5:09pm: Marc Carig of The Star Ledger hears from Yankees GM Brian Cashman that nothing has changed regarding Pettitte (Twitter link). He hasn't told the team if he will or will not pitch next season yet.
4:44pm: The Yankees' offer to Andy Pettitte is or will be for $12MM, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (Twitter links). That won't necessarily be enough to lure the free agent left-hander away from retirement, but some of Heyman's sources expect him to play. "Why would he be working out if he's not playing?" one asked.
Pettitte signed with the Yankees two years ago today, then re-upped with the club in December of 2009. He has never waited later than January 26th to sign a free agent contract, but doesn't appear to be in a hurry this offseason.
I wonder if Petite would accept the cash on the condition Hanky and Hal do a doggy crawl to his doorstep with the cash hanging from their mouths?
It’s not about the cash. I think it has more to do with the upcoming Clemens trial. It will be an ugly trial, there will be a lot of mud slinging, and I don’t think Pettitte wants to cause that distraction to the team… that’s why he isn’t coming back, yet. If/when his involvement in the trial is done, I do expect him to pitch for the Yankees somewhere around the midpoint of this upcoming season.
Yeah. It is just so tiring that everyone here is pretty tired of reading about petite and imagine even NYY fans are fed up reading about him also.
The beat writers just won’t leave the issue alone and who knows? Half the articles could be 100% BS anyway and made up for all we know with Andy ignoring them when they attempt to contact him in the 1st place, after all. he has mad it known what his intentions already are and been PLAIN about it.
my apologies to NY fans for the (not so) humerous 1st topic here.
I agree with this line of thinking but would also add that Andy knows his body will not hold up for an entire season. Last year he was lights out good until the All Star break. From that point on injuries nagged and never came back to form. However if he waits until the second half he comes in healthy and will have an opportunity to leave the game on a very high note and possibly another ring. Too many people have been writting the Yankees off since failing to land Lee. Let’s not forget this is still a very good team without Lee plus if we can get a decent season out of AJ and the solid bull pen which was not there last year save Mariano we are right in the hunt. I feel good about our chances in the American league, but the Phillies are going to be tough to beat.
All good and well, but the rotation as it stands now is dubious. I don’t want to see them risk until the All-Star break with what we currently have…
he is doing him self, his image and the team a disservice by screwing around like this…Its not hard either you want to pitch and make millions or you want to go home and retire on you already made millions. I hate when professional athletes do this. Any normal person with a normal job would never get this kind of leeway. He should have known by the new year if he was going to pitch…he had most of october, all of november and all of December to decide if he wants to come back. Thats more than enough time. If i were cashman I would offer this deal and tell Andy that he has 1 week to decide if he cant then he wont be pitching for the yankees.
“Any normal person with a normal job would never get this kind of leeway.”
Right, but this is not a normal person with a normal job (Pettitte isn’t replaceable), so what’s your point?
His point is that Pettitte is jerking everyone around. He would be great to have, but he isn’t irreplaceable..he’s a 38 year old pitcher that does get injured every once in a while. He is coming off of a good year, and would be a real asset, but again, not irreplaceable.
If he “isn’t irreplaceable”, then who could replace him? and why haven’t the Yankees signed this replacement? His value is considerably greater than all other available options, so I’d argue he is.
because they didnt try to sign lee
the problem with that is that the yankeees need him if he wants to come back. if he decides to come back mid-season, many teams would be more than happy to take him if the yankees won’t.
Because you don’t like it is hardly a compelling reason to refuse to make your team better if the opportunity presented itself. Pettite is still an upgrade over half of the Yankees rotation, and unless something drastic happens between now and a hypothetical Pettite-wanting-to-pitch moment that changes that, why WOULDN’T you do it?
Spite is not how you run a successful franchise. (Of course, being so sure you’re going to sign one player (Lee) that you don’t sign and waiting to see what another one decides to do isn’t a good move either, but that’s another issue entirely. We’re here now, not back three months ago.)
its not spite at all its cashman simply saying hey andy we have had a great run, and you have had a great career. Do you think after 4 months you can do it? if not please tell me so we can figure something else out.
Your missing that Pettitte told the Yankees that he won’t be pitching at the start of the season. Just because Cashman made him an offer despite that statement doesn’t make Andy the bad guy here.
im pretty sure he said he might not be..not “i wont be”
Jan 12th, 2011
8:13 PM: Andy Pettitte has informed the Yankees that if he does return for the 2011 season, he won’t be ready by Opening Day, reports Stefan Bondy and Nathaniel Vinton of the New York Daily News. Brian Cashman said Pettitte told him to “don’t count on me” but the GM noted that if Pettitte wanted to pitch later in the season, the door would be open for a return.
