http://www.projo.com/redsox/content/...ns.259743.html

Reports: Bid to bring Clemens back to Sox breaks down

11:05 AM EDT on Friday, August 20, 2004

Reports say the Houston Astro and the Red Sox are discussing a Roger Clemens trade.

Channel 4 in Boston reported last night that the Red Sox and Astros spent yesterday negotiating a trade that would have returned Roger Clemens to Boston, but talks broke down over Houston's demands for minor-league prospects.

The New York Daily News had reported yesterday that the Astros had placed Clemens on waivers earlier this month and he was claimed by Boston. After the July 31 trade deadline, players must pass waivers before they can be dealt to other teams.

Houston pulled Clemens off waivers after the claim, and it was speculated the Sox had placed the claim to prevent the Astros from trading Clemens to the Yankees. But Channel 4 said last night that the Sox want Clemens for themselves, and the teams began negotiating a potential trade. But the Astros' demands were deemed too high by the Sox, and talks broke down.

Players can only be pulled back from waivers once. If he is claimed again, Clemens will be the property of the claiming team.

Teams are offered players placed on waivers in inverse order of the standings, so Boston, in second place in the A.L. East, picked ahead of New York. Teams frequently place players on waivers to see who claims them, in order to gauge trade interest, or to get flexibility to make trades after the deadline.

Clemens, during his 13 years (1984-96) in Boston, became one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history.

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/basebal...is_waived_off/

Clemens deal is waived off

By Bob Hohler, Globe Staff | August 20, 2004

CHICAGO -- The Red Sox were ready to welcome Roger Clemens back to Boston. His uniform number (21) was available. Pedro Martinez, who has expressed the utmost respect for Clemens, almost certainly would have made some room for the Rocket near the locker Clemens long used and Martinez now occupies. Curt Schilling would have been thrilled to pitch with his onetime mentor. Tim Wakefield would have been tickled to work again with his friend and former teammate. And the Sox would readily acknowledge they could do far worse than finding a slot for the future Hall of Famer in their rotation.

To that end, the Sox recently entered a claim on Clemens when the Houston Astros tried to pass him through waivers. The prospect was tantalizing, Clemens returning to the scene of some of his greatest glories and taking another shot at leading the Sox to a championship. And the Rocket no longer would need to work with former general manager Dan Duquette, who angered Clemens in his final season with the Sox by suggesting he was in "the twilight of his career."

Trouble was, the Sox lost any possible shot at Clemens when the Astros pulled him off the waiver wire. It's also very likely that teams lower than the Red Sox in the standings would also have put in a claim for the ace, with so much need for pitching out there and Clemens being a bargain with just the remaining portion of a one-year, $5 million deal. If that were the case, the Sox would not have been able to even discuss a trade with Houston.

Teams generally place many players on waivers after the July 31 deadline for non-waiver trades, in part to gauge the market. And once a team pulls a player back from waivers, it must wait at least 30 days before placing him on waivers again. That means Clemens is highly unlikely to land anywhere else this season.

As for the Sox, given the opportunity, they gladly would have tried to work out a reasonable deal for Clemens, who has been disappointed after coming out of retirement by the Astros' subpar season. But Boston's waiver claim was aimed as much at blocking a potential bid by the Yankees to acquire Clemens as it was to express their own interest in the Rocket. The last thing the Sox wanted to do as the postseason approaches was allow the Yankees to shore up their struggling rotation with a big-game pitcher of the Rocket's caliber.

 

You need it...............Cubs OWN

 

What we need is for the yankees not to get clemens

 

i can see the next 2 months being tense here on acl between yanks and sox fans

 

 

7 1/2 games now... I don't think we'll catch the yankees, but we are gaining ground

 

yanks been slipping lately, but that usually doesnt last long. 7.5 is the closest in a month or so.

 

Like that would ever happen.

 

Yankees Own Baseball!!!!!

 

Down to 7 games back... But I don't know if that's good or not. Why to the yanks lose to Texas and Anaheim ?? Don't they want to help the sox out in the wildcard race ??

 

Now it's 6... and were in the lead by 1/2 a game in the wildcard...

