I wasn’t shocked to hear the news thar Roger Clemens was back in the Pinstripes. Clemens is money-hungry, and who better to get your cash fix from, than Steinbrenner and the Yankees. Yes, I know I’m a fan - you don’t need to remind me…even if you were only going to do it with that sarcastic voice.

Am I a fan of the move? Well, I’ll be the first to agree the Yankees could use his arm. Sure, he’s 45, but he’s in great shape, he’s a heck of a pitcher, and his value to the young rotation is pretty valuable. Was it a 28.2 million dollar move? Not a chance in Red Sox hell. This is about the worst move Brian Cashman has made as GM for the club. Let me explain…

The current state of Yankee affairs tells us that the Yankee starting pitching is having problems going deep into ballgames. The bullpen is taxes nightly, and the starting pitching that can go deep into games is hurt. Tell me how a 45 year old pitcher (even if he is the Rocket) solves that problem. The truth is, he doesn’t. At his best, we should expect a quality start. That’s less than or equal to three runs in six innings. That still leaves the bullpen to finish the seventh, eighth, and nineth innings. For the same 28.2 million dollars, the Yanks could have invested in some quality young arms to get through the season. The benefit is that if one of them works out, they’ll also be around next season too.

This deal was a bad one. It was bad for the Yankees, bad for the fans, and bad for the game. The only beneficiary was Roger. And as this is the case, The Average White Guy would like to break down for you, just how Roger Clemens will benefit. Here’s the formulae:

Roger will make $28.2 million in 2007. If he starts (let’s estimate) 23 games for New York this season (it definitely wouldn’t be more than 24 starts), Roger will make approximately $1,226,087.00 per game. Do you know how long I’d have to work my current salary (including my 3% cost of living increase each year) to make that much? About 18 years!

Ok, so we’re going to say that Roger will average about 6 innings per start. Based on the figure above, he’ll stand to make $204,348.00 per inning - or about three years at my current salary. If Roger thows about 80 pitches during his starts, that’s about 13 (we’ll be nice and say 14) pitches per inning. So for EACH pitch Roger will throw, he’ll make about $14,596.00. How the fuck do you like that? $15,000 per pitch? He’ll make my annual salary in 4 pitches.

Sure, I’m estimating…but I’ve been a fan of the game long enough to know what he’ll bring to the Yankees, so I’m comfortable with my estimate. I guess I gotta say good luck to him. If the Yankees are going to be that stupid and pay him $15K a pitch, I can’t blame him for taking it. And who knows, maybe be brings the Yankees back to competitive.