This Week's Attitude
Can The Rocket Launch Yankees Back To World Series?
By Neil S. Friedman

All the pre-season chatter about cutting payroll and signs of getting a younger roster vanished from Yankee Stadium in the instant Roger Clemens unexpectedly announced that he had just signed a deal to return to the Bombers' pitching rotation during the seventh-inning stretch on May 6. Naturally, the stadium crowd went wild, as most fans at home were almost certainly shocked and awed.

Clemens reportedly will earn a pro-rated salary of about $28 million for a part-time gig. ( So much for a reduced payroll .) Despite a strict exercise regimen - during his last three years with the Houston Astros, the seemingly ageless pitcher played like he was in his prime - he will turn 45 this summer. (So much for a youth movement.)

The Rocket, as he is affectionately known, will average about $9,000 a pitch, $150,000 an inning, $900,000 per start and $4.5 million a month. No one in any professional sport has ever earned so much money. Clemens told reporters - with a straight face - it wasn't about the money. He subsequently told a N.Y. Post reporter that 28 million reasons to return to The Bronx might not have been enough if Joe Torre wasn't the Yankees' manager.

Okay, stop laughing. Clemens may have a soft spot for the affable Yankee manager, but everyone knows it's always about the money when it comes to athletes, movie stars and those with exceptional talents who toil in professions where pay ceilings are shattered every now and then. If money didn't matter, Clemens - and others who humbly echo similar responses - would emulate billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg and relinquish the salary for a measly buck.

But that ain't never gonna happen. You know it. I know it - and deep down Roger Clemens knows it.

If the New York Yankees don't win it all this year, who will owner George (The Boss) Steinbrenner blame? Manager Joe Torre? General Manager Brian Cashman? Captain Derek Jeter? Superstar Alex Rodriquez? Pitching coach Ron Guidry? Or maybe himself?

Signing Clemens was a Steinbrenner priority over the winter, as the future baseball Hall of Famer and his agent weighed options from the Yankees, as well as the Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros, the team for whom he pitched last year. Knowing his proclivity for outdoing the Red Sox on and off the field, Steinbrenner seemed willing to give Clemens, who helped the Yankees win consecutive championships in his first two seasons (1999-2000) in The Bronx, whatever he asked for just to keep him from going back to Boston, where he began and cemented his reputation and career.

The owner has hired a team full of capable, high-priced (no less than five players earn $15 million a year) scapegoats to fault if the team fails to get its 27th world championship this fall. But, since Steinbrenner was probably the motivating force behind the deal, he'll only have himself to blame if The Rocket fizzles for the four months he'll be in a starting rotation that has had its share of problems - partially due to injuries and inexperience - so far this season. Assuming the seven-time Cy Young Award winner starts every fifth da - if he stays health - he can only affect 20 percent of the team's games. Even when he pitches six or seven innings, the struggling Yankee bullpen will continue to be overtaxed and have to finish what he starts.

The Yankees can certainly use a pitcher of Clemens' uncommon caliber. However, despite the experience, reliability and stability he brings, he has been granted unprecedented privileges. Of course, if he is a key factor in helping the Yankees notch another championship, any reservations will quickly be forgiven.

Clemens' contract reportedly has a few exceptional clauses never before given to a Yankee player, regardless of status, and rarely granted to other major leaguers. The pact allows him to go home between starts to be with his family, like he did when he pitched for the Astros. When reporters asked him about the special treatment, he said he was unaware of the clause. Hey Roger, enough with the humility.

Unless there are dire family circumstances he should travel with the team like everyone else. Allowing extraordinary exceptions for one player, despite his unmatched capabilities, could create friction in a locker room, even in one that usually appears as harmonious as the Yankees.

When Alex Rodriquez negotiated with the New York Mets six years ago, he had some special demands in his contract, which the Yankees said they'd never permit one of their players to have. (He didn't get any privileges when he signed with the Yankees a few years ago.) Guess when your back is against the wall, apparently anything goes.

Fans undoubtedly welcome Roger Clemens back to the Yankee fold with open arms and are grateful George Steinbrenner has a flair for spending money to assemble the best that money can buy - though his decisions haven't always been fruitful. Nonetheless, as has been obvious the last six years, the team with the highest payroll doesn't win the World Series.

Clemens is scheduled for his first minor league start tomorrow and should join the team by early June. But, if the Yankees don't soon turn things around, his presence could be too little, too late. Even with The Rocket, the erratic pitching staff and offense have to radically improve or they won't make the playoffs, let alone the World Series - no matter what Roger Clemens' accomplishes during his brief stay in The Bronx.