Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Roger Clemens could be one productive outing from his return to the Yankees.

Clemens is set to make the second minor league start of his latest comeback tonight for Class AA Trenton against Portland. If all goes well, he could join New York's rotation Monday or Tuesday against the Blue Jays -- one of his former teams.

Or, Clemens, 44, might choose to make another minor league start, perhaps for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, before returning to the big leagues June 2 or 3 at Boston, his original club.

Before the Yankees played the Red Sox last night, Manager Joe Torre reiterated that Clemens will decide when he is ready to join the team -- and Torre is not sure what the seven-time Cy Young Award winner has in mind.

"I don't know. I really don't. He'll tell us. I don't know if he knows for sure. If he does, he's keeping it a secret," Torre said. "I think Roger likes the dramatics, so wherever he shows up there will be all the bells and whistles, whether it's in this country or up north. But I don't think his mind's going to be made up on emotion."

· TALKING GIAMBI: Attorneys for the commissioner's office and the players' association held more conversations on a possible meeting with Yankees slugger Jason Giambi but it remained uncertain when or if such a gathering would take place.

Lawyers for MLB would like to talk to Giambi about comments in last Friday's editions of USA Today that some have interpreted as an admission of steroids use.

· CLOSER ACTIVATED: The Royals activated Octavio Dotel and plans to ease him into the closer's role.

"What we're going to do with Dotel is probably pitch him in the seventh, eighth, maybe the sixth," Manager Buddy Bell said before last night's game against the Indians. "The problem with just putting him into the closer's role right now is that we're not really sure of his durability."

The right-hander has been out with a strained left oblique muscle since the last week of spring training.

-- From News Services