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Trot Nixon makes his return to Fenway Park tomorrow with the Cleveland Indians. He was among the most popular Red Sox players ever, plus his replacement J.D. Drew has been struggling as of late, so Trot'll get a huge ovation. Drew got a big hit today to put the Sox on top of Texas, so he might have saved himself for getting booed. The pitching matchups are Cliff Lee vs. Curt Schilling, Jeremy Sowers vs Josh Beckett, and Paul Byrd vs Diasuke Matsuzaka. Reasonable or not, I'd be disappointed with anything less than a sweep of the Tribe.

Let's talk about the Yankees for a second. Interestingly enough, they currently have Roger Clemens and Kei Igawa in their AAA rotation. Clemens cost 28 million. If you count what they paid to talk to him, Igawa costs around 40 million. According to this, the Yankees AAA rotation has a payroll in the general ball park of the Major League Rosters of the Milwaulkie Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers. The triple A rotation makes more than the Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamonbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals, Florida Marlins, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Click on the above link, and you'll see the Devil Rays make about four million less than Roger. Yet, the Yankees are in fourth place, 12.5 games out and only a game better than Tampa Bay. Glorious!

Furthermore, it doesn't look like the Yankees feel the Rocket is going to save them. If he only did one more Minor League start (which was the plan. The Red Sox and Astros insulted him by saying he should take more than two and a half weeks to come back. The Yankees were right on board with him. That's why he went to New York), he'd be back in the Majors just in time to pitch in Fenway. Isn't that why they're paying him 28 million? To win big games, including those in Fenway against the Red Sox? Apparently not, as the team is thinking of pushing him back 1 day to pitch against the White Sox in Chicago instead. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it makes me question his worth. The Yankees website justifies the decision by saying:

"While Clemens' Major League reappearance in Boston -- the team he broke in
with as a fresh-faced rookie in 1984, and one of the three clubs he'd considered
returning to action with this season -- would be a dramatic re-entry, it may not
line up ideally for the Yankees. New York is slated to pitch its top three starting
pitchers -- Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte -- in the weekend
tilt against the American League East-leading Red Sox..."

28 million's a lot for a number four...