Time for The Rocket to land

With Yankees starter Mike Mussina slated to miss at least one start thanks to a note from his mother, the Yankees rotation has degraded to Pavano-Pettitte-Igawa-Rasner-Brian Cashman. They are in need of another arm more than ever. And that is exactly why the Boy Genius needs to bring Roger Clemens' career full circle in the next month.


Many fans, including Tom in Boston, are of the opinion that the Rocket will be in for a rude awakening if he returns to the AL East from the fuzzy confines of National League pickup games. I don't disagree with this idea at all - Roger's 2.30 ERA from the 2006 campaign would probably double if he made a coastal curtain call.

What these fans have to remember is that even with an ERA pushing 5, he will still be a huge improvement over whoever he replaces in either the Yankees or Red Sox rotation. Would you rather have Julian Tavarez or a 44-year old Rocket? If you're a Yankee backer, would you rather have the big Texan on the hill or whichever dreg they're planning to have toe the rubber at the back of the rotation?

One mitigating factor for both teams is the presence of a stud starting prospect in the upper levels of the minors. Yankees farmhand Phillip Hughes, now 20 years old, has been drawing acclaim ever since the pinstripes plucked him out of the 2004 draft. Bronx denizens have been calling his name since they saw "Rasner" pencilled in the pitcher's line, and Kei Igawa's slow start made the howls of agony resonate even louder.

The Yankees, however, know better. Hughes is the real deal, and there is really no reason to bring him up at this point. He has too much potential to risk having it ruined by an early entrance to the big leagues, and quite frankly he probably isn't ready to make the kind of immediate impact the Bombers need.

The kind of impact a seven-time Cy Young winner could make.

The Sox, of course, have lefty powerhouse Jon Lester working his way back through the minors this spring. Lester was very promising in his cup of coffee last season and people are expecting big things from him. However, we can not for one second discount the injury he is recovering from right now: cancer. Let me say that again - John Lester is recovering from cancer right now. This is not a hamstring pull or even Tommy John surgery - it is cancer. We should not rush him back at all this season; we should make sure he takes all the time he needs to make a full and healthy recovery and is ready to contribute down the road.

In the meantime, however, there is only one former Sox farmhand I want to see take the mount every fifth day for the rest of the season, and that's Roger Clemens. He doesn't need to be an ace. He doesn't even need to be a number two or a number three. Quite frankly, we have a very good number 4. All we need from the Rocket is someone who is going to be an improvement over Julian Tavarez and who will give us a chance to win.

Oh yeah, one more thing - we need the Rocket to not go to New York, so that we won't be cheated out of any more Darryl Rasner starts.