Clemens Rejoins the Evil Empire
| 5
|
by user Willf123
It only seemed to be a matter of time, or more accurrately money, before Roger Clemens ended his self imposed retirement for the umpteenth time before rejoining the Yankees. Obviously, various injuries have contributed to the poor record the NYY have thus far. King George and Cashman were obviously concerned enough that they seriously outbid Boston for the Rocket's services.
Here is an analysis of what this deal means for the NYY. Using some numbers from his career Clemens has averaged about 6.98 innings pitched per start. That figure dropped last year to 5.96 in 19 starts. What that means is that Roger has gone from being a 7 inning pitcher to a 6 inning one at the tail end of his career. This should put more strain on the NYY bullpen but is still better by about 1/2 an inning then they have been getting from their #4 and 5 slots.
Looking at Clemens career ERA+ (a figure that compares a pitcher's era relative to league with ballpark factors) he is credited with being a +144. What that means is that relative to NYY current adjusted ERA of 4.13, is that Clemens should be expected to have an ERA in the tougher American League of about 3.70 - 3.80 which is substantially higher than the 2.30 he put up for the Astros last year. With better offensive support then he received in Houston, Clemens should be good for around 10 wins. The bigger concern for the NYY is their bullpen which has been a disaster outside of Brian Bruney and Mike Myers who I do not expect to keep pitching as well as they have for the rest of the season.
