Astros to not offer Clemens arbitration?

[Mark_R]

Ken Rosenthal reporting that contract talks may have broken down as well.

The Roger Clemens saga appears headed for an unfortunate turn. The Astros are not expected to offer Clemens salary arbitration by Wednesday night's deadline, a decision that would prevent them from re-signing him before May 1.

 

The Astros offered Clemens arbitration under similar circumstances last season. After Clemens requested $22 million, the two sides eventually settled at $18 million. The Astros evidently do not want to take the same risk again; they've already committed $65 million to five players.

 

The logical solution is for the two sides to reach agreement on a 2006 salary for Clemens by Wednesday night's deadline, giving Clemens time to decide whether he wants to return. However, such negotiations do not appear to be taking place

[Andy]

My free agent contest ballot (on which I had Clemens retiring) is smiling at the moment...

[nilodnayr]

He can still resign with them even if they dont offer him arbi, he would just have to wait until May to play, given his age, it might even be beneficial. If he really wanted to win, he should just sign for a couple mil, so the astros can trade for abreu. This will be their last hurrah, but with that rotation and a lineup of taveras, biggio, berkman, abreu, ensberg, bagwell, lane, catcher, they should be one of the NL favorites.

[MPrior]

I think Clemens is pretty tired, and, despite the increased chances of winning, I don't think he'll come back for a few million. He's either gonna retire or make at least the 18 mill he made last year.

[nilodnayr]

I think Clemens is pretty tired, and, despite the increased chances of winning, I don't think he'll come back for a few million. He's either gonna retire or make at least the 18 mill he made last year.

 

He did it before in 04. Hes has already made 121M bucks, whats to say he wont suck it up, make a couple more mil to try and win a ring for his hometown team?

[sherwood921]

He can still resign with them even if they dont offer him arbi, he would just have to wait until May to play, given his age, it might even be beneficial.

 

We know he keeps himself in great shape, could he possibly come back around the all-star game? He could take some time off and technically be in "midseason form" when the playoffs rolled around. Obviously they might not even make the playoffs w/o him, and it would probably be a very strange situation. I wonder if he or anyone else has ever considered that.

[Laura]

What's the world baseball schedule? He was all gung-ho about pitching in that before.