Roger Clemens: Sugar Land Skeeter

1) 88 mph for top fastball? Meh.

2) Why 3 1/3 innings? Why not 4?

3) 2 K's in 3 innings against the Alpo League? Meh.


Meh.

 

I think, if this is what he is doing, that the advantage for him would just be more time passing. He can use that extra time to put on a phony "nice guy" act like a-rod. People have short memories, five more years may gain him a few more votes just due to the passage of time and peoples opinions softening a bit.

 

I've heard A-Rod accused of being many, many things, but do you have reason to think that he's not nice?

 

Satchel Paige came back at 58 years of age and threw three shutout innings, and it was the perfect coda.
I don't care if he's an asswipe or not, a 50-year-old man throwing 88 mph is not shrugworthy material.

 

He was just voted #1 phony by his peers. He seems to have a new personality the last year or so.
Of course this is regarding his public personality, the one he puts out to the public and the media. He is out to revamp his image as he looks down the road to HOF voting.

 

When the batter stands in the batter's box, for maybe one second he thinks "Oh my goodness gracious, of all the dramatic things I have ever seen, Roger Clemens is standing right there on the pitcher's mound!! And not only that, he is 50 (fifty) (five decades) (half a century) old!!!"

Then Roger delivers the ball, and the batter sees it is an 88-mph fastball. An 88-mph fastball in MLB is "meh."

It doesn't matter if the guy who threw it is Roger Clemens or Roger Rabbit, it doesn't matter if the guy who threw it is 50, 35, 25, 75 or 15 years old. If it doesn't have speed and movement, MLB hitters are going to tee off on it.

If the age and reputation of the pitcher made any big difference in whether hitters can hit him or not, Nolan Ryan himself should suit back up for the Astros. Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton are available as free agents.

 

And how do you know he is exerting himself to the fullest?
It's his first outing in an independent league game.
He's not going to go balls to the wall.
I am certain there's a gentleman's agreement that he will get his "call-up" and swan song.
The entire thing is a sideshow.

 

"Gentleman's agreement" with who?

What leverage does Roger Clemens have to enter into a clandestine "gentleman's agreement" with anybody? Can we expect Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds to start angling to make late-season pinch-hitting appearances?

The Astros suck. They need to get much better. Roger Clemens will not be there when that happens. Any innings he pitches are innings taken away from pitchers who might be.

As far as whether he's extending himself or going balls to the wall -- it's late August. If he wants to pitch in Houston or anywhere else before the end of the season, he better go balls to the wall pretty goddamn soon.

 

You're not getting it.
He's the creepy middle-aged guy who still hangs around his high school years after he graduated.
Hits on the chicks and talks about the glory days.
The Astros have been fine with this arrangement.
They normally let him throw a few spring training BP sessions.
They will give him what he wants essentially for meritorious service.
If you think he signed with some dinky-shit indy league team just to do a trapeze act in front of a few thousand rednecks and end the season with them, you're kidding yourself.

 

So who made said agreement?

New owner Jim Crane, who has no professional connections to Roger Clemens? New GM Jeff Luhnow, who has no professional connections to Roger Clemens? Or interim manager Tony DeFrancesco, whose only prior connection to Clemens was spending a few spring trainings with him in Winter Haven almost 30 years ago?

 

The Astros are a joke. Roger Clemens is a joke. It's a perfect fit, really.

 

So why don't they tell him to take a hike?
They have not done that.