Yankees need a Rocket boost now more than ever

	Roger Clemens will start his season when he wants, for whom he wants ... if he wants. Chuck Solomon/SI
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Nobody has had a better first two weeks than Roger Clemens, whose price is probably up to $7 million a month now. (OK, maybe that's an exaggeration. But it certainly is escalating.)

With Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano on the disabled list, the Yankees are struggling to fill out their rotation, which now includes Double-A callup Chase Wright, who has a low 90s fastball, nice changeup and Hollywood name. Wright got the call Tuesday night against the hard-hitting Indians and had a fair outing, allowing three runs and five hits in five innings for his first big-league win..

If the Yankees are the favorites to land Clemens over the Red Sox and Astros -- and there seems to be momentum their way now -- it probably has something to do with their desperation. "We're going through a crisis right now because of the injuries,'' general manager Brian Cashman admitted on Monday.

The Yankees have tried to speed up Clemens' timetable, with no luck. They've also tried to enhance their chances, with George Steinbrenner issuing a personal invitation during spring, Robinson Cano switching from Clemens' No. 22 to 24 and many other little things, just the sort of things that impress Clemens, according to his friends.

The possible early working title for New York's season: From Crisis to Clemens.

They hope, anyway.

Cashman remains the most outwardly positive and patient GM in baseball (he actually asserted Monday he thinks Pavano is not a slacker and will return in a reasonable amount of time.) But even he's starting to wonder what's up, with three-fifths of their rotation on the disabled list. The only ones who aren't out are Clemens' buddy, Andy Pettitte, who suffered a back injury late in spring but is toughing it out, and Kei Igawa, who is unproven at the major league level.

The injury epidemic is such that there are even clubhouse whispers questioning the new training methods instituted by the just-hired duo of "performance enhancers.'' The question is being raised among uniformed personnel about whether the players did enough running in spring training. As to that claim, Cashman asserted that the team does everything "to the benefit'' of the player, but he added that he is investigating the cause-and-effect issue.

Of course, it takes no investigating to know that the Yankees need Clemens even more than before.

Cashman's defense of Pavano

One early effect of the latest spate of Yankees injuries is that the game-worn jersey of Pavano's that was on e-Bay this spring is increasing in value. It's easy to think Pavano, a man who didn't pitch for 643 straight days because of an unusual array of pains, will be out longer than projected. "I hope not. I can only go by what they tell me,'' Cashman said, asserting he doesn't believe that Pavano is disinterested in pitching for the Yankees.

"I never believed that. I never bought into that,'' Cashman continued. "I just think his body has prevented him from pitching. I know he's working hard.''

He may be working hard, but once again he isn't technically working. He's in his usual spot on the sidelines.