Yankees re-sign Andy Pettitte
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(Jeff Zelevansky/Getty)
The comeback went well this season but a fluke leg injury cut it short, so Andy Pettitte has decided to return for another year. The two sides finished up contract talks and have agreed to a new one-year deal worth $12M plus another $2.5M in award-based bonuses according to Buster Olney, Ken Davidoff, and Mark Feinsand. Because the Yankees have been keep tabs on the veteran left-hander’s health this offseason, the process was expedited and the deal is already official.
Pettitte, 40, pitched to a 2.87 ERA (3.48 FIP) in 12 starts and 75.1 innings in his return from retirement this year. He also posted excellent strikeout (8.24 K/9 and 22.8 K%), walk (2.51 BB/9 and 6.9 BB%), and ground ball (56.3%) rates. A hard-hit ground ball fractured his left ankle in late-June and cause him to miss almost three full months, though Pettitte did return in time to make three regular season tune-up starts and two postseason starts.
With Hiroki Kuroda (one-year, $15M) and now Pettitte both re-signed, the Yankees can move forward with their offseason plan knowing the rotation is well set. CC Sabathia will round out the top three while Phil Hughes backs them up as the four, then David Phelps and Ivan Nova figure to compete for the fifth starter’s spot in Spring Training. The Yankees are optimistic about re-signing Mariano Rivera this week as well, and once that’s completed they’ll know exactly how much money they have to address the right field, catcher, DH, and bench holes heading into the Winter Meetings next week.
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Yay!! Mo next, please. And this week.
Awesome news.
Rotation is now set. Lets hope cashman has something up his sleeve for right field
(y)
$12 million is too much for a guy who is 40, only pitched 75 innings, and had two large breaks to rest his arm. I have a feeling come June we will be discussing “Pettitte to DL for dead arm” posts.
Who cares? Its not your money. The Yanks value him
I mean…..it’s not something I bring up, but this is a Yankee blog comment section, for Christ’s sake. People are going to play armchair QB as to money. That’s fine.
That being said, sorry MRB, but he’s Andy Fucking Pettitte. I give him a blank check to pitch in 2013.
#sentimentalhomerism
Great!
Sign Mo
Sign Russel (3 years 27M, no more)
Trade for Jed Lowrie
Trade for Willingham
Probably sign Raul
Call it an offseason
I’ve seen worse suggestions. However, the trades may somewhat deplete the Minors, causing more issues in future years. Depends on the costs.
Because what the Yankees need to trade for is one guy in his prime that’s never had 100 hits in a season, and another who is now out of his prime.
The yankees doesn’t seem to have the pieces to trade for superstars. The yankees also doesn’t seem to have the payroll flexibility to sign them as free agents for, at least, 2 years.
I agree with Cris, though. I don’t know if I want to give up, really, any piece of value for Lowrie or Willingham. Not up on Willingham enough to know whether he’s a “buy low” kind of guy.
He’s a buy very, very high kind of guy. First healthy season in years and he’s signed to a cheap deal. Can’t field though.
That scenario leaves us weaker than last year when we gagged on the big one.
Awesome news. Now it’s Mo’s turn.
Too much money for a guy at his age and missed half of last season. WTF are the Yanks doing?!?!?
$5 million raise for Kuroda
$10 million raise for Pettite
Who cares? It’s one year so it won’t negatively affect the team in any way. It’s not your money.
Wow, guess you beat me to it.
Who cares? They’re one year deals, they won’t impact the $189 budget for 2014. It’s not our money.
OK Cliff, we heard you the first time.
Both guys pitched well last year. They signed one year deals. If you want better starting pitching, you’re going to have to give someone more money/more years. Which better pitchers on the market right now would you prefer? Or would you rather just slot Hughes and Nova in as our #2 and #3 starters?
Who cares!!!! Its a one yea….. oh, wait
Kuroda was well worth the raise.
Both of them pitched well enough to warrant raises. You cant tell me with a straight face that Andy Pettitte only pitched $2.5M worth last year….
Of course.
I do think $12M guaranteed is somewhat of an overpay, though.
I would have thought something more like $7-8M guaranteed with an additional $5-8M in incentives based on GS or IP would be more appropriate.
Not that I care what he makes, as long as it doesn’t prevent them from improving the team in other ways.
Lowrie and Willingham trades wouldnt exactily rape the farm system to acquire…minimal costs, no risks.
minimal costs, no risks.
That isn’t true just because you say it.
What if he prefaced it with “LISTEN, EVERYBODY KNOWS…”???
That changes EVERYTHING!
Sabathia-Kuroda-Pettite-Hughes-Phelps/Nova
Not a bad front five, but will need some insurance. I don’t have a great deal of faith in Nova’s ability to be a consistent producer. Phelps should be able to stick around but only 3 of his 2012 starts reached the 7th inning. I can’t see Andy giving us 200 innings either.
Pineda could be ready by the All-Star break, but no one is counting on that.
I’d roll the dice on Tim Stauffer or Carlos Villanueva as long-men who can plug the rotation when the inevitable injury/ineffectiveness strikes.
Villanueva is an “inevitable” injury.
TRADE PHELPS, BETANCES AND GARDNER FOR MIKE STANTON AND THEN TRADE STANTON AND NOVA AND ROMINE FOR KERSHAW AND KEMP.
CLAYTON KERSHAW IS A STAHTIN PITCHA!
