Giants after the Rocket?? or not...

[Providence A's]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...i/13365610.htm

Giants should take a run at Clemens

Tim Kawakami

Mercury News

If Brian Sabean and Peter Magowan are going to damn the future and shoot for it all in 2006, they should really, really go for it, all the way, no pitchers barred.

If they're content with a roster this dangerously old, top-heavy and at the mercy of an uncontrollable superstar -- and they sure seem content -- well, do I have a proposal for them:

Get older. Forget balance. Get more top-heavy. Forget team chemistry. Get another uncontrollable superstar, who just happens to fit your greatest need and who just became supremely available.

Sign Roger Clemens, you crazy imps!

Or least try to: Flatter him, if his feelings have been hurt by Houston's decision not to offer arbitration. Motivate him, by highlighting your pitching-friendly home environs.

And mostly, urge him out of potential retirement and away from bids by the Yankees, Rangers and others by repeating this mantra:

• Roger, you're 43. If you disliked being moved out in Houston's youth movement, join a franchise that considers 31-year-old Randy Winn a wee toddler.

• You need special handling that might irk your teammates? Roger, that's our specialty!

• If you don't want to be around the team for 100 or so games, well, just ask our players how often they saw Bonds in the clubhouse last season.

• Roger, if you want to be with a team that never, ever thinks beyond this upcoming season, and is willing to screw with the future to do it . . . hello? That's us! You and Bonds together would be the Holy Grail of Last Gasps!

Bonds: a record seven MVPs. Clemens: a record seven Cy Youngs. You tell me this isn't meant to happen.

What a sales pitch. What lunacy. What genius.

Clemens uniting with Bonds is a fantasy, you say? There's no way Clemens would consider it, and if he did, there's no possibility the Giants could come up with the cash Clemens would seek.

So you say, think or scream, depending on your mood as you read this or your proximity to the spiked eggnog.

But look at it my way. Examine the Giants' short-term psyche and Bonds obsession. Go through the looking glass.

They're already going hard after St. Louis' oft-injured right-hander Matt Morris, who is 31 and a solid pitcher but has declined noticeably in the past two seasons. They've probably offered Morris $16 million over two and might offer more.

Morris is the Big Target for this off-season? Along with Steve Kline? Bo-ring.

Clemens was better than Morris when Morris was good five years ago and Clemens was better last season, when he had a ridiculous 1.87 ERA and his 13-8 record was ruined by the Astros' offensive futility.

Clemens, who is committed to pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic in March, will be better than Morris in 2006 and probably forever, even if he has to come out of retirement in 2010 to prove it.

So I'm saying Clemens is worth at least $16 million over two years. Maybe another couple million just to have him in the same clubhouse as Matt Cain. And we know the Giants can afford it.

Maybe the Yankees will offer Clemens $20 million this year. Maybe the Rangers will offer him $15 million. Maybe Clemens will wait until May, when he can re-sign with Houston. Maybe he really will retire for good.

But if Clemens comes back, he belongs on a team that wants and needs him just for what he is: The best guy for today, and to heck with tomorrow.

That's the Giants' philosophy in its totality, and, for this one event, it is also an advantage.

There are no long-range plans. There are no great young prospects cluttering the farm system. There is Bonds.

There are Moises Alou, Ray Durham, Mike Matheny, Omar Vizquel, Jason Schmidt, Armando Benitez and a bunch of other guys who helped put that 75-87 record together in 2005.

There is that park, the need to fill that park, and Bonds' pursuit of Home Run No. 755.

There isn't much, which means it's the perfect place for a crazy thing like signing Roger Clemens or at least making a bold and shocking attempt.

Plus, my goodness: Barry and Roger on the same team all season? ESPN would have to broadcast live from McCovey Cove for the entire summer or clone Pedro Gomez.

clearly, this guy is being sarcastic, but even if he (and the Giants) were serious, I don't think Clemens would want to play for for the Giants.

[love_that_reefer]

Giants are always a playoff contender, even last year believe it or not. The only reason he wouldn't is his family. I wouldn't mind the Giants forking over $14 mil to Clemens to try and get a ring for Barry.

[Providence A's]

The Giants being a "contender" last year was more of an indication of how bad the NL West was, not how good the Giants were.

[love_that_reefer]

Yes last year but before that the Giants were winning 90+ games and have been contenders since 1997. The whole NL West was shit last year but they were still contenders.