TAMPA, Fla. -- Roger Clemens threw a total of 62 pitches in a workout on Wednesday as he aimed for a Saturday debut with the New York Yankees against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In the workout at the Yankees' spring training complex in Tampa, Clemens threw 8 practice pitches and 54 to right and left-handed hitters, none with any velocity.
"Everything today went well," Clemens said. "I have a short downhill training session tomorrow and then I should be locked in and ready to go. The weakness that came from the scar tissue has so far dispersed. Today's bullpen session was a little more intense than a regular side session. Normally, I would throw about 60 percent, but today I threw closer to 80 percent."
Clemens also took part in a short fielding session before jogging around the area outside the complex.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman arrived about 40 minutes after Clemens finished throwing and the pair talked inside the
facility.
"The way you can win is to be able to control the game,"
manager Joe Torre said in Chicago. "The way to control the game is through pitching. To have Roger be a part of that mix is important. If he gives us five, six innings -- whatever it is -- we're going to have to make due with that."
Torre said the team's improved play recently should make it easier on Clemens.
"I think it will probably help him, although he'll probably be
sky high Saturday anyway," Torre said Thursday.
"But the fact that, right now, he can fall in line and be one
of the guys, as opposed to being the one guy to maybe change things
and turn things around. I don't care how long you've been playing,
it's still a lot to put on any one guy."
The 44-year-old right-hander originally planned to start Monday
night at the Chicago White Sox. He scratched himself from the
outing last Saturday because of what the Yankees said then was a "fatigued'' groin, an injury he first felt during a minor-league outing May 28. An MRI exam Monday showed Clemens had a scar tissue injury in the right groin.
If Clemens is added to the major league roster on Saturday, he
would earn $17,442,637 this season and cost the Yankees $6,977,054
in luxury tax, a total of $24,419,691. Clemens agreed May 6 to a
one-year contract worth $28,000,022 -- the last two digits matching
his uniform number -- but only gets paid his major league salary
once he is on the big league roster.
Torre said he's not worried about high expectations of the
likely Hall of Famer.
"They're going to be what they are, because of his status and
where he's going when he does decide to pack it in," he said.
"That's followed him no matter where he's gone. We know, basically, what we need from him."
ESPN reporter Darren Lyn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.