Published: About an hour ago
(Troy Taormina/US PRESSWIRE)
As hard as it is to believe, Roger Clemens made his return to baseball Saturday night after helping lead the Sugar Land Skeeters to a 1-0 victory over the Bridgeport Bluefish. Clemens may have only pitched 3 1/3 innings in his debut with the Skeeters, but that was enough to get the MLB rumors mill swirling again about a possible return to the big leagues.
In fact, it appears Clemen’s debut with the Skeeters is just the first step in a possible return to the Houston Astros next monthâ€"especially since Houston owner Jim Crane already appears to be on board.
“If it gets to the point where it makes sense for him to pitch in the big leagues, the only way we can be as fan-friendly as we’re trying to be would be for any additional proceeds from the game to go to our foundation,†Crane said. “That would be a positive.
“But we’re not there yet. He could go out and give up 10 runs tomorrow. … He’s not in any long-term plans. We’re trying to stick with our long-term plans, and that would not work with those.â€
Considering Clemens spent three years in Houston from 2004-06â€"this type of move wouldn’t come as a surprise on Crane’s end. Clemens was even a key factor in the team’s playoff run in 2004 and 2005â€"which also happened to be the year they went to the World Series.
Of course, the key part of that quote is the fact that Crane and everybody else realizes the addition of Clemens would have nothing to do with the long-term plansâ€"just a friendly gesture to let him play in the big leagues again. With a 40-87 record heading into Sunday, this season is officially a lost cause for the Astrosâ€"so it would be no surprise to see them bring Clemens on board to gain some extra ticket sales during the final month of the regular season.
No comments:
Post a Comment