Free agent lefty Andy Pettitte is leaning toward a 2011 return to the Yankees, tweets Ken Davidoff of Newsday. Back on November 11th, Pettitte told Matt Musil of KHOU.com, "Right now, I can tell you my heart's right here in Deer Park, [Texas]."
In the more immediate future we'll learn if the Yankees will offer arbitration to Pettitte, a Type A free agent. Today GM Brian Cashman told ESPN's Wallace Matthews only one of Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Austin Kearns, and Mariano Rivera is likely to get an offer, and that's Wood. Pettitte was a Type B free agent a year ago and was not offered arbitration by the Yankees.
Pettitte would add stability to the Yankees' rotation. The 38-year-old lefty posted a 3.28 ERA, 7.0 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, and 43.9% groundball rate in 129 regular season innings this year, missing time with a groin injury.
John
Why not give it one more Dandy of a try :).
Lance Gurewitz
“…only one of Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Austin Kearns, and Mariano Rivera is likely to get an offer, and that’s Wood.”
I think you forgot someone in that list.
Also, Andy Pettitte cracks me up.
Guest
I was trying to figure out what wood meant… I thought he was trying to coin a term…”Wood” – a lie.
but then after about 20 seconds… I caught on…
Yankeefan4life
Good news for cashman if they don’t land Lee.
Dave_in_Gainesville
Good news for Cashman either way, it seems to me….
pastlives
Sabathia, lee, Hughes, pettite, burnett…suddenly the rotation isn’t looking too bad
0bsessions
Blech. That rotation alone costs more than the 2010 AL Champions’ entire roster.
EvilEmpireStrikesBack
And? That does not take away from the fact that the rotation looks awesome.
The Yankees print their own money or it sure seems that way. 🙂
Slopeboy
What’s that saying about people in glass houses…?
Slopeboy
What’s that saying about people in glass houses…?
monster55
That rotation will also bring in more revenue than the entire 2010 AL Champions’ roster. Some of that revenue will then go into the pockets of the 2010 AL Champions’ owners because for some reason they don’t have enough money.
moonraker45
How do you track how much revenue a rotation brings in? Curious
moonraker45
How do you track how much revenue a rotation brings in? Curious
Jon Stark
It certainly is a daunting rotation, but even then there are some real question marks for slots 3-5 (ex. which is the real hughes? Does Andy’s body have enough left to pitch a whole season? Which Burnett will show up? Is Nova ready/capable of stepping in and filling needs when they arise?). However, if CC and Lee could lead the rotation all year, the Yanks would be fine…a cool 40 wins between them.
moonraker45
it’s funny how even with lee and sabathia they prob have the 3rd or 4th best rotation in their division… thats pretty scary .
monster55
Lee, CC, Pettitte, Hughes
Price, Garza, Shields, (Hellickson, Sonnanstine, Davis?)
Lester, Buchholz, Beckett, Lackey
Romero, Morrow, Cecil, Rzepcyznski
Forget the O’s and forget the 5th starter.
I don’t see the Yanks as the “3rd or 4th best rotation in the division.” And that’s assuming Burnett has as awful a season next year as he did this year, not assuming he pitches brilliantly in Game 2 of the WS.
Matt
I don’t get it, you drop off Marcum from the Jays’ rotation? He’s our ace?
Are you sure you know what you’re talking about?
Because, to be honest, I think you don’t have a clue.
monster55
Ok, I beg your pardon for forgetting about Shaun Marcum returning from injury. So it goes Marcum, Romero, Morrow, Cecil.
