This year, Roger Clemens showed up when the Boston Red Sox wanted him to.
Clemens, who arrived eight days after the voluntary reporting date last year, arrived Sunday at Boston's new spring training base at Fort Myers, Fla."I'm not here early. I'm not here late," Clemens said. "I don't know why it's such a big story."
Clemens said Boston's 73-89 record last year and its first last-place finish since 1932 was part of the reason for his arrival.
A few miles away, Dave Winfield arrived at the Minnesota Twins' camp. Winfield, 41, signed a two-year contract for $5.2 million plus incentives last December. In 1992, he played for the World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays and hit .290 with 26 homers and 108 RBIs.
"I got a lot of work to do and plenty of time to do it," Winfield said.
At St. Petersburg, Fla., the St. Louis Cardinals were worried about Rene Arocha, the rookie pitcher from Cuba. Arocha was struck on the right hand while practicing bunting. Precautionary X-rays were taken, but results were not expected to be known until Monday.
Across the state at Port St. Lucie, the Mets were being careful with reliever John Franco. He's thrown just 16 minutes this spring.