FanNation - The Republic of Sport

I think this is a bad idea all around. Rushing a 44 year old pitcher is like driving 100 miles an hour in a Kia, if it doesn't blow up first it is bound to crash. I have followed the Yankees since I was a kid but the last few years of trying to buy a World Series is starting to wear a little thin. I think that a whole overhaul is needed, starting with the owner. Until he realizes that a World Championship (unlike women and fast cars) cannot be bought we will continue to see a team of highly paid, exceptionally talented under-achievers.

The Yanks have no choice. Chien-Ming Wang's been injured, Mike Mussina's clearly in the final months of his career, Carl Pavano's been, well- Pavano, and there's no one else available. Hughes, Karstens, and the other unpromising minor leaguers can't carry the load. The only choice is to rush Clemens in.

Steinbrenner doesn't care about "buying" a championship team- he's done it repeatedly for years, without realizing the consequences of bloating free-agent contracts or similarly ruining the game. The Yankees must be the only franchise in sports history where winning something as difficult as the league pennant is considered PAR.

Still, interesting to watch all the frontrunning Yankees fans scurrying and whining.

to the voicer "clockendagger" - you are one of the ONLY sane and grounded Yankee fans who soberly realize that the concept of buying championship has failed misreably (and if you will, also pathetically and ridiculously) over the past 7 years.
What made the Yankees of the 90's who they were, was the nuclear team they put together. Currently, their largest "nucleus" is really made up by non-original and non-organizational players and believe me, it shows, every year and as of late -- daily.
How much do you want to bet that instead of reading the writing on the wall, George will acquire even MORE highly paid stars and issue yet another "reassuring" missive to Yankee fans next year??

As for Roger Clemens - I hardly can comment about a person and/or player I have zero respect for. If he injures himself and is FINALLY put out to pasture, you won't find me having an OUNCE of sympathy for him OR for the 'brilliant' owner who thougt he could catch lightening in a bottle.

They need to redo this whole team. The Yankees are pathetic.
I miss the days of teamwork and the little guys who got the big hits.
Basically, the Mets right now.

This keeps getting better and better.

its stupid to rush clemens up when he just gave up a single a home run the yanks need to rethink their whole team

Sorry folks- a "rebuilding year" or two for the Yankees is out of the question. Steinbrenner doesn't believe in them. Why bother with P00-P00 prospects and developing good players through scouting when you can sign enormous free-agent contracts ?

Plucking and plundering other team's rosters and farm system is what Steinbrenner seems to be good at. There's hardly any loyalty amongst players to their team, the city, or its fans anymore. Everything is about the money and the Yankees, in my opinion, are the biggest antagonists. Year after year they lure star players away from the smaller market teams (some of which have been brought up through through another team's farm system) that can't afford to match the ridiculous amount of money the Yankees toss around.

Now I know some of the organizations out there are guilty of pocketing revenue instead of using it to keep or sign core players to contracts, but that isn't always so. Of course some people will say "it's Steinbrenner's money, he can do what he wants with it" and that's true. But look at where it's gotten them the last seven years. Every year since 2000 they've been trying harder and harder to buy a championship only to crash and burn in the playoffs when the time comes for the players (A-Rod) to really earn their money.

Its a never ending circle and it has/will go like this: 1)Steinbrenner won't rebuild, instead just opting to toss money around and signing aging stars to massive contracts. 2)Everyone will see that the team has no nucleous. 3)The team closes in on the Red Sox after the All-Star break. 4)They win the Pennent by a game over Boston. 5)A-Rod and the rest of the team struggle in the playoffs and eventually get eliminated in the ALDS or the ALCS. 6)Steinbrenner will once again call for someone's head (usually Torre)...and back on to #1 and repeat and ad nauseam.

you guys think so low of clemens? Wow? he's Clemen, go watch some past baseball then comment because this guy is no ordinary pitcher. I'm not a yanks fan but this guy is awesome.

I don't know, but last night it seemed the Yankees got one foot out of the grave. At Shea, in the rain, you could see A-rod, Jeter and Posada wanting to do everything to make a 8-2 blowout a game again. Abreu had two hits, Cano (despite the three errors) hit a home run, you could see the bats coming to life. Clemens will come too late, unless they start winning. And maybe tonight might be the night where it all gets turned around... LET'S GO YANKEES!

