It’s official: Satan will not be coming back to Boston this year. Newsday broke the story of Clemens’ 1 year, $14 million deal yesterday and after an initial denial, the Astros confirmed the deal today. Frankly, I’m relieved: while I certainly didn’t want to see Clemens back in pinstripes, I had no desire to see him in a Red Sox uniform either. After all, this is the guy who dogged on his last big contract in Boston, stabbed Toronto fans in the back by ducking out of his contract on a technicality so he could go to New York to get a ring, stabbed New York fans in the back by announcing his retirement then taking Andy Pettitte to Houston (although I must admit that deal gave me no end of glee) and now, after retiring during the World Baseball Classic and leaving Astros fans in the lurch, he’s back in Houston for the rest of the year.
On a personal achievement level, Clemens has played the game very, very well, but do you really want a guy like that on your team? The great thing about the Red Sox teams of the past few years is that they’ve been very group oriented. Sure, you have people who occasionally do their own thing and you have individual heroes across different games, but it’s been about the Red Sox as a whole and what they bring to the table as a team that makes them so exciting to watch and was certainly a part of how they came back in the 2004 ALCS. Clemens is a merc out for the gold and while the Sox could certainly use his arm to shore up their current pitching woes, bringing him back to Boston would considerably cheapen winning another World Series this year.
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