Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
When I was in Clearwater this spring watching the Yankees play the Phillies I knew something was up. Robinson Cano had switched his number from 22 to 24. There was this buzz in the air, Roger Clemens was returning to the Yankees. So I had to laugh when it was finally made official yesterday. Do … Continue reading “I ALREADY CANO’D IT”
When I was in Clearwater this spring watching the Yankees play the Phillies I knew something was up. Robinson Cano had switched his number from 22 to 24. There was this buzz in the air, Roger Clemens was returning to the Yankees. So I had to laugh when it was finally made official yesterday.
Do you have any new news to report?
Yeah, i had heard that too. I think from the Yankees’ perspective, the writing was on the wall.
-tbz
Bill Stoneman (Angels GM) commented in the L A Times. Here it is:
The deal left a bad taste in the mouth of Angels General Manager Bill Stoneman.
Clemens, who will turn 45 in August, let the season start without him, considering all the while whether to sign with the Yankees, Boston Red Sox or his hometown Houston Astros, and when.
“I don’t think that’s good for the integrity of the game,” Stoneman said. “He shouldn’t be able to sit on the sidelines, watch how things are going and decide where to go. No club should be able to benefit from that.
“I’m thinking about 30 clubs, not one. I just don’t think it’s right.”
Stoneman’s concern is not about money but about competitive balance. What is to stop other veteran stars, he wonders, from following the lead of Clemens? Play as long as you like each season, and don’t sign with a team before you see it can contend. Barry Bonds could do it next winter, or Curt Schilling, or Clemens again.
Stoneman said he might bring up the possibility of restricting such midseason free-agent signings at the next meeting of general managers, although he hinted that owners such as Steinbrenner might have no interest.
“It’s an issue general managers can discuss and voice opinions on,” Stoneman said, “but it goes beyond general managers.”
Clemens was expected to be ready in three to four weeks, and the Angels could face him at the end of this month, if he completes his minor league tuneups by then, or in the playoffs. The last time they faced him, in his last Cy Young Award season three years ago, Ramon Ortiz beat him.
End of Times article.
One DonS Comment: Did you ever read a comment from an official of the team YOU root for and say, “Exactly how I feel?”
That is DonS today. Proud to be an Angels fan.