 

Cubs v Boston World Series

 

Now it's 6... and we're in the lead by 1/2 a game in the wildcard...

 

Don't jinx it.

I remember last year game 7 yanks vs sox...someone on this forum jinxed it by saying the sox had it wrapped up.

 

That was me jinxing the hell out of the Cubs.............Started a thread saying the Cubs were 7 outs awy and then the Bartman crap.............................you know the rest :'( :'(

 

I'm usually the one that tells people not to jinx it.... I should know about bad juju

Speaking of game 7:

Have you heard that Grady Little hasn't mowed his lawn all year ?? ....

He doesn't know how to pull the starter...

 

http://acura-cl.com/forums/showthrea...ight=cubs+outs



Oh the horror!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

HAHA...

Man...just thinking of that game gets me all pissed off.

 

Heh...thats the Cubbies thread...someone did it for the Sox game as well.

I would look for it but its almost as bad as seeing replays of Buckner letting the ball go through his legs in the 86 World Series. Buckner

 

I've been thinking about this, and I think the yankees are just screwing with us. I guess they want the last 6 game we play against them in september to be interesting...

When we were 10 1/2 games back I figured I'd just watch the Pats, but now...

 

I was thinking the same thing. But I'll be hopeful if we get down to 3 1/2. It's great that we have made up 5 games in the last week. Did you watch last nights game? Manny and Ortiz back to back HRs!

 

Yeah, but it was still a little "iffy" there in the 9th... Foulk scares me sometimes...

The dynamic duo did it again... Manny looked good in left again too

 

Go Sox!!!!

 

Manny and Ortiz are killing it, as are Millar, Varitek, Damon, Kapler and a few others. Hopefully they can keep riding this and at least get Pedro a win tonight.

 

October's the best time of the year

 

Hey Todd

Where have you been.... Playing house ??

Heck you're only a single guy for another week so you must be busy...

 

Yes...I've been busy as all get out. I took pics, Ernie's hosting them for me as we speak....I'll link them up when they are ready.

 

 

But now what?

The same shit happens every single year. Just hope you get in with the wildcard again.

 

Hopefully the Yanks get in the wild card :p

j/k

I'm not expecting us to catch them...its just nice to gain back so many games in one week. We just need to pull ahead in the wild card.

 

Red Sox have shown interest in Clemens again. I would love to have him back if he's still got it

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2255775

 

He's still got it, but what's it gonna cost... I haven't really followed his carrer in the NL, but he only got 13 wins this year (but houston sucked, right ??)...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/clemero02.shtml

It would be really interesting w/ Schilling and Clemens together in the same rotation...

More on the rumor here ( http://www.bostondirtdogs.com/ has stuff on Theo's return too):

http://www.boston.com/sports/basebal...ssing_clemens/

 

From what I heard Clemens only wants to stay in Houston but part time so he might not show up till July. I heard that from Peter Gammons the other night, and I'm sure Boston doesnt wanna pay his 20 million per year price tag

 

Funny. A couple weeks ago I was talking to Josh about what jersey number he'd take seeing as they'd be unlikely to bring Clemens' number out of retirement for him. Josh wore #21 the last 2 years with the Fish. I guess it's almost certain he won't be wearing it now. Especially since they're trying to get the Rocket back. This would be sweet for the Sox. Land 2 awesome right-handers in one off-season. Eat that Cashman.

 

That's right, pitchers and catchers start reporting NEXT WEEK!!!

I can't wait to see Johnny Damon roaming center field.

I think the Blue Jays could challenge the Yankees and Red Sox for the AL East title.

I think the White Sox and Indians will both make the playoffs.

I think the Mets will finally end the Braves NL East title run.

And, oh yeah, GO YANKEES!!!

 

man i cant wait til football season starts

 

I think the Blue Jays will hang around a while, but then fall out of the race, same with the Mets.

And I think the NL West will suck it up again this year


Anyone going to any spring training games? Me and my brother were thinking about taking a trip to Sarasota to see some Reds games.

Oh yeah GO REDS!!

 

I can't wait to lose 100 games.

 

I predict Coco has a better year than Damon does.

Go Red Sox!