Sportsfrog.com

Roger Clemens to Yankees is still the talk of the town in New York, and frankly, the talk of the sporting world. A few interesting things that have shaken out in the past couple of days:

1. That the Yankees were not willing to make the “personal allowances” in the contract last season due to the presence of Randy Johnson. According to Clemens’ agent, Randy Hendricks, on the Mike & Mike Show this morning, the Yankees made it clear in December that this would not be problem for them in 2007. Also of note, Nolan Ryan set the precedent for this type of contract with Houston.

2. Clemens’ claim that he wouldn’t have gone to New York without Torre at the helm. I’m not buying that. With Pettitte, Jeter and Mariano on this team, if Mattingly or Joe Girardi are running it and Clemens is getting paid, my money says he signs.

3. The Red Sox wanted Clemens and misread this whole situation and Larry Lucchino is making noise about it:

“Clemens’s agent, Randy Hendricks, was in Boston last week for meetings with Sox brass Tuesday and Wednesday and had dinner in John W. Henry’s box Wednesday night during the Sox-Athletics game when the Sox made their bid for the Rocket. It was for a prorated $18 million, more than $10 million less than the prorated $28 million Clemens agreed to take from the Yankees.

“Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, according to club sources, thought Clemens was still days from making a decision — Lucchino believed this Thursday was the operative date — leaving the Sox time to tweak their offer if they chose. Instead, the next time the Sox heard from the Clemens camp was yesterday afternoon, when general manager Theo Epstein received a courtesy call from Hendricks — a similar one was placed to Houston GM Tim Purpura — informing him Clemens had elected to sign elsewhere.

“And a couple of hours later, there was Clemens, holding a microphone in the box belonging to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, announcing during the seventh-inning stretch of the Yankees-Mariners game that he was putting on pinstripes again, legendary PA announcer Bob Sheppard alerting the crowd of 52,553 ‘of a very special announcement.’”

Hendricks reinforced this on the radio this morning, saying he told Boston management to “make an offer you can live with.” Instead Lucchino apparently entered into a negotiation, beginning with a lower price than Boston would have been willing to pay. Tough to say who to believe, an agent or Lucchino. But the fallout cannot be pleasant in New England.

4. David Wells saying that … Who cares? He’s selfish and hypocritical and has been that way for years.