Using a different office computer. Didn’t mean to have that old Chuck Cary appendage attached to my screen name. Not like anyone gives a shit either way.
keep the Chuck Cary meme. It actually made me laugh for a second
Let me tell you something…..things used to be so bad that I LOOKED FORWARD to a Chuck Cary start.
Scott Sanderson, FTW
Didn’t Cary revert to ultra-suckdom by the time Sanderson came around?
Tim Leary, bitch.
Remember when the next generation of Yankee starters to bring back the glory were Scott Kamieniecki, Wade Taylor and Jeff Johnson along the new M&M boys, Bam Bam Meulens and Kevin Maas?
Talk about the dark years.
Andy Hawkins, Clay Parker, Dave LaPoint, Greg Cadaret, Walt Terrell…man, 1989 was a POS. Chuck Cary was a beacon of goodness for 11 starts!
Troll post aside, I thought it was 1998 for a second until I remembered Giancarlo is the RF formerly known as Mike.
Parody post, I think, not troll post. The screen name WAS “WFAN CALLER.”
Aha! My powers of observation are off after staring at wiring diagrams all day.
HEY GUYS FIRST TIME LONG TIME – HIS MOMMA NAMED HIM MIKE, I’M GONNA CALL HIM MIKE.
Whos Mike Stanton?
Lefty out of the ‘pen in the late ’90s and then again in the early ’00s. (Which is what I hope to be after my TJ surgery. Of course, I will need to throw lefty, with some level of accuracy, at around to 90MPH, but those are just minor details.)
Wait, who’s the president? How did I get here? Anyone have a spare flux capacitor?
CHUCK CARY!!!!
I would love for the Yankees to trade for Stanton and give the Marlins whatever they ask for him and then DO NOT trade him. But the package you are offering would never fly then your even more redicilious with that package for Kershaw and Kemp, that would be the heist of the century.
Gotta say, I prefer Fake WIP Caller.
I’m a little surprised at how many people want to give up on Nova after his awful second half. Yeah it was bad, but he’s shown he can perform well at the MLB level too. Let’s see what he brings into Sprign Training.
There’s a lack of understanding that results don’t happen in a straight line around here. You’re only as good as the last sight someone had of you sometimes.
I’m in complete agreement on Nova. I think he can rebound. At the same time, I’m pretty concerned about what we saw at times from him last season.
I agree there’s a reason to be worried, but I’m not ready to count him out yet. And the Nova for Nolasco swap I’ve seen floated around seems silly to me. I’ll keep the younger guy with more potential upside.
Yes, absolutely. The only way I’d want to take on Nolasco is if Stanton came with him (Giancarlo, not the lefty, Mike.).
Oh yeah, keep Nova in that case. We’re way too early in the game to be talking “change of scenery” trade.
untrue, it worked positively for Jose Tabata (and consequently, it worked negatively for Jesus Montero)…
You’d consider those two change of scenery guys? Definitely disagree on Montero, but I honestly think Tabata was used as the main piece to get Nady and Marte.
I think Tabata was part change of scenary, part a dislike of his reported attitude problems, and part central trade piece.
I apologize to humanity for trying to sell him in conversation as “Mini-Manny.”
My apologies. Tabata was, Montero wasn’t. Both were centerpieces of deals….
Isn’t Tabata terrible? What am I missing?
IMO, Nova was hurt at the end of the season, hard to imagine another reason why someone would fall off a cliff that steep that quick… How many times have we seen young players hide nagging injuries in order to try and work through it, only to have it blow up in their face?
The sexy pick for this anecdotal cautionary tale is Micheal Pineda. HOWEVER some of you old guys (looking at you Tilapia) might remember a young Javier Vazquez (before he became a punchline) went 9-0 to start the 2004 season and fell off a cliff in the second half. It later came out that he hid and tried to pitch through shoulder soreness. HE went on to have a VERY solid career with Arizona, Atlanta & Chicago. That soreness carried all the way to 2010, when he came back and it moved from his shoulder all the way down to his swollen vag…
Jus Sayin. The moral of this story is, don’t sell on Nova just yet, lets see if he can get right first.
Could he have just been tired?
It’s more that he’s had only 1 good half season against AL hitting. His 2011 second half is looking like the outlier right now.
Best news of the offseason, by far. I’m hoping it doesn’t remain so.
Now all we have to do is pray for the starters to stay reasonably healthy.
I do that EVERY year.
Just need to sign a veteran to provide some depth and some sacrificial lambs for Pineda’s shoulder, and the rotation will be all set.
CC, Kuroda, Pettitte, Hughes, Nova/Phelps
They’re fine as is.
Never enough pitching. I don’t think anyone’s talking an actual MLB mainstay here. We’re talking your eighth starter.
I don’t think you ever have enough of anything, but imo (you probably disagree), they are more vulnerable to a decline at several offensive positions, so that’s where I would invest any available funds.
My preference is Hamilton if is market is contracting as some reports suggest. Offer him a large one year contract, and he can retest his value after a successful season in NYC, hopefully contributing to a WS. If he says no, they lose nothing.
Failing that, I would pursue Napoli.
Good for you.
*nods*
Is it $12 million PLUS $2.5 million or $9.5 million plus $2.5 million for a total of $12 million?
Who cares? It’s one year so it won’t negatively affect the team in any way. It’s not your money.
/up there’d
Mo turns 43 tomorrow- I wonder if they’ll announce his deal on his birthday?
Resigning pettite is a easy no brainer hopefully he can remain semi healthy throughout the season and get to another post season where he is one of the best and finally he can retire in a yankees uniform.