All-Star appearance should be for great season

Among the number of things I wrote in this space last week, I said that Roger Clemens should… Among the number of things I wrote in this space last week, I said that Roger Clemens should not have made the All-Star team just for sentimental value. The fact that he’s retiring after this season doesn’t mean he should take up a spot, especially after having a mediocre season thus far.

This week, I stand by that statement, despite the fact that Major League Baseball has decided otherwise.

On Monday, the commissioner’s office announced that Clemens had been added to the American League roster in place of Oakland’s Barry Zito.

With Zito having thrown 106 pitches in a game on Sunday, baseball and the A’s decided that there was no need to overwork the pitcher.

Usually, this kind of decision is left up to the players, but in this case, the decision was made for Zito, which isn’t necessarily wrong.

Making the decision to remove a guy from the All-Star game because he’s hurt or fatigued is a good thing. There’s no need to risk further injury for an exhibition game, although MLB claims the game actually means something this year.

But to tell a player he can’t participate in baseball’s second biggest event in order to put a future Hall-of-Famer with stats below his usual standards on the roster is not right.

In a head-to-head comparison, the pitchers’ numbers are similar.

Both have 8-6 records, and their earned run averages, walks, hits per innings pitched and batting averages against are all similar. The only difference is that Clemens has 50 more strikeouts and 15 fewer walks in 10 fewer innings than Zito.

With those numbers, as well as the names that didn’t make the list, in mind, it’s safe to say that neither one deserved to be on the All-Star team.

There are a handful of pitchers who have better numbers than Zito and Clemens this season, but they are staying at home rather than heading to Chicago.

Two that stand out are Sidney Ponson of the Orioles and New York’s David Wells.

Both pitchers have ERAs approaching four, but Ponson is second in the AL in wins with 12, while Wells is tied for fifth with 11.

Neither is close to Clemens’ 128 strikeouts, but Ponson and Wells are not strikeout pitchers. Clemens is.

Ponson and Wells have WHIPs that are similar to Clemens’ and Zito’s, but Wells’ strikeout-to-walk ratio of 11-to-one is much better than Clemens’ ratio of three-to-one.

But neither Ponson nor Wells have the career numbers that Clemens has.

Almost completely assured of getting into the Hall-of-Fame on the first ballot, Clemens ranks, along with Nolan Ryan, as one of the greatest pitchers of the last 20 years.

With more than 300 wins and 4,000 strikeouts, Clemens is by far the best active pitcher, as far as career accolades are concerned. But face it – at 40-years old, Clemens is not the same pitcher that he once was. That’s why he’s retiring after this season.

Which brings us back to the original point – Clemens does not belong at the All-Star game because he has had a great career. That’s what the Hall of Fame is for.

If he had 300 wins and 4,000 strikeouts in the first half of the season, then he should be invited to play in the summer classic. Hell, they should rename the Cy Young Award after him, with those numbers.

But it’s impossible to put up those kind of numbers in one season, let alone half a season.

If it was so important to have Clemens at the All-Star game, give him a special invite, much like baseball did for Tony Gwynn during his final season and like the National Hockey League did for Mario Lemieux when he came out of retirement.

It’s not right to deny other players a spot on the All-Star team just because the Rocket’s red glare looks more like smoldering ash.

Joe Marchilena is the sports editor for The Pitt News, and he needs a break.