And how would Steinbrenner feel about signing Clemens, too?

In the old world, the Yankees would probably have already signed Clemens, the 40-year-old right-hander with 293 career victories.

Look, we couldn't afford not to sign Clemens.

"He should have taken $10,000 from my bonus and signed Clemens."

As he spoke, the Yankees were kicking off another series with the Red Sox, two teams that hoped to sign Clemens and failed.

"We don't know at this point," said Steinbrenner, when asked if the Yankees would sign Clemens.

But of the three teams, the Yankees were the only one that was prepared to sign Clemens now.

The Yankees were so desperate to sign Clemens that they were willing to pay a steep tax on his salary.

This is not to say the Yankees should sign Clemens or Pettitte.

The Astros then moved rapidly to sign Clemens by offering a deal a little bit above the midway point of $17.75 million.