“I don’t think he’s determined if he’s officially finished or not, but he’s chosen at this stage at least not to start in 2011,” Cashman said. “If that ever changes he’ll call us. We’re not going to hound him or bother him.”
“If i were cashman I would offer this deal and tell Andy that he has 1 week to decide if he cant then he wont be pitching for the yankees.”
This sounds nice in theory, but Cashman’s word is worth precisely nothing, as he proved with the A-Rod opt-out ultimatum and the no-first-round-pick-for-Soriano embarrassment.
I truly hate the feeling I have to defende every silly statement. However,it’s welllllll documented that Cashman didn’t want to do and didn’t negotiate EITHER the Arod or the Soriano deals. BOTH deals were spurred by Randy Levine w/ the blessings of Hal and Hank.
If you feel the desire to call him a liar then refer to the Tex situation.
The feeling that you have to defend every silly statement stems from your unwavering allegiance to the Yankees… which apparently has been motivating you since 1978.
What Cashman did or did not want to do with regard to A-Rod and Soriano has absolutely nothing to do with his decision to open his mouth and make statements that proved to be unequivocally false. Those examples were evidence that he does not have control over team decisions. Accordingly, there is no reason why Andy Pettite should put any stock in a Cashman ultimatum.
no gm has more control of his team than the owner of his team this shouldnt be news
No other GM has made statements that have been so publicly contradicted by ownership. Bottom line: Cashman’s mouth should stop writing bad checks.
Edit: As an example of Cashman’s tendency to talk too much, observe the following recent quote about Joba:
“I don’t think his stuff is the same since he hurt himself in Texas [August 4th 2008] … The stuff plays up better in the pen.” Cashman continued, “His stuff doesn’t play out of the rotation anymore like it did before prior to his shoulder.”
What good can possibly be served by such statements?
“What Cashman did or did not want to do with regard to A-Rod and Soriano has absolutely nothing to do with his decision to open his mouth and make statements that proved to be unequivocally false”.
Of course it does. Maybe it was unwise for him to say anything other than “no comment” but it does make him a liar. His intent was to NOT negotiate a contract with Arod if he opted out and that the Yanks were NOT going to give up his 1st rnd pick. If his Boss then has a change of heart that doesn’t make him a liar.
If you tell your daughter that she will never be allowed to get a tongue ring while she’s living under your roof and two weeks later her mother says it’s ok, does that make you a liar? Of course not. It just makes you look like your wife cut your b@lls off.
in my opininon he is holding off making a decision in hopes that the Rangers step up and make a ‘better than the Yankees offer’ to play closer to home.
why would he want to go to the rangers? he has only ever pitched for two teams the astros and yankees and those are the teams he seem to only want to pitch for
the key in those two teams is they had a chance, much like the Rangers do now. Pettitte would be a good consolation prize for missing out on Lee, the Rangers have the money why not throw it towards Pettitte?
plus he gets to stay relatively near his family. win/win
Because it would make Pettitte look bad? Pettitte has said it’s the Yanks or no one. Ppls “word” means nothing now a days but I can’t see Pettitte going out like that.
Thats a lot for an old pitcher but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do when youre desperate.
yes lets focus on his age and ignore his numbers…
yes lets look at his numbers a lowers k/9 a raising bb/9 and a era hovering around 4.20 over the past 5 years(yes thats not counting last year but as we all know you cant just look at one year for a pitcher) and his Age how many pitchers are effective at the age 39 in the middle of a season? add to that his injury history and the fact he used PEDS which have a negative affect on the body and make it easier and easier with age to get seriously hurt..
I already replied to this stupidity. What middle of the season crap if he’s training now which he is then he should be rady way before that. A lot of pitchers are effective at age 39. Just going off the ones baseball reference said were most similar dennis martinez, mussina, glavine, brown, tiant, tommy john, david wells, orel hershiher, whitey ford, penock, carl huddell. Should i continue?
Really??? Tom Glavine? Not a very effective comparison there…just take a glance at Glavine’s numbers compared to Pettites’. They are far superior…
i wouldnt say far superior but whatever that’s hardly the point, and kind of strange you say his name over mussina’s who had a better career than glavine.
