Roger Clemens showed up at Legends Field yesterday, spring training home of the New York Yankees - creating more speculation that he will pitch again this season. The 44-year old sure-fire Hall of Famer says "he's failing miserably at retirement". The worst kept secret in sports is that Clemens will pitch for one of three teams this season - the Houston Astros, New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox.

Clemens won't come cheap though. As a matter of fact, if you want "The Rocket", you'll not only have to open the vault for him, but you'll have to deal with special requests like spending his off days at home with his family in Houston.

The seven-time Cy Young Award winner ended his seven-month retirement last season by accepting a deal that paid him approximately $12.8 million -- the pro-rated value of his $22,000,022 seasonal contract -- to pitch for the Astros. Clemens made 19 starts for the Astros. If you do the math, that comes out to roughly $680,000 per start. Clemens pitched 113.1 innings last season, which cost the Astros about $115,000.00 per inning for Clemens' services. Clemens pitched very well but finished the season 7-6 with a 2.30 ERA - he had little to no run support when he pitched.

Because of the shortage of starting pitching and because guys like Gil Meche can command a 5-year, $55M deal from the Royals, the price on Clemens will only increase - especially if Clemens' agent Randy Hendricks can drive up the price by engaging two of the three clubs interested in Clemens in a bidding war.

Clemens' agents should also be able to negotiate a bonus that pays Clemens based on ticket sales when he starts at home. Clemens reportedly earned close to $2M in bonuses during the 2004 season in Houston for attendance numbers reaching certain levels at Minute Maid Park when he was on the mound. 

Clemens, who only made 4 starts before the All-Star break last season, won't likely make a decision about who he will pitch for this season until May. That will buy him some time to see which team has the best chance of winning a championship and which team needs him the most - giving him even more leverage. 

I'd be surprised to see Clemens anywhere other than New York this season with the Yankees. George Steinbrenner has the money to pay him and with Clemens' buddy Andy Pettite back in New York this makes a lot of sense. The talk has been that one of the reasons the Yankees were so open to moving Randy Johnson back to Arizona was because Johnson would have likely complained about the special treatment Clemens will receive this season - doesn't have to be with the team on off days, can wait until May or June to start the season, etc.

The Red Sox signed Daisuke Matsuzaka, JD Drew and Julio Lugo to big contracts this offseason and the Astros have over $100M iinvested in new OF Carlos Lee. Unless either team really feels like Clemens will get them over the hump this season, I'd be surprised to see Clemens in Boston or Houston. 

The price of doing business with Roger Clemens is very expensive, but for a team like the Yankees, whose payroll just for their infield exceeds the entire team payroll of the Florida Marlins, Clemens' salary is a drop in the bucket.