In arbitration, those are the only two choices for the arbiters. A three-member panel will meet and each one will pick one contract and best of three wins. The contract that will be mentioned the most by Clemens is Pedro's $17.5 mil, the contract the Astros will be talking about is Maddux.

 

Reading between the lines, both sides know they are low or high. And now it's up to an arbiter. Clemens just squeezed himself. If he loses arbitration and retires his image takes a hit. I think his competitive juices, losing the Beltran sweepstakes, and some personal issues all are wrapped up here.

 

I believe the arbiters would easily side on a Pedro-size $17.5 mil for a guy coming off a Cy Young year. One side is $4 mil below, the other is $4.5 high. Knowing that the arbiters cannot decide on something in the middle, Clemens had to pick his number. I believe, as do many Houston sportswriters that he would have been a lock to be awarded $20 mil. At $22 mil his chances are about 50-50 or slightly worse.

 

The arbiters will have to decide to under or over pay the man for 2005. There is no history to handicap this one, it's a record spread with record amounts in a winner take all showdown with everyone all in.

I kinda think Clemens wants to retire, since the Stros lost a bunch of talent this offseason and maybe he thinks they can't compete. This is a pretty bad way to go about it, though - if he wins the arb and still retires, he looks foolish for turning down 22 mil. If he loses and retires, or if he wins and plays, he looks greedy. Kind of a no-win situation for him. The best solution is to either hammer out a one-year deal before this goes to an arbiter, or to just retire and say that he didn't want this to drag out.

I kinda think Clemens wants to retire, since the Stros lost a bunch of talent this offseason and maybe he thinks they can't compete. This is a pretty bad way to go about it, though - if he wins the arb and still retires, he looks foolish for turning down 22 mil. If he loses and retires, or if he wins and plays, he looks greedy. Kind of a no-win situation for him. The best solution is to either hammer out a one-year deal before this goes to an arbiter, or to just retire and say that he didn't want this to drag out.

 

Watching Clemens this past season, and getting a lot of Astros coverage convinced me he is one of the most competitive guys in all of sports. He's got a chance to blow away the record for starting pitcher contract and I think he is going to try for it. I am guessing but if they did sign Beltran, he would have pitched for less. Remember he played for "only" $5.7 last season. I do not believe that is going to help either side in this.

 

I hope it goes to arbitration, it will be an interesting show.

While you can't compare players between sports, this reminds me of the contracts JR gave Jordan at the end of his career. At that point, JR was paying for building up the Bulls to what they were at the time, as well as not being greedy and demanding huge contracts. Clemens wants to be the highest paid pitcher ever, because he feels as if he is the best pitcher. And arguably, he is. He won Cy Youngs in both leagues...WS championships...I doubt it tarnishes his reputation that much...he wasn't the most likeable character to begin with. Just ask Red Sox fans.

Don't you wish you could go to your boss and demand that you be payed 22 million dollars, wow that is the life. But if Clemens is going to get this money they better rework the contract so that he loses all those priviledges he was recieving, like not having to go on roadtrips, etc.

It would be hard to argue against Clemens numbers, but who is Clemens going to compare himself to to justify that kind of money. None of the games top pitchers are making anywhere close to $22 mil

It would be hard to argue against Clemens numbers, but who is Clemens going to compare himself to to justify that kind of money.  None of the games top pitchers are making anywhere close to $22 mil

 

I'm guessing he was thinking the Astros were going to offer closer to $17.75 mil just to top Pedro.

They came to him and got him out of retirement, right?

 

And he delivered and helped get him into the postseason, right?

 

Pay the man what he's worth to them. I think clemens' number is a lot closer to being right than the Astros.

If I were Clemens, I would mention the contracts that Jaret Wright, Eric Milton, Kris Benson, and Derek Lowe got this offseason.

It would be hard to argue against Clemens numbers, but who is Clemens going to compare himself to to justify that kind of money.  None of the games top pitchers are making anywhere close to $22 mil

 

If the Astros number is 49.9% correct and his is 50.1% correct he gets the dough. That's what I love about this process. Usually it's so close that really who cares? Now it this huge spread with each side taking poor positions. It is perhaps the biggest flaw in the player's contract. All or nothing, pick a number. Either side would win with a number between $15mil and $20mi. Instead they are both out of the range.

 

From a PR standpoint, I'd rather be the Astros.