Outside of New York, Everyone Hates Roger Clemens

It's a pretty familiar trend. Roger Clemens arrives somewhere to great fanfare and acclaim, and leaves that same place a few years later with bridges aflame and fan bases thinking, "Man, that guy is the biggest douche in the universe." The Houston Chronicle has set up a message board for fans to post their thoughts on Clemens leaving the Astros for New York. Many of reactions are subdued due to most 'Stros fans not having much hope of re-signing him with their team's poor start and his hetero-lifemate Andy Pettitte having already signed with the Yankees, but I think this response typifies how Astros fans are feeling right now (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, Astro fans):

He said he loved his hometown team, he wanted to play here and retire here, well Roger you screwed us in the end. I'm sore at him right now, mostly from the charade last season, and now this. Roger we don't need you, You are an awesome pitcher but you go where the money is. Your loyalty is to your paycheck, not to the fans.

Boston fans, well, they still haven't forgotten. Zach Hayes and Evan Brunnell talk about Clemens at Fire Brand of the American League. It's a long read but words like "betrayed" and "schmuck" are tossed around freely.

I don't want to get overly sanctimonius (OK, maybe I do), but Clemens pisses me off more than anyone. For slightly more than the price of the 2006 Florida Marlins, the Yankees are getting a guy that will take the mound once every five days. Tell me there's no problem with baseball economics all you want, Bud Selig, but my favorite team's second highest player is a guy that they're paying $5 million to play for someone else (we're talking about Jason Kendall). Talk about feeling hopeless sometimes- it's clear the upper crust teams and on a completely different level than everyone else.

But that's not all. Clemens put himself on a pedestal all off-season, giving us constant updates about when he'd be deciding between his three pre-ordained teams. Despite all of his self-love, his pissing around last year probably cost the Astros a spot in the playoffs. If he would've showed up in camp on time last year like everyone else in baseball does, the Astros almost certainly would've won the two games they needed to overtake the Cardinals in the NL Central. And how will Yankee fans feel about Clemens if they miss the playoffs by a narrow margin this year? Clemens' return still leaves them far from a sure thing in the stacked American League and they certainly would be helped by him taking some of the April starts made by Darrell Rasner, Chase Wright, and Jeff Karstens. In fact, I still wouldn't bet on the Yankees to make the playoffs. Still, it's hard to think Clemens cares about the Yankees because they aren't Roger Clemens and he really doesn't seem to care much about anyone else.