I just chose randomly really, but it just shows that some of those pitchers you listed are really not similar to Pettite (at least numbers wise). Mussina vs Glavine is a whole other argument. I would take Glavine over Pettite any day…I mean if both of them were…lets say 30-34 years old, which one would you rather have?
thats not the point the point is pitcher dont automatically decline as they age espially borderline hofers. I would take pettitte in that age frame their numbers were very similiar then and pettitte had to play in the al east one of those years. According to baseball reference they are similiar pitchers and out of that list he’s at least as good as wells, and that’s all i really needed to make that point im sure i could lots of other players who aged well enough or didnt rapidly decline it’s not hard.
But do you think he is worth 12mm?
thats actually pretty even considering glavine played in the watered down NL East all through the 90’s while Pettitte had to face the Orioles, Red Sox, Indians, Rangers, and Blue Jays of the 90’s….
No…why dont we look at his numbers instead, wait jwsox already did. Simply put you cannot make a good case that he will be worth a 12mm dollar contract at age 38, even as bad as they yankees need pitching.
was he worth 11 million at age 37? I would say so, addiotionally the dodgers just gave lilly a 3 year deal that would be paying around 10 million per year and he’s no pettitte so ya i could justify giving him that 12 million for one year, given his track record the idea that he cant pitch effectively at age 39 is a strange that’s based on nothing. I find it rather easy to justify giving a lefty who posted a 3.26 era last year 12 million, it’s really not hard.
Are you really arguing Pettitte’s worth for the Yanks? Really? We’re paying Jeter $15mil. $12 mil for a pitcher who “could” give you 175 IP @ a 4.00 FIP is worth it, especially considering how effective he was last year before the groin injury.
If he’s the difference between Mitre and no Mitre in the rotation I’d say he’s worth twice that to the Yankees.
Didn’t the Yanks say they weren’t going to rush Pettitte and let him come to them when/if he’s ready to play? Trying to get him to sign on a dotted line worth $12 million doesn’t seem like not rushing his decision…
Why don’t you worry about getting healthy and getting back to playing basketball again?
No where in that post did it say that Cashman approached Pettitte about anything. When Cashman was quoted it clearly says “nothing has changed”.
I wish Heyman would stick to something newsworthy instead of creating news.
Heyman has been biased against the Yankees since Newsday…. He’s a hater
Hey Chris, you should call up Cashman, I think that you could sit on the bench and have a good shot at the World Series.
Hey how does it feel to be the 3rd best player(even at your best) on the single most over rated team in the NAB in 20 years? I mean hell the bulls(the team that you and your two douche bag friends screwed around with this off season) are only a half a game behind you and they have been playing most of the season with out 2 of the better players on the court at the same time with noah and boozer.
Uhh… you guys know it’s not REALLY Chris Bosh, right?
Meh…you get used to it. I think all these guys think they’re so witty when they make a joke about someone’s username everytime he posts even though they don’t actually address the post made. Maybe after trolling another 20 times or so they’ll get tired of it.
Doubtful.
I still believe something I read a while back that said Andy wants to wait until the Clemens hearings are over before he makes himself so publicly accessible. I’m not sure what any of that stuff is going on, but if the dust from that settles sometime midseason, I believe he’ll come back and pitch.
Waiting for Clemens trial to get moved back again. Hypocrites like Pettitte wants only the glory, not the humiliation of a supena during the season.
Why are people so shy on the subject of PEDs when bringing up Clemens and Pettitte? Its like when they can’t say the word “dogs” when talking about Michael Vick’s past.
most people dont bring it up anymore with pettitte because he sort of owned up to it after getting caught.
Bring him down. If not, see if you can pry Zambrano from the Cubs. If the Cubs can pay 8 mil for the next 2 years I would give them Adams and Noesi. Or Joba if they want him, but after this year he hits arbitration and will no longer be a cheap player. I think the Cubs would do that deal to take away 10 Mil from their budget each year. Gives them a decent young pitcher with good control. I know they are trying to win now, so it would not be a devastating downgrade from Big Z to Noesi (hes MLB ready).
I know everybody hates Big Z. I dont like the mental case either, but the last 2 months of last year after they converted him back to the rotation he had under a 3 ERA. He would come as the number 3 or 4 starter and would no longer be a big fish in a small pond. I really want to see Zambrano as a Yankee.
Sadly, Zambrano is starting to look like a great option for the Yanks. I wouldn’t have said the same thing a month ago.
Problem with that is the Yankees probably don’t want Zambrano, for obvious reasons.
And yeah, his ERA in the 2nd half was great. However, his ridiculously high strand rate is a red flag, as is his 44 walks in those 74 innings. A regression is almost certainly in order….
yeah good point. However, his FIP in the last month said he should have had an ERA around 2.40.
