Roger Clemens is ready to return to the New York Yankees’ rotation and likely will start at the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

Clemens pitched six shutout innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday. Yankees Manager Joe Torre said before last night’s game against Toronto that he’ll stay with Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte as his starters for this weekend’s series at American League East-leading Boston.

"I’m not disappointed that he’s not pitching at Fenway," Torre said. "I don’t think that series needs any more hype than it gets every time we play it, whether it’s in Fenway or at the Stadium. You’d obviously be tempted if you had a kid pitching and you can replace him with Roger Clemens. When you have Wang, Moose and Andy, there’s really not the temptation to do that."

Torre wasn’t ready to finalize his decision.

"Until I talk to him personally, it’s tough to pick a particular day," he said.

If Clemens is put on the major league roster Monday, he would receive $18,207,665 this season, a prorated share of his $28,000,022 salary.

The 44-year-old right-hander struck out six and gave up two hits and two walks in Monday’s start, showing improved command from last week’s outing at Double-A Trenton.

● JUST A SUGGESTION: The lawyer who headed baseball’s investigation of Pete Rose wants Commissioner Bud Selig to suspend players who don’t cooperate with the steroids probe spearheaded by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

John Dowd said Selig should try to overturn the 1980 arbitration decision in a case involving Ferguson Jenkins. The ruling upheld a player’s right to refuse to answer questions from baseball management if it jeopardized his legal position in a criminal case.

"I tell you what, it’s time that stuff was challenged," Dowd said yesterday in a telephone interview during which he criticized the players’ union. "They already have too much power on this whole" steroids "issue anyway, in my opinion. And they’ve abused it. It’s really disgraceful what the union’s done here."

Mitchell has tried to interview active players. The union has told them it’s their choice to agree or decline. So far, it appears no active players have been interviewed by Mitchell, and the union reminded members in a memo last week to seek legal counsel if approached by investigators.

"I would expect that Commissioner Selig and Senator Mitchell would respect the precedent established by our arbitration panel," said Michael Weiner, the general counsel of the players’ association.

Dowd, initially critical of Selig’s decision to hire Mitchell, said he and former Commissioner Fay Vincent both spoke with investigators early in the probe, which began in March 2006. Dowd said he received occasional briefings and that he understands information that resulted from the federal plea agreement with former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski has been useful to Mitchell’s investigators.

"I don’t hear any names, but I think he’s got some good corroboration," Dowd said.

On the day that he hired Mitchell, Selig acknowledged the difficulty baseball had in forcing players to cooperate.

"Arbitrators have been reluctant to allow compelled, potentially self-incriminating testimony," Selig said. "The investigatory authority of Major League Baseball, therefore, is particularly limited when the allegations relate to conduct that can create or has created a risk of criminal prosecution for the player."

Jenkins, then with the Texas Rangers, was suspended indefinitely by former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn on Sept. 9, 1980, when he refused to answer questions from management after his arrest in Canada on a drug charge. The suspension was lifted 13 days later by arbitrator Raymond Goetz.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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