Damon).

by Hughie Jennings on May 7, 2007 2:23 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

in my mind if roger gets 28 million a year at 44, julio franco deserves at least 10 million nearing 50. At 28 million the yankees are paying for press coverage and morale and presence. Thats just too much to pay for a guy who isnt going to dominate.

by spinz on May 7, 2007 3:12 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

gotta agree wit you on dat!

by dumhic on May 7, 2007 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

Still, it's not your money or mine. Roger gets a 1-and-done contract, so it's really no obligation aside from a one-year splurge.

If the Sox can beat out the Yankees for the AL East pennant and/or in the post season without Roger, then I'm glad they didn't sink to the Yankees' extreme consumerism. If the Yankees end up beating the Sox, I'm changing my opinion. How's that!

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on May 7, 2007 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions

thats cheating

cheater:P but I really think teams like, us, the orioles, blue jays and d-rays are going to wear him out in a hurry.

by spinz on May 7, 2007 7:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

Pedro: Already looks like they made the right call on that one, did still have some good years in him, didn't have as many good years left in him as he was asking for

Damon: This could be temporary and he could easily bounce back, but so far this year age looks to have caught up with him...if he never does bounce back looks like they made to right call again regarding how many good years he truely had in him (not to mention this was a case of dishonest agents claiming there was a team offering 6 years

Clemens: Well, we'll have to see, personally I think it would have been nice to have him, but not worth $28 mill. If you look at his number the last time he pitched in the AL and add on some years of aging, I think $28 mill is way too much

by Realistic on May 7, 2007 6:15 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

Walter Alston I think?
"Its better to get rid of a player one year early then one year too late." With respect to Pedro, Damon, Mueller, Millar et. al, the Sox have been very good. Sure Clemens will be effective, he's a great pitcher, but he's a prima donna and the Sox seem to have a nice balance. Also, with Lester coming back soon, you need to give him a chance and that wouldn't happen with Clemens around. I reckon the Sox figured if we can get this guy for decent price then its worth it. What the MFY did reeks of desperation...

by sydneysox on May 7, 2007 7:17 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

I think Schilling + Clemens would have been much worse than Schilling + Pedro.

Talk about "There ain't enough room in this town for the both of us."

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on May 8, 2007 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

The sort of shoulder injury and surgery that Pedro had is extremely rare to come back from with any degree of effectiveness. Pedro might be able to do it, 'cause he's Pedro, but that's not something I'd want to make a thirty million dollar bet on.

All told, I think the Boston FO comes out looking fairly sage on most of those calls.

by NinetyNineTails on May 7, 2007 9:12 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

I highly recommend reading Schilling's take on the Clemens issue at 38pitches.com. Hadn't realized Schlling also uses "CHB" to describe a certain talentless writer on the Globe staff. :)

by RickD on May 8, 2007 7:26 AM EDT reply actions

Schilling writes,

CHB can sob all he wants, Rocket coming here gave him something legitimate to actually write about for the next 4 months. Now he can stick to the bitter style he's perfected and talk about how bad we suck because we failed to get Rocket. The guy will retire as the greatest pitcher that ever lived. He wanted to go to NY, done deal. I can't stress it enough, it was a non-issue before yesterday and is a non-issue today. We had no control over him coming or going so it was never more than weight room chatter.

Curt Schilling, 38Pitches

Zing!

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on May 8, 2007 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions

and furthermore,

Contrary to CHB's belief, and she may find it hard to believe, I LOVE pitching with Daisuke, I love to be able to see first hand what he brings to the team and the organization. I love our staff as it stands now and if we can stay healthy I think we are in a great spot. I'll take the Texan we got and pit him against anybody in the game over the next 5-10 years. He's special and starting to show people a glimpse of what he's going to be.

Curt Schilling, 38pitches

Bwuahah! Zing! x2

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on May 8, 2007 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Sox had their shot at Clemens

Ditto all of the above---I love me some Petey, but passing on re-signing him was exactly the right move in light of his recent (and predictable) health problems. Damon likewise isn't going to be our CF of the future, although Coco may not be either (Obi-Wan Ellsbury, you're my only hope!). And especially ditto the point that the Sox do make aggressive offers when they want to, Matsuzaka being only the first one to come to mind. JD Drew also got some love from the Boston FO.

Bottom line is that the Red Sox have five starters they expect to be strong all season, Schill, Becks, Wake, Mr. Matsu and Lester, any one of whom is a difficult candidate to move to the 'pen to make room for Roger Clemens. The NYY, contra, have nothing but room in their rotation. That doesn't mean Clemens wouldn't have been an upgrade for the Sox---just that he wouldn't have been an upgrade worth more than the $18M the FO decided to pay him. For the Yankees, that number should have been, and was, considerably higher.

I'm not going to pretend that Clemens is a scrub, nor that I wouldn't have loved to have seen him close the circle on his career to make sure he goes into the Hall with his Sox on. But the Sox made the right offer to Clemens; this wasn't a function of timing.

Jack Roy f/k/a Tony the Pony

by Tony the pony on May 8, 2007 10:52 AM EDT reply actions