Daily Archives: December 11, 2003

Andy Pettitte is now a member of the Houston Astros. This is going to take a minute to get used to. Buster Olney writes that the Yankees have nobody to blame but themselves for not getting a deal done with the southpaw. According to Olney, losing Pettitte is a portent of things to come:

Pettitte’s departure also is another indication of the overwhelming dysfunction that looms on the horizon for the Yankees. Manager Joe Torre — who argued to prevent the Yankees from trading Pettitte to Philadelphia in 1999, and argued again this offseason for the Yankees to aggressively re-sign the left-hander — goes into next year as a lame-duck manager.

He has indicated he does not want to talk about another extension, and it’s easy to envision an early-season slump leading to his dismissal, a last chance for George Steinbrenner to humiliate Torre on the way out; that’s what Steinbrenner does.

Torre could go at some point, in an era when Steinbrenner is increasingly pursuing players like Raul Mondesi and Gary Sheffield. The Yankees’ players thought last season was a whacky, contentious ride; well, they ain’t seen nothing yet.

The Pettitte signing goes down just before the winter meetings are to start in New Orleans. Jayson Stark reports that there could be a flurry of activity this weekend in the Big Easy, and not just the A Rod blockbuster. What will the Yankees do to replace Pettitte? The hot rumors all involve Kevin Brown.

Never a dull moment, huh? Who said there was an off-season in Yankee land?

According to ESPN, the Houston Astros have called a press conference for high noon to announce the signing of Andy Pettitte to a thee-year deal worth somewhere between $32-$34 million. George Steinbrenner, who has never been a big fan of Pettitte’s, was unable to swoop in at the last minute and get a deal done with the southpaw. Many Yankee fans–including this one–felt that the Yankees would overpay to keep Pettitte in the Bronx, but it wasn’t to be. Now, the Yankee rotation appears vulnerable, with David Wells as the only possible left-hander available to them.

As much as this hurts the Yankees in the short-term, I believe that Pettitte may have a tough time with the Astros. The last I checked, Minute Maid Park had an extremely short left-field porch. I’m not sad to see Andy go, I feel bitter. At George, and at Andy.

Ah, I’m just a poor little Yankee fan. (How do you think Met fans and Red Sox fans feel about this? Heck, I wonder what Joe Torre thinks about it.)

The winds were whipping around last night. I was up for an hour in the middle of the night, tossing and turning, listening to the wind, and thinking about Andy Pettitte pitching for the Astros. It was still windy this morning, and raining. On the subway ride to work the two guys next to me almost came to blows over who was taking up more seat room. After exchaning obscenities, they sat silently next to each other until we reached 96th street. I sat quietly next to them and read the morning papers. The setting was ideal, considering the news.

It’s not a chipper day in Yankee Land, that’s for sure. Andy Pettitte is in fact close to signing with the Astros. Pettitte has kept the door slightly ajar for the Yankees to overwhelm him with money, and he will make up his mind by tomorrow. The New York columnists–Jack Curry, Mike Lupica, and Mike Vaccaro are all in agreement with who is to blame here: George M. Steinbrenner. Pettitte may have wanted to go home all along, but the Yankees have not handled his negotiations with class. Last week I argued that these Yankees are not quite the Yankee teams of the eighties. But the one thing that does remind me of that era is that the Yankees’ biggest obstacle is not the Red Sox, Blue Jays or anyone else in the American League: it is their owner.

While the Yanks are on the verge of losing Pettitte, but they may still sign Gary Sheffield (although they are reportedly players in the Vlad Guerrero sweepstakes). Sheffield was at a Maryland hoops game with Darryl Strawberry last night, and said that “the deal will get done.” It’s hard to know what exactly is happening here. Judging from the bit that Brian Gunn offers at Rebird Nation, maybe Steinbrenner will leave Sheffield at the alter. But still, I doubt it. Not when he has “true Yankees” like Doc Gooden and Strawberry in his corner.

Meanwhile, Alex Rodriguez is still playing for the Texas Rangers. Tom Hicks and John Henry as expected to meet during the next couple of days, and The Boston Globe reports that the two might be waiting for this weekend to announce a deal. (Take that, George.) But should the blockbuster deal fall apart, the Red Sox would have to deal with a dicey situation with Nomar Garciaparra.