BOURBON TOWN CAT FAN
08-01-2006, 12:43 PM
This would have been a great ending for one of my all-time favorite players, to come full circle and possibly win a ring with Boston.
It was a deal that would have wiped all the other deals off the back page, the front page and all the pages in between.
It was a deal that would have changed history -- and pennant races.
It was a deal that didn't happen this weekend, but apparently could have -- and should have.
It was a deal that never was -- a deal involving the only active 343-game winner currently hanging around our planet.
http://espn-att.starwave.com/photo/2006/0731/mlb_clemens_195.jpg
Doug Benc/Getty Images
Roger Clemens has a 2.09 ERA but only a 2-4 record to show for it due to a punchless Astros' offense and two blown saves.
Roger Clemens (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=3340) to the Red Sox?
Multiple sources say it was a trade that could have been made, even as late as Monday afternoon. All Astros owner Drayton McLane would have had to do was say: "You know, it's the right thing to do."
But apparently, that isn't what he said. Drayton McLane isn't ready to give up on his season. And he isn't ready to give up Roger Clemens.
The owner easily could have done for Clemens what the Cubs did Monday for Greg Maddux (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=3933). There are times when certain people deserve to be rescued from their sinking cruise liners. This year, for those two living legends, was one of those times.
The Cubs couldn't be sure if this was Maddux's final season. But if it is, he doesn't deserve to finish it with a team that's trying to hold off the Pirates in the NL Central dungeon.
So on Monday, the Cubs gave Maddux a chance to write a different ending, to his season and his career, by pitching in games worthy of his presence. They didn't have to. But it was the right thing to do.
Accounts vary on exactly how close the Astros might have been to granting Clemens a similar favor. But we have heard too many accounts that suggest those dots could have been connected to ignore them.
The version that people in Houston are telling their friends is that they never actually fielded offers from anybody on Clemens. In this rendition of the story, GM Tim Purpura was sharp enough to see those offers coming. So he "prepared" for calls from the three teams that pursued Clemens as a free agent -- the Red Sox, Yankees and Rangers.
But he never planned to go beyond those preparations unless McLane told him to -- presumably because the season was a lost cause and it was the right thing to do. Except McLane never spoke those words. So teams that called were allegedly told it wasn't the Astros' "present intent" to trade the Rocket. He was out of play.
There is another story going around, however, that presents a different version of this tale. And it's fascinating how many hooked-in people in baseball were hearing it late Monday afternoon.
In this version, the Red Sox weren't told the Astros didn't intend to trade Clemens. Instead, the two sides exchanged ideas, scenarios and even lists of potential players who could have been sent to Houston in exchange for Clemens.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2535859&lpos=spotl ight&lid=tab1pos2
It was a deal that would have wiped all the other deals off the back page, the front page and all the pages in between.
It was a deal that would have changed history -- and pennant races.
It was a deal that didn't happen this weekend, but apparently could have -- and should have.
It was a deal that never was -- a deal involving the only active 343-game winner currently hanging around our planet.
http://espn-att.starwave.com/photo/2006/0731/mlb_clemens_195.jpg
Doug Benc/Getty Images
Roger Clemens has a 2.09 ERA but only a 2-4 record to show for it due to a punchless Astros' offense and two blown saves.
Roger Clemens (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=3340) to the Red Sox?
Multiple sources say it was a trade that could have been made, even as late as Monday afternoon. All Astros owner Drayton McLane would have had to do was say: "You know, it's the right thing to do."
But apparently, that isn't what he said. Drayton McLane isn't ready to give up on his season. And he isn't ready to give up Roger Clemens.
The owner easily could have done for Clemens what the Cubs did Monday for Greg Maddux (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=3933). There are times when certain people deserve to be rescued from their sinking cruise liners. This year, for those two living legends, was one of those times.
The Cubs couldn't be sure if this was Maddux's final season. But if it is, he doesn't deserve to finish it with a team that's trying to hold off the Pirates in the NL Central dungeon.
So on Monday, the Cubs gave Maddux a chance to write a different ending, to his season and his career, by pitching in games worthy of his presence. They didn't have to. But it was the right thing to do.
Accounts vary on exactly how close the Astros might have been to granting Clemens a similar favor. But we have heard too many accounts that suggest those dots could have been connected to ignore them.
The version that people in Houston are telling their friends is that they never actually fielded offers from anybody on Clemens. In this rendition of the story, GM Tim Purpura was sharp enough to see those offers coming. So he "prepared" for calls from the three teams that pursued Clemens as a free agent -- the Red Sox, Yankees and Rangers.
But he never planned to go beyond those preparations unless McLane told him to -- presumably because the season was a lost cause and it was the right thing to do. Except McLane never spoke those words. So teams that called were allegedly told it wasn't the Astros' "present intent" to trade the Rocket. He was out of play.
There is another story going around, however, that presents a different version of this tale. And it's fascinating how many hooked-in people in baseball were hearing it late Monday afternoon.
In this version, the Red Sox weren't told the Astros didn't intend to trade Clemens. Instead, the two sides exchanged ideas, scenarios and even lists of potential players who could have been sent to Houston in exchange for Clemens.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2535859&lpos=spotl ight&lid=tab1pos2