I agree that some team will try to catch lightning in a bottle with Big Z, but the Yankees need to stay away. Adding him to an already inconsistent rotation is not appealing at all. I’d rather hand the ball to Noesi or another kid…
who is trying to win now? the cubs? everyone knows its not going to happen..the cards are the cards, the reds are awesome now, and the brew crew got a ton better….he probably could be had
At this point pretty much any starter looks good for the Yankees.
Chicago is far from a small pond.
Well, if the Yankees want to put an end to this nonsense they should essentially offer him the money they were willing to pay Lee minus Soriano’s salary. Their payroll would be what they had budgeted for but they’d have a left-handed starter and a setup man and backup closer. Seems like $12 million is pretty close to that so maybe that’s what they’re doing. Pettitt get’s a slight raise as well with that offer.
I can understand his desire to retire but it’s hard for me to imagine walking away from a $12 million dollar salary for playing a game. Sure, he doesn’t need the money (neither did Gil Meche) because he’s made over $125 million in his career. Take away agent fees and taxes though and he’s probably got about half of that or less. Adding another $6 million or so wouldn’t be a bad idea, that money is going to sustain him and his family for the rest of their lives so the more he maximizes it right now the better of they’ll all be later. Even if he takes a front office job after retiring or gets a tv job as an analyst or whatever, he’s not going to be able to make nearly as much as he can now. If it were me I’d pitch until my arm fell off, a la Jamie Moyer.
I would be like, Give me 20 million and ill come back… They need him more then he needs them
Pettitt should shop around a bit, maybe gain a bit of leverage. The Yanks probably won’t buy it but he should at least have his agent contact the Rangers and then leak it to the media. Just saying…
thats the best offer he will get most other teams would look at his recent numbers and realize besides last season his stirke/9 while ever great have been dropping, while his bb/9 has been getting higher, his WAR has been dropping, 06-09 his era was in the 5s and yes a decent 3.28 last season but he is going to be 39 before the all star break there is no way he is worth 12 mill and would not get close to it on hte open market
His era 06-09 was 4.24 his whip has been falling for 3 years now his numbers in general have been around the same numbers. His so/9 for instance have been right at 7 for the past 3 years, and only dropped considerably 4 years ago. The same goes for his bb/9 was only above 3 once. when was era ever in his 5s?
Bottom line is if Pettitte comes back the Yanks and Sox are even and the Yanks and the Sox know that to be true. The money doesn’t matter 10-15 million.
“Bottom line is if Pettitte comes back the Yanks and Sox are even and the Yanks and the Sox know that to be true.”
LOL
Uh, Chicago isn’t exactly a small pond. But you’re right about one thing, the Cubs are trying to win now, hence the Garza trade and Pena signing. I think their front office would hold on to Big Z given that they just shipped out Gorz, especially since there isn’t anyone available they could spend their savings on. And I doubt they’d be willing to pay so much of his salary, especially if they dealt him to the Yankees. They’d probably take back lesser prospects but when you’re dealing with the Yankees everything is seen through the prism of their money, that’s the Yankees big advantage that they use to their benefit, and they use it quite well. They would probably rather keep their better prospects and deal lesser ones if it’s just a matter of money.
One more thing. If Noesi is major league ready and if he’s a good pitcher why would the Yankees deal him for another pitcher? Don’t they have a need for him too? Basically what I’m asking is if he’s not good enough for the Yankees what makes you think he’d be good enough for the Cubs?
Comparing the Cubs to the Yanks it is a small pond. The Yanks have the ability to eat bad contracts. I never said Noesi is not good enough for the Yankees. I see him, Phelps, Colon, Nova, and Mitre fighting for 2 spots in the rotation. All I am saying is the Yankees would much rather have a gaurenteed inning eater than a mediocre prospect in their rotation.
You forgot Mark Prior. hahaha Oh ya , he’s going to be an asset out of the bullpen.
Noesi has sort of flown under the radar but has highly regarded as being one of their better pitching prospects. In fact, he’s seen as being ahead of Nova who is pretty much guaranteed a spot this year. The problem is, the Yanks went with two rookies in the rotation before with Hughes and IPK and didn’t have the best results. They would prefer NOT to have two kids in the rotation, especially since Hughes is only a 2nd year starter and AJ is an enigma going into 2011. I think they would prefer to integrate no more than one rookie starter into the rotation a year.