Every time I hear a fan of a small market team cry about the Yankees "ruining" the game by throwing money aroud I want to smash my skull with a shovel. Don't you realize that the Yankees contribute MILLIONS to the luxury tax, and therefore small market teams!?! And the Yankkes account for about 25% of all MLB merchandise sold, which also goes back to small market teams. Think they're selling millions of KC hats?!?!
Its one thing to not like the Yanks because of Steinbrenner, or even Torre and the players, but hating them because they have the wealthiest franchise is absurd. Why as a country to we value the free-market and capitalism in the economy, but then want our sports teams to be run like Soviet republics?

ow is it that we are BUYING a championship? You can say that about the Yankees from 2001 till 2005. How the EFF have we been buying players the last 2 years you tell me?? What big over-the-hill and overrated free agent did we sign? All you stupid Yankee haters can come up with is we are buying players, how we don't have chemistry and **** like that. For your EFFing information we have been trimming payroll and not adding. The reason of the 195 million is the result of the signings from 2001 to 2005. We dont BUY players anymore. With Wang, with Cano, with Cabrera, with the tons of other pitchers that we have when we traded away Sheff, Johnson, and you guys STILL say we are buying.
How about Boston tossing 100+ million on Dice-K? Is that not buying? What about the METS? Beltran, Delgado, Wagner, Green, Pedro, Lo Duca. Is that not BUYING??? EFFIng hypocrites only want to diss what the Yankees do. If you can't stand us because we have been winning all the time, then just stop supporting whatever loser team your supporting and stop your whining. You guys haven't the first idea of how a big market team are run so go back to your respective team forums and ****.

hey guys.............one pitcher can not win a pennant, let alone a WS. Even should he win 12-14 games. The Yankees need to revamp their entire pitching staff as many of us knew PRIOR to the start of the season. Cashman needs to go. Do the Yankee
s have any 'shot' for a flag this year? Well, the answer is, if they are still in double digit in the loss column up to the all star break.....................no chance. Boston ain't going no where!!

Rushing Clemens probaly won't help them any. He's not going to be the dominant pitcher he was with Houston last year. He's going to be facing teams like the Red Sox in comparison to a team like Pittsburgh or Cincinnatti. It's no secret the AL is better than the NL with the DH being a big part of it.

the sad affair that is the yankees has finally caught up to them (suckers) .they're screwed that they dont have a "ace" going forward .clemens is a year rental,andy is a 2year rental, moose is 4years past his prime, wang is a wild card, the kid hughes, the jury's out, and i couldnt name the other 7losers that started games fo dem if my life depended on it........

my point being every contender has that proven "ace" with 5or more serviceable years left ......maybe they can try to trade for johan santana for arod and jeter .......

Since I became a baseball (Red Sox) fan in 1967, I have slowly watched the sport go down hill because of greedy players and the owners willing to pay for the greed. Now we're watching pitchers getting rented for millions just for part of a season. The days of players staying with a team out of loyalty are pretty much a thing of the past. So if they want to push Clemens, more power to them, I'll watch in amusment.

of course they're rushing him. they have to sell tickets to that new stadium next year...

Sure the Yankees have a choice. They can do as every other team in baseball does and accept the fact they can't win a world series every year. Moves like signing a 44 year old to a 5 million a month contract just reak of desperation and an unwillingness to accept there is more to winning that tossing cash around.

As someone else said, when the Yanks were actually winning Championships they did it with guys like Brosius, Tino, Knoblauch...etc. There was some semblence of unity in the clubhouse and not just a collection of aging mercenarys brought together.

The Yankees never put a lot of thought into building for the future, and that has brought us to where we have been the last few years. Aging vets like Brown, Mussina, Giambi and Randy Johnson breaking down or having subpar years while real character guys like Bernie Williams are pushed aside.

Clemens is one of the best pitchers in major league history. The Yankees desperately need him now but pushing him to come back too soon is not a good idea. He isnt a young pitcher anymore it will take him longer to get back to pitching the way he is known for. The Yanks have to see it this way either they push him to come back too soon, he gets hurt, and possibly ends his career(and all hope for the Yanks this season) or they let him take his time and be fully ready. Now the question is are the Yanks willing to wait?

As I said, the Yankees are the biggest antagonists. Yes Boston threw in alot of money for Dice-K, but you tell me how thats worst than 28 million for half a season of baseball going to an OVER THE HILL, OVERRATED Clemens. Yes, at this point in his career and at his age, the man is overrated. You tell me how thats good for the market.

Roger "It wasn't about the money" Clemens can't save this early train wreck the Yankees are involved in. Common sense will...unfortunately recent history suggests otherwise with this organization. YD...face it, your team's patheticness is magnified by that massive payroll...so in hindsite I would say that the Yankees are the biggest "loser team" in the league. =]