Months ago on this very blog I asked whether or not we should be looking at Roger Clemens in the same vein that we look at Barry Bonds. Clemens has gotten better with age, just as Bonds has. I know Clemens works out hard, but I found it to be a little suspicious that he's had some of the best years of his career since he turned 40 in 2002.

I also posed this question back in May - If someone approached you and told you that you could make considerably MORE money if you chose to use a currently undetectable banned substance - millions of dollars more, what would you do? Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is still undetectable and because there hasn't been a test developed yet, its become the PED of choice amongst many athletes.

Listen, I for one, think the Mitchell Report has a ton of holes in it. I also think that the report's two main sources (former Yankees Trainer Brian McNamee and former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski) may be nothing more than disgruntled ex-employees with an axe to grind. I'm sure there is some truth to their information, but again, there is a HUGE grey area. George Mitchell needed names for his report to justify the report's reported $25M - $60M price tag, so when McNamee and Radomski were willing to sing, he had no other choice but to listen to them to add some meat to his report.

I'm not ready to condemn Clemens quite yet, but the monetary incentive for him to stay healthy and perform at a high level was certainly there. That's a fact that nobody can deny.

Since Clemens turned 40, his average salary has been roughly $20M per season. Quality pitching is at such a premium that Clemens was able to command this type of money from the Astros and the Yankees and didn't even have to suit up for a full season in recent seasons. (Hey, this is the same league where Gil Meche commanded a 5-year, $55M salary from the KC Royals last offseason. If that doesn't tell you that the price for pitching is at a premium, I don't know what will).

A 44-year old Roger Clemens signed a pro-rated one year deal with the Yankees this season worth $28,000,022, or about $4.5 million per month. (Clemens' contracts with the Houston Astros paid him $18M in 2005 and $22M in 2006).

You get my point.

Again, most athletes start to decline in their mid to late 30's, so to be able to command this type of money past the age of 40 is remarkable.

As the old saying goes, "money is the root of all evil". I honestly think that many of the athletes who have used PED's have been driven to do so by money. If they can raise their performance to such a level that pays them millions of dollars more than they'd make if they don't use PED's, many of them will choose to cheat and take the big paycheck. Same thing if you are an athlete like Bonds or Clemens who has entered the twilight of your career. If you can prolong your career by 4-5 years and make tens of millions of dollars over that period, there's certainly a monetary incentive to cheat.

Its no different than the guy on Wall Street who has access to insider trading. He knows its unethical, but if he can make considerably more money than he's making now, he'll take the risk and hope he doesn't get caught.

If Clemens did in fact use PED's, he may be looking at trading a spot in the Hall of Fame for the nearly $100M he made in the twilight of his career.

Clemens, who had a pre-game ritual of rubbing the statue of Babe Ruth located in Yankee Stadium when he pitched for the Yankees, seems to be a guy who has a deep sense of history.

We're about to find out in the coming months what Clemens' legacy will be in the history books.