Houston.Astros.MLB.com

By Alyson Footer / MLB.com

Roger Clemens was honored for his 300th win at the Baseball America awards dinner on Saturday night. (Gregory Bull/AP)

• Clemens honored at Baseball America gala

NEW ORLEANS -- Thursday morning, when the Houston Astros introduced Andy Pettitte as the newest member of their pitching staff, Roger Clemens had just been quoted as saying that he was 99.9 percent sure he would remain a retired player.

That .1 percent chance increased to one percent the next day when Clemens gave the new figure to morning show rock jocks Dean and Rog.

On Saturday, Clemens' agent, Randy Hendricks, suggested that number had risen somewhere just below five percent, or so he told reporters prior to the Baseball America awards dinner at the New Orleans Hilton that honored Clemens for his 300th win.

Loosely calculated, that means that if Clemens increases the chances of a comeback by four percent every day for the next 24 days, the Astros should be ready to call a press conference somewhere around Jan. 6.

It would be "like Christmas every day for about a week" in the city of Houston, Hendricks said of the idea of the right-hander pitching for his hometown Astros.

So the Jan. 6 target date would work out well, since Christmas technically ends on Jan. 5. Houstonians simply would have an excuse to extend the festive season.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Nothing has changed in Clemens' camp, other than the estimated percentages. Clemens is retired. He has no plans to throw himself an unretirement party nor is he requesting that his agents to throw him one.

"Nothing has changed with my decision right now," Clemens said. "I'm still retired. I'm getting a lot of phone calls from everybody right now. I'm playing golf with Bags (Jeff Bagwell) on Tuesday and I'm sure everybody will be making a pitch to me.

"There are so many factors involved. You can speculate all you want but I get scenarios all the time. Right now it's the same -- I'm still retired, but there is a percentage."

Said Hendricks: "Roger will be the one to decide. The Astros have made it clear that they're interested, but if Roger wants to pursue this, he'll tell me and I'll call the Astros."

The Astros have already said they'll gladly take that call.

"The Astros have talked to me, and they said that any time he's interested in talking to them, they'd be interested in talking to him as well," Hendricks relayed. "That's where that stands."

Roger Clemens   /   P
	Height: 6'4" Weight: 238 Bats/Throws: R/R More info: Player page Stats Splits Astros site

It's safe to say that no retired player has ever stolen the spotlight at the annual Baseball Winter Meetings like Clemens has. But then again, there aren't many future Hall of Famers who go on a local radio morning show, hint that a comeback may be possible, and wind up with a new burnt orange Hummer as a bribe for returning to the mound.

But when Dean and Rog offered a brand new Hummer in exchange for unretiring, Clemens commented "this is getting very interesting." Dean and Rog gave Clemens until Monday at 10 a.m. to make a decision.

And that was enough for every news outlet in the country to run with the story. Even baseball executives are joining in the fun.