Red Sox/MLB 2019 Season Begins - Bogaerts Extended 7Y $132M
- Thread starter Fenway
- Start date
- Status
EverettMike
FIRE DON SWEENEY INTO THE SUN
If the Sox ever decide to retire Clemens number I will make sure I am there to boo as loudly as I can.
f*** that guy more than any other player ever.
f*** that guy more than any other player ever.
He signed with Toronto for one simple reason - the PED's he was alleged to be using WERE LEGAL IN CANADA.
MLB didn't have a drug policy in place for much of his career and he never failed a test. He risked jail by fighting the charge of lying to Congress.
Will McDonough figured him out before anyone else did.
EverettMike
FIRE DON SWEENEY INTO THE SUN
Wait...what? You mean it wasnt because he was “closer to home” ?
Shit. Ive been flim flammed.
The problem IS NOT that "some people arent smart enough to decide when to go to bed". The problem is they ARE smart enough to go to bed. They're choosing sleep over watching games. It's a problem that MLB knows they need to address (speeding up games) and are attempting to do so. You can disagree with them that it's a problem, but they have teams of people who are employed solely to determine why people aren't watching the games, why they are losing the younger audience, etc. and this is what they've come up with.
bigfrank21
Chara spoons it!
I had never heard about the Canada / PED angle before. The reason that I commonly heard was that Duquette didn't believe in Clemens' abilities ("...in the twilight of his career..."), and wasn't willing to offer the type of money that Toronto was - which just so happened to also be the richest pitcher salary in the MLB in 1997.
It's an argument that sits well in the court of public opinion: management doesn't believe in player, player follows the big money to a new team, player says "i'll show you" and proceeds to produce a dominant season (including a 16K outing in his return to Fenway, where he famously stared at the owners box while exiting the game to a standing ovation - FOR ROGER, IT'S RETURN TO SPLENDOR).
Knowing what we know now... the PED / Canada angle makes just about as much sense as the money angle... yikes.
Oh, I have Roger stories from back in Winter Haven.
But the lasting image in my brain of Roger happened after his last home start at Fenway in 1996.
Box Score of Game played on Saturday, September 28, 1996 at Fenway Park
After the game, he went over to Twins souvenir shop and was hawking an ungodly ugly lithograph that he would sign personally and it was roughly $150. Fans were lined up and down the block to get one and Roger was signing them and his wife had the cashbox and credit card machine.
Roger took far less money to sign with Toronto than the Yankees. NYY was starting their dynasty and endorsements in New York would have been huge.
The fact that the steroids in question WERE LEGAL in Canada had to be part of the equation.
Steinbrenner's Money Can't Buy Clemens's Love
Roger Clemens surprisingly signed a three-year, $24.75 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday that left a stunned George Steinbrenner holding a $32 million paycheck and a city that revered and reproached the pitcher mourning his departure.
The deal made Clemens the highest-paid pitcher in baseball, forced the Yankees to focus more strongly on attempting to sign David Wells and maybe John Wetteland, and sent the public-relations scarred Boston Red Sox pondering life after Roger.
After Steinbrenner shockingly discovered that his bundles of money were not enough to persuade Clemens to relocate to the Bronx, no one could blame him for huffing and puffing his way through organizational meetings yesterday in Tampa, Fla. Because he snatched control of the negotiations and had visited Clemens at his home in Texas, Steinbrenner was poised to become the heroic Yankee owner who would usher the greatest Red Sox pitcher to the despised New York rivals. Instead, Steinbrenner was left marooned.
When he was asked Wednesday if he thought Clemens was using the Yankees to inflate his value, Steinbrenner said he did not know. But, after a prolonged dance, Clemens wound up accepting less money from the improving Blue Jays in selecting them over the World Series champion Yankees.
The Cleveland Indians ($28 million) bowed out late Thursday and the Red Sox ($22 million) were not serious players in retaining the 34-year-old right-hander, who reached the majors with Boston in 1984 and earned $5.5 million with a 10-13 record last season.
bigfrank21
Chara spoons it!
This is awesome context - thank you for digging it up and posting it.
As an aside - It is the little discussions like this that bring me back to this site day after day. I've never heard of this side of the story until today, and I was an unabashed Clemens fan across all the teams. This kind of insight really would not make it into my circle of friends and into our collective view. It makes me wonder just how many other scenarios unfolded differently behind the scenes as compared to the PR or perceived story as understood by the public at large.
Thanks again Fenway for this nugget - and for all the other great stories you and others on this board post that provide a new perspective.
Bone cancer. Horrific painful disease. My dad died from it.
RIP
Bruinaura
Resident Cookie Monster
- Mar 29, 2014
- 47,183
- 92,872
McGarnagle
Yes.
- Aug 5, 2017
- 30,351
- 41,636
The Phils are going to be fun to watch. If they do land Harper in the end, they could do some serious damage.
The whole NL East outside of the Marlins should be good next year. The Mets and Phils bought big this offseason, and the Braves are returning the core of a young division-winner last year.
Fenway has had the inning clock for 4 years now
The minors have had the pitch clock for the same amount of time
Reality is way too many Red Sox games at home are still going as the clock approaches 11 PM.
Game 3 of the World Series dictated something has to change.
The minors have had the pitch clock for the same amount of time
Reality is way too many Red Sox games at home are still going as the clock approaches 11 PM.
Game 3 of the World Series dictated something has to change.
McGarnagle
Yes.
- Aug 5, 2017
- 30,351
- 41,636
Fenway has had the inning clock for 4 years now
The minors have had the pitch clock for the same amount of time
Reality is way too many Red Sox games at home are still going as the clock approaches 11 PM.
Game 3 of the World Series dictated something has to change.
Game 3 of the World Series was amazing. It was everything baseball should be. If they're looking at it (a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence) as something to CHANGE, the league needs to get its head out of its ass.
Game 3 was epic - luckily it was a Friday night
BUT - You can't have your marquee season event live at 3 AM in the East
BigBadBruins7708
Registered User
Fenway has had the inning clock for 4 years now
The minors have had the pitch clock for the same amount of time
Reality is way too many Red Sox games at home are still going as the clock approaches 11 PM.
Game 3 of the World Series dictated something has to change.
sorry, but adding in "speed up the game" measures because of game 3 is the definition of stupid.
It was an 18 inning game, what time do they expect a game that long to end?
BigBadBruins7708
Registered User
It went 18 innings. Even with added measures, its a game thats not finishing until 2AM EST
if theyre worried about games ending late for the East Coast, then they may as well just move all west coast teams east of the Mississippi
McGarnagle
Yes.
- Aug 5, 2017
- 30,351
- 41,636
The game went 4 innings longer than the second longest WS game (Chicago/Houston game 3, 2005), and that one started at 8:30 PM and went nearly 6 hours. Proportionally, the Sox/Dodgers game was quicker inning for inning (mostly thanks to Eovaldi's pace).
- Status