And if Marcum is your ace and you think you have a better rotation than the Yanks (or is Brett Cecil that much better than Phil Hughes?) then I woudl say you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
monster55
And in a 7 game series you would really rather have Marcum, Cecil, Romero, and Morrow than Lee, Sabathia, Pettitte and Hughes? (And I’m sorry if I offended you in the way I arranged the Jays rotation, please feel free to re-arrange it for me.)
moonraker45
Red Sox and Rays Rotation are both better overall then the Yankees
Jays rotation you forgot Marcum and Drabek, while doesn’t have a pitcher as good as lee or sabathia in it, is young improving and could be a toss up next year.. but that will play out
As it stands now, they may not be the 4th best, but they are certainly the 3rd best
monster55
You think I forgot Kyle Drabek? How many major league pitches has he thrown?
monster55
You think I forgot Kyle Drabek? How many major league pitches has he thrown?
monster55
Lee, CC, Pettitte, Hughes
Price, Garza, Shields, (Hellickson, Sonnanstine, Davis?)
Lester, Buchholz, Beckett, Lackey
Romero, Morrow, Cecil, Rzepcyznski
Forget the O’s and forget the 5th starter.
I don’t see the Yanks as the “3rd or 4th best rotation in the division.” And that’s assuming Burnett has as awful a season next year as he did this year, not assuming he pitches brilliantly in Game 2 of the WS.
ugotrpk3113
I’d bet you they’d pay Pettite’s 2010 salary to make Burnett disappear.
jammin502
They should enact the “Roger Clemens” rule. That is if you need to contemplate whether to retire or not for 3 straight years, then you are automatically banned from the league.
Seligs_Boi
Selig is working on that right now.
0bsessions
Yeah, but Clemens allegedly used PED’s, so there’s that diff…wait…
Yankees420
I don’t think that you can compare Pettitte’s situation with Clemens. IIRC, rumors came out about Andy, he then admitted to using them, apologized and went on with baseball. Clemens has denied using tooth and nail, despite evidence and testimony that says otherwise.
0bsessions
While I’ll give Pettitte a little credit for admitting to it, he shouldn’t get a free pass for doing so.
Yankees420
I can agree with that, I was just trying to say that the way Clemens has handled his “alleged” PED usage should not draw comparison to the way that Andy handled his.
moonraker45
This is huge for the yankees… suddenly Cliff Lee’s deal just went back to 5/115
LifeLongYankeeFan
I don’t care if Pettitte is coming back the Yankees need to offer him the 6 year 140 million deal. Pettitte will only be coming back for 1 year so he says.
HerbertAnchovy
The Brett Favre of baseball…
moonraker45
weird… I just got a text from Andy Pettitte… Should I open it?
MB923
Did Pettitte retire and unretire THREE times? Did he want to have his own press conferences in front of the media saying his career is over with?
MeOnTheInternet
Nope, he’s not at a 2010 on the Bret Favre retirement scale yet, he’s still hovering around 2005-2006
MB923
You forgot to add the 2008 and 2009 Favre as it’s been done multiple times by him.
Six_Eight
Yawn, more drama from the Android.
Six_Eight
Yawn, more drama from the Android.
InvalidUserID
With the rotation (currently) only CC, AJ & Hughes, Andy Pettitte coming back is huge. If my Christmas wish comes true, the Yankees rotation of:
– CC
– Cliff Lee
– Hughes
– Pettitte
– AJ
That’s not too shabby.
Gumby65
Cashman gets the news of Andy thinking about coming back, just as they may get Lee.
Across town, a man is being stalked by his crazy ex-girlfriend, just as he’s asking out the chick his ex-gf introduced to him.
Completely unrelated stories, of course…
lazerball
Considering Pettitte has outright stated that if he returns it would only be as a yankee, I can’t see a point in offering him arbitration.
slider32
Check the Elias Ranking of pitchers and you will see that the Yanks will have the best rotation in the east if they get Lee. That’s why they get into the playoffs every year unlike the Sox and the Rays.
Yankees420
You definitely should not use the Elias rankings as a basis for evaluating how good an entire rotation is compared to another. In fact, the Elias rankings shouldn’t be used for anything at all.
Yankees579
Lol @ projected starters. Whether we like it or not.. If lee is signed, Hughes will be our 5th started. Burnett will be our 3rd and it’s a toss up between cc n lee for 1st n 2nd.
Btw are we signing Wang? I miss those jokes the red sox used to make 🙁