The Rocket does it again.

Not on the field this time, but he did set a record. Roger and the Houston Astros submitted their arbitration bids yesterday. The Astros put in $13.5 million. Roger wants $22 million!

Now, Roger's a great pitcher. You could make a decent case that he's the best pitcher ever. He won the Cy Young Award last year, won 18 games and brought the Astros to within one win of the World Series. He made about $7 million, and the Astros were offering to double that.

As great as Roger is I can't see him getting that kind of money. Roger had a great year, but Randy Johnson had an even better one, statistically, playing for a lousy team. Randy's only getting $16 million from the Empire and he'll be the highest paid pitcher in baseball next season. I just can't see an arbitrator saying that Roger is worth nearly 40% more than the Big Unit.

Maybe Roger has just decided that he doesn't really want to play anymore, but if they pay him $22 million he'll play. Maybe if the Astros can't come to an agreement with him and he doesn't win the arbitration hearing, he'll stay home. I don't know. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.