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Originally Posted by transplant99
yeah I am aware of what he did last year.
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Well I wasn't sure since you decided to think he was in for some ultimate decline, and attributed his performances to being "assisted" in some way.
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He is now another year older, a lot more out of shape than he was at this time last year, and in the American league which is just a harder league to pitch in.
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Of course he is. People have been predicting the decline of Clemens for a while, afterall, he is 44, but last year his stuff was as electric as it has always been. He pitched well at age 43 and he shouldn't have many problems doing it again.
The AL is definately harder to pitch in, but he also pitched in a Hitter's park (even though BR has the offensive numbers as below league average for Minute Maid, the dimensions do make it a hitters park, but combined with the fact that the have had great pitching combined with a pretty awful offense the last few years). The change usually affects pitchers by ~ half a run on their ERA.
Do you have a link to support that bolded part? The Article mentioned he was at playing weight. He was also involved in Astros ST too.
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I would suggest that Wang is the best pitcher on that staff bar none...when healthy anyhow.
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Wang is a really interesting pitcher.
Few if any pitchers have been able to duplicate his success, especially over the long term with the kind of ratios he has managed to put up. I look forward to seeing if he crashes or thrives in the coming years. He did take that perfect game into the 8th inning on Sat, and was quite fun to watch.
But, I could see Pettitte reclaiming the #2 spot if Roger thrives. For whatever reason he seems to really pitch well with Clemens and stepped up big time when Clemens came back for the 2nd half of the season last year. Maybe helps him keep his focus or something.