Texas Rangers may make move for Roger Clemens

[Tony tha Mavs fan]

ESPN.com news services
Roger Clemens' tenure in professional baseball may not be over. Not if the Texas Rangers have anything to say about it.


According to a club source, the Rangers have contacted the Hall of Famer's agent, Allan Hendricks, to get a sense of Clemens' attitude about retirement, The Dallas Morning News reports for its Tuesday editions.


The Rangers would like Clemens to join the club in a similar situation to the one that brought Nolan Ryan to Texas in 1989. Ryan pitched at home as much as possible and was allowed liberal time to spend with his family in Alvin. Clemens has said his move toward retirement is largely due to a desire to spend more time with his family in Houston.


Rangers general manager John Hart declined to comment on any Clemens interest when approached by the paper at the GM meetings in Arizona on Monday. Hart did tell the paper he has not engaged in any conversations with clubs about the possibility of trading shortstop Alex Rodriguez.


Hendricks, Clemens' agent, did not return a phone message left by the paper.


Clemens, 41, who has pitched for the New York Yankees the last five seasons, filed for free agency last week rather than sign retirement paperwork. It is not unusual for retiring players to file for free agency, but it does make it possible for Clemens to change his mind. If Clemens had officially retired, he could not have pitched for the Yankees at all next season.


If Clemens is not offered salary arbitration by Dec. 7, he would not be able to re-sign with the New York until May 1, according to the paper. But if the Yankees don't offer Clemens salary arbitration, another club could sign him without having to forfeit a draft pick as compensation.


Clemens, who was 17-9 with a 3.91 ERA, needs 38 strikeouts to pass Steve Carlton for second on the all-time list behind Ryan. Clemens also needs 15 wins to pass Ryan for 12th place on the all-time victory list, and could tie Carlton for ninth spot with 19 more wins. Clemens currently has 310 wins and 4,099 strikeouts.

[Murphy3]

It's also been reported that Pettitte would like to go where Clemens goes if Clemens does not retire.

[Max Power]

That would be sweet if the Rangers signed Clemens. Supposedly they offered the "Nolan Ryan" package. He wouldn't even have to go on road trips if he wasn't scheduled to pitch on the trip.

[u2sarajevo]

For the love of God NO!

Let the man retire. I want the emphasis on youth and pitchers that can give us more than 2(+/- 1) years of promise...

Now if Pettite comes with him???? That I would consider.

[ItalianMobbstah187]

Pettite and Clemens like each other......they like each other A LOT. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

[kingrex]

Originally posted by: u2sarajevo
For the love of God NO!

Let the man retire. I want the emphasis on youth and pitchers that can give us more than 2(+/- 1) years of promise...

Now if Pettite comes with him???? That I would consider.

I agree we should concentrate on getting younger. However, I wouldn't mind Clemens here on a Nolan-type contract. That is contingent on the fact that they have looked at the younger option first and NOT at it's detriment.

[FineCubanCigar]

Clemens will take too many starts away from our young pitching, this pick-up would look even worse if we aquired young arms in the event A-rod is shipped

[Fah Q]

I wouldn't mind Clemens coming here. I want the Rangers young arms to get experience as well, but we can't have 4 inexperienced pitchers in our rotation, so why not sign Clemens.

[MavsFanatik33]

I'd rather get Pettite than the geezer Clemens, let's go for Pettite.

[kingrex]

Originally posted by: MavsFanatik33
I'd rather get Pettite than the geezer Clemens, let's go for Pettite.

If we can get Pettite from the Yanks, then I agree go for him, but since that will probably NOT happen, what's wrong with getting a veteran like Clemens to help the young arms along. Teach them how to win. How to be a pro. Plus, he would be a huge draw for home games. My only concern will be if he took the spot of a young pitcher, but I don't think we have that many prospects.

[Dooby]

Let me explain to you how this is going to work:

First, we are going to trade A-Rod. Why? Because it will free up payroll for pitching. Yeah, right.

Second, we'll pay whatever it takes to convince Clemens to come here for one or two years. Hell, we'll give him close to A-Rod money; we'll at least give him Chan Ho money. See, because we traded A-Rod, we could afford pitching! Since no one was buying tickets to watch A-Rod lose, maybe they'll come to watch Clemens lose. But we finally got an Ace! Now that is marketing!!!

Basically, the whole thing is a shell game. Hicks gets out from under the last 7 years of the A-Rod contract and gets former UT longhorn standout to play for 2 years in the process. Net result is he saves roughly $125M in the process. Goodie for him.

Even though I think it is a sham, I do it. Why not? The Rangers are going to suck regardless. If A-Rod isn't going to play in the playoffs, you aren't getting $25M in value. This team isn't a year away; it is two or three or four years away. If you can get some semblance of prospects for him, you need to take advantage of it.

[jayC]

Keep the hope alive petitte and Clemens that would be great. I hope that the rangers push the budget past 70 million more like 80 million.

[NYCdog]

Clemens rules out returning as player

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- With thoughts of an Olympic medal now gone, Roger Clemens insisted his retirement will go forward as planned.

"No scenario," Clemens said Wednesday when asked what might entice him to pitch next season. "I'm retired.

"I'll come back and be a really expensive batting practice pitcher and then, if somebody goes down, then they can work on me."

The future Hall of Famer acknowledged that he had thoughts of pitching for the U.S. Olympic baseball team before the defending gold-medal champions were eliminated from a qualifying tournament in Panama last week.

"I'm shaking my head just like everyone else that they're going to have an Olympics and we, the United States, is not going to be represented there," Clemens said. "That's kind of a shame."

An Olympic medal is about the only thing missing from Clemens' resume. He is baseball's only six-time Cy Young Award winner, 17th on the all-time list with 310 victories and third with 4,099 strikeouts. He also has two World Series rings from his time with the New York Yankees.

Clemens said that his agents wanted to make him available as a free agent -- his name was officially filed last week -- but the plan didn't get far.

"I heard that and immediately my four boys picked up my option and said 'You're staying here,' " Clemens said.


And on Andy Pettite.........Like I have said before, according to insider sources with the Yankees up here in NYC, expect Pettite to come to Texas..............Houston that is to be close to his family like close buddy Roger Clemens has chosen to do.

Plus, Pettite's signing with the Astros would enable Pettite to be close to his friend Clemens too, who lives across town on the west side.

--------------------------------


Plus, my bet is on A-Rod going to the Red Sox, who are looking to "out-spend" my Yankees in order to ultimately beat my Yankees..........who do these wise guys think they are?

Out spend my Yanks...........smart move. I mean, it really worked well for us this season when you consider our $200 million dollar payroll got NO-HIT by a "six-pack" of Astro pitchers and beaten in the World Series by a Marlins team that costs less then half of our payroll.

This would be an incredibly wise move by Hicks to move A-Rod's ENOURMOUS contract for more players you could build a winning franchise around of.

Think about it...........which would you have?

A great player in A-Rod...............or a great World Series Championship winning TEAM like the Marlins?

I'd take the championship over any player (even Babe Ruth, Mark McGuire) any day of the week.