Football
20y

Clemens refuses to close door on comeback

NEW ORLEANS -- Roger Clemens might be ready for a comeback.

Only seven weeks after retiring, Clemens acknowledged on
Saturday that he would consider pitching for his hometown Astros
next season now that Houston has signed his good friend and former
New York Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte.

In town for an awards banquet down the street from baseball's
winter meetings, Clemens was asked to quantify the possibility he'd
play in 2004.

"There's a percent," he said.

Clemens also said he was flattered by the interest by the Astros
and in Houston, and said Pettitte was also lobbying him to join the
team.

Clemens is expected to decide sometime in January.

The Astros agreed with Pettitte on a $31.5 million, three-year
contract on Thursday, and almost immediately there were questions
about whether Clemens would join him.

"It's my understanding that he's retired. Do you un-retire?"
Astros manager Jimy Williams said in his scheduled session with
reporters on Saturday. "I guess he can, as others have. But we
take one thing at a time."

Pettitte, who lives in the Houston area, took $7.5 million less
to sign with the Astros than the Yankees had offered. He might have
also given up the chance to become the winningest pitcher in the
history of the storied franchise.

"To a certain degree, it's a surprise to get him, given where
he came from," Williams said. "I think it means an awful lot to
the people of that area that he would want to come here and pitch
for the major league team where he grew up. He chose not to think
about a record as much as coming home."

Clemens also lives in Houston. He talked about pitching closer
to home in 1996 when he left his first team, the Boston Red Sox,
but signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was traded to the Yankees
before the '99 season and retired this year with six Cy Young
Awards and two World Series championships.

Now that his workout buddy has signed with their hometown team,
though, it might make a comeback more enticing to Clemens. Toward
the end of his career, the Texas Rangers tried to give Nolan Ryan
as many starts at home as possible, and a similar deal could be
worked out for Clemens.

"Roger always said he was 99 percent retired," said one of his
agents, Randy Hendricks, who also represents Pettitte. "I still
think he is. But the 1 percent would be the Houston Astros."

For now, though, Williams said he preferred to focus on the
pitcher he does have.

Pettitte, 31, went 21-8 with a 4.02 ERA last season. He was
149-78 in his career with the Yankees, giving him a chance to
surpass Whitey Ford's 236 career Yankees victories if he had stayed
with the team.

"He's a welcome addition to our club, our staff, our starting
rotation. He's pitched big games and been successful in big
games," Williams said. "Not only do you uplift our whole pitching
staff, you uplift our whole club."

With Pettitte in the rotation, the Astros still face questions
about their bullpen. Having traded closer Billy Wagner to
Philadelphia to save money, Houston hopes Octavio Dotel can be the
closer.

"If you look at pure stuff, he definitely has it," Williams
said. "If you're looking at the way he took the ball ... yes, he
can do it. Now is his opportunity. I know he's looking forward to
it."

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