The Astro's won't be able to negotiate with him until May.

I'm happy that Houston is saying goodbye for now atleast. The way Clemens has handled this has been horrible.

Good for them he needs to to s*** or get off he pot. He got $16M and would get the same or more next year if they went to arbitration. I wished he came back as I would have liked to see him go for 350 wins.

 

I may have seen his last live MLB appearance, cool.

Think St. Louis will go after him.

Man, I'm shocked by this. The Stros even spent a draft pick on Roger's son to try to encourage him to return. I figured he'd play 1 more year on the understanding that his son would be called up to play catcher for at least 1 game that he pitched this season.

The Rocket wanted $20 million for one year and the Stros already had $65 million tied into 5 players for 2006 - ouch!

Trust me, teams like Boston, New York and maybe even St. Louis will at least give him a call and offer up 16-20 million for 1 year.

The Rocket wanted $20 million for one year and the Stros already had $65 million tied into 5 players for 2006 - ouch!

Good lord, that's worse than we were 2 years ago. Could you imagine if Beltran had signed with them? That'd be like $82 million for 6 players, with like $6 million going to the other 19.

Good lord, that's worse than we were 2 years ago.  Could you imagine if Beltran had signed with them?  That'd be like $82 million for 6 players, with like $6 million going to the other 19.

Ya, looking at figures like that is why I was praying they'd sign Beltran last year. B/c that's the only way Berkman could conceivably be available -- if you have someone only 3/4ths as good already signed for gobs and gobs of money.

Does anyone else see Texas throwing a bunch of money at Clemens?

St. Louis doesn't have those kind of dollars but I'd imagine teams like The Mets, Yanks, Sawx, and Rangers will offer that deal. I agree that its good for Houston. If this forces Bagwell into retirement, they will save like $35 million in payroll just fromt hsoe two next year

f*** Clemens. I'm glad the Astros decided not to offer him arb. When the hell was he going to decide to retire, January?

 

Make up your mind already!! That guy's been dicking around that team for the past two seasons now. At least Houston can now use that money to get some offense.

$20 million is a lot to ask considering he did nothing when they really needed him in the World Series.

I know Astros are going to get a ton of crap in Houston about this, but I really think this is a smart move by them. I know they have 65 in 6 players, but Gammons on the radio did the arbitration math and basically said they will be at around 90-95 million WITHOUT Clemens once they get some signings done.

 

Clemens goes on Dan Patrick last week and said he wanted to wait to see if they add any offense, but this team really can't do anything with a possible 20 million dollar question mark.

 

I know it may hurt the Astros next year, but I just think Clemens put them in an impossible situation.

Fairly insightful Stark piece on Clemens & the Stros.

Without reading Stark's piece, here's what I think will happen. Clemens will pitch in the WBC. Then, he'll wait till May 1 and if the Stros look decent, he'll reup with them and start pitching for them about June 1 ... this way he'll be fresher for the stretch drive and playoffs.

I dont know if anyone is watching ATH, but Bill Plaschke and Woody Paige have officially cemented their place in the hall of not-well and insane. They both just predicted that the Boston Red Sox will sign Roger Clemens after the World Baseball Classic. Plaschke went even further and said that Roger Clemens wants to go into the hall of fame as a Red Sox. Last I heard, both the Boston organization and fanbase have been pretty pissed at Roger and vice versa. I think Plaschke and Paige are dreaming out loud. Its such a sham that two guys who literally make stuff up and get called out on it can continue to preach their bulls*** as truth.