Daily Archives: December 5, 2006

According to Tom Verducci, the Andy Pettitte situation is heating up:

The free-agent left-hander, who is strongly considering retirement, is said to be intrigued with the idea of returning to pinstripes and “could possibly have a deal by the end of the week” with New York, according to a baseball source familiar with the negotiations.

The Yankees are willing to wait as long as necessary for Pettitte, whose original timetable was to defer a decision on 2007 until later this month. Pettitte is the club’s No. 1 option because the former Yankee is New York-proven, is left-handed (possibly joining Johnson and Kei Igawa to give them three lefties in the rotation), does not require a lengthy term to his contract and is coming off an impressive second half of 2006.

In this market, the Yankees would do well to get Pettitte at two years and about $26 million.

I liked Pettitte when he was with the Yanks. How can any Yankee fan ever forget his performance in Game 5 of the 1996 World Serious? That said, I wasn’t sorry when he left. Though I’m generally not crazy about second-comings, I have to say, given what is out there, and the current state of the Yankees starting pitching, I wouldn’t be unhappy to see Pettitte return for a year or two, would you?

Still nuthin’ doin’ from the Yanks, though reports have it that they are still interested in Andy Pettitte. Bill Madden reports:

As one rival AL scout observed in the lobby of the Dolphin Hotel: “What’s with the Yankees? Are they even here? Everybody seems to be going crazy this winter and they’re just sitting back watching it all.”

“I’m patient,” said Cashman, “but I’ll be aggressive if it’s something that makes sense. At the same time, I’m more than willing to go into spring training with what I’ve got.”

I don’t think any of us would be surprised if the Yanks made a splashy move before the season begins (maybe a former fan lands a job in the front office, who knows?). That said, it sure is odd to see them so restrained. Time will tell if this is a good or a bad thing. A friend of mine wondered the other day whether or not the Red Sox are out-Yankeeing the Yankees. He worried that the Bombers could be left behind. But I’m not so sure. Hey, in Cashmoney, we trust, right? Muh-hu-ha-ha.