Noesi blew threw A+, AA and AAA last year but he only pitched 4 or 5 games and had mixed results. They want to at least give him a few months if not the whole year @ AAA.
I must say that as a Yankee fan I wish I knew if Pettitte was going to be a part of my rotation by now, but I have enjoyed the way he has left them to twist this off-season. In past years the front office made it seem like they didn’t really want him so bad however this year the shoe seems to be on the other foot.
Anyone else think they are trying to sign another pitcher asap so the colon thing might go under the radar?
They were right to not overpay him and wait in years gone by. Remember Pettitte claiming he had a 3 year 36m deal on the table (he took the yanks 1 year 11m)? That was after a terrible season.
They need him now, but he’s not worth over £12m to them, and I presume that’s pro-rata, given he isn’t going to be available until about May (even if he signs now).
There’s no reason to think he wouldn’t be in ST and ready for the season just like any other player if he made his mind soon.
Except that he’s 2-3 weeks behind on his conditioning according to previous articles. He would certainly be cutting it close. I’m sure the Yankees wouldn’t want to risk an injury by rushing him to be ready to start the season though.
This far out from ST, I don’t think that matters unless he’s let him self go over the winter.
Jan 12th, 2011
8:13 PM: Andy Pettitte has informed the Yankees that if he does return for the 2011 season, he won’t be ready by Opening Day, reports Stefan Bondy and Nathaniel Vinton of the New York Daily News. Brian Cashman said Pettitte told him to “don’t count on me” but the GM noted that if Pettitte wanted to pitch later in the season, the door would be open for a return.
“I don’t think he’s determined if he’s officially finished or not, but he’s chosen at this stage at least not to start in 2011,” Cashman said. “If that ever changes he’ll call us. We’re not going to hound him or bother him.”
No that’s not the way it went down. You’re way off with a comment like that. And so what did he really want- 3 years for 12 million per year. I bet Cashman wished he did give it to him now. He signed an incentive laden contract for 5.5m in which they wound up paying him 10.5 m for ’09. 2010 signs a one year deal for 11.75m. Now because they went one year deal to one year deal he’s not locked up for 2011 in which they just offered him 12m. So for 1.75m Cashman bit off his nose to spite his face. If I was Pettitte I’d hold out for 15m. this way he’ll do better than the 3 for 36 that he wanted in Dec. of 2008.
This makes the Meche and Wood situations all the more classy…way to go Pettitte
only the yankees would offer a soon to be 39 year old pitcher who has a history of injuries and used PEDs(which means more injuries will come sooner than later) 12 mill
Not worth the mindless debate….
He wants to pitch for the Phillies.
hahaha Imagine he signed with them hahaha I would die from laughing so hard. It will never happen but we can dream.
Why not? It seems like everyone else wants to pitch for them.
I want to start by saying that I like Andy Pettitte. He was the ace of the Yankees when I started watching, I was heartbroken when the Yankees made him leave and was thrilled that he returned and got another ring. I actually saw him this past All-Star game and during the parade, he pointed at my Pettitte shirt and gave me a thumbs up.
With that said, he should just retire. Either you’re in when the Yankees need you the most or you sit at home…either way, be up front and make a decision. This might be the biggest moment that the Yankees need him. He knows it, the Yankees know it and we as baseball fans/followers know it. So he needs to make a decision.
In other news, Hank has called a press conterence for tomorrow to announce that the Yankees will be paying Pettitte $18 million if he comes back.
just when brett favre has gone away (for now), another one has popped up in his place. andy shouldn’t ruin his legacy and piss people off. retire or not. and if he retires, that’s it. he shouldn’t return. if he doesn’t retire, he should tell everyone now. the money can be worked out later.
I’m surprised the Yankees organization and their fans have played along with this B.S. for this long. I would move on if I was Cashman.
Andy Pettitte = The Brett Favre of Major League Baseball
Whatever Andy does, sad as a “No” might be, will be fine. He’s never been a prima donna/diva type– Cashman? Igore half what he says. The Clemons trial? Will definitely be a mess, due more to yellow jounalist type media. One does wonder–how come all the other sports-football, basketball, hockey, etc–“wrestling”—aren’t being investigated/dragged thru the taboids–drugs are wrong.bad.harmful. If done before the law got passed—forgeddaboudit.
I get really happy when the Yankees overpay for veteran guys who are way past their prime… What I’m trying to say is that I’m really happy quite often.
Stop pandering to this former ped abuser. If has issues playing for 12 million,then let him go play catch down Texas way with his buddy Clemons. Time for Yankees to move on.