yanks/pettite close to deal

[Pharmcat]

one yr for 6 with options to make it 12

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3861386


glad to have that worked out


time for world series run now

[Pharmcat]

and for the record, i did kinda turn on andy for not taking the 10....but i think every1 agrees that we need him due to innings limit, injury concerns, ,etc.....so Im glad to have signed him as it gives us depth and allows hughes more time in AAA

[HCYanks]

Having a probable 200 innings of league average-slightly above league average at the bottom of the rotation is gonna go a long way. Hughes gets to spend time in AAA, while Aceves can take the role as a fill-in starter and spend time in the minors as well. I feel a lot more confident that they can avoid a scenario where the Sidney Ponsons of the league find their way into the rotation again.

[Pharmcat]

its final, 5.5 guaranteed, 6.5 in options

GREAT deal for yanks

[Rich Rane]

Nice rotation
- Sabathia
- Wang
- Burnett
- Chamberlain
- Pettitte

With Hughes and Aceves as backups should one of them get injured.

[Scalabrine]

5.5 million for 1 year of Pettite? I wonder why changed his mind, good deal for the Yankees. It gives us more flexibility. We can now have Aceves as a long reliever when one of these guys has a bad outing (Geise can too).

The best thing about this is, if our pen is struggling or Joba is pitching alot of inning, we can bring up Phil, Aceves, or Kennedy and slide them into the 5th spot and have a 7 inning game with Joba and Mo in the 8th and 9th.

CC
Wang
Burnett
Joba (if he pitches like he did last year as a starter he is good enough to be 1 or 2)
Pettitte
not bad...not bad at all!

[kNiCk_PriDe]

I know a lot of you like Pettitte and are happy to have him back. This is just another opinion.

The Yankees have agreed to a one-year deal with pitcher Andy Pettitte to bring him back for the inaugural season at the new Yankee Stadium. The deal is similar to the one the Red Sox gave John Smoltz. Pettitte will be paid a base salary of $5.5 million, but could make up to $12 million with incentives.

Surprisingly, the deal comes at a price tag the Yankees are comfortable with paying the 36-year-old pitcher. Pettitte had earlier taken a winter-long stance against taking a pay cut from the $16 million annual salary he received from the Yankees the past two seasons. Pettitte took the deal after realizing the market is dead, and the Yankees were prepared to move on.

The Yankees are happy. Andy Pettitte is content. You know who shouldn't be happy? Yankee fans.

Over the nostalgia from years past, New York was glad to hear Andy ‘HGH’ Pettitte would probably not be back next season. Much like his former buddy Roger Clemens, he had proved to be nothing but a money chasing fraud. New York was ready to move on.

He kept the Yankees out of the loop about being investigated for using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) by Senator George Mitchell last year. He conveniently signed a one-year $16 million deal with the Yankees a day before Mitchell’s bombshell report on PED use in Major League Baseball was released. Despite being finagled, the Yankees stood by him, willingly turned the page, and prepared for the upcoming season.

The upcoming season proved to be one of the worst of Andy’s career. After a decent first-half he showed he was done in the second half. One of the major reasons the Yankees weren’t able to make their annual 2nd half surge into the playoffs was due to the failures of Pettitte. He was nothing more than a 6-inning pitcher on his good days. After going 10-7 in the first half, he won just 4 games and lost 7 the rest of the way giving him a 14-14 record with a 4.54 ERA.

Despite the season he had, Pettitte still believed he was worth $16 million, and the Yankees were cheating 'him' out of millions.

The Yankees should have stayed away, even if it was at a discount. The way to go was Phil Hughes. He had a horrible season last year before he got hurt, but showed glimpses of what the Yankees expected out of their heralded young pitcher in a brief cameo at the end of the season.

Hughes warrants another chance to prove he can be the type of pitcher we all expected. He pitched a brilliant 8 innings going pitch-for-pitch against A.J Burnett in his last start of the season.

He has thrown 106 2/3 innings in the major leagues with some success and many failures, but at 22 years of age, many pitchers are still in the minor leagues or still adjusting to the majors. Hughes already has 2 years of experience in the major leagues even if it was in limited time.

The Yankees’ pitching rotation is now complete with:

CC Sabathia

Chien-Ming Wang

A.J. Burnett

Andy Pettitte

Joba Chamberlain

Pettitte now takes the final spot in the rotation. It leaves Hughes as the odd man out. We can wait though because his time will come. It just won’t be this year, unless there is an injury. The Yankees can attest firsthand how important it is to develop pitching. We all know how much they spent on CC Sabathia and A.J Burnett this off-season.

If nothing else, the Yankees now have a deep rotation with several young pitchers such as Hughes, Alfredo Aceves, and Ian Kennedy waiting in the wings for another shot; a fair shot. Not a shot of Human Growth Hormone.

http://www.prosportspress.com/sports_ne ... ittte.html

[CR Reina]

When was the last time the Yankees were able to negotiate down a contract like this?

[HCYanks]

When was the last time the Yankees were able to negotiate down a contract like this?

The money amount isn't as low as it appears at face value. Here's the full agreement per Cot's:

# 1 year/$5.5M (2009)
* re-signed by NY Yankees as a free agent 1/26/09
* $4.5M in performance bonuses: $0.5M each for 150, 160, 170 IP; $0.75M each for 180, 190, 200, 210 IP
* $2M in roster bonuses: $0.1M for 120 days on active 25-man roster; $0.2M for 130 days; $0.25M each for 140, 150 days; $0.4M each for 160, 170, 180 days

In other words, all he has to do to make 10-13 million is stay healthy and pitch a full season. Andy's been relatively healthy through his career and hasn't had a season derailed by injuries since 2004, so i'd say the odds are good that he makes most or all of that money. Still, the max amount isn't that much larger than the original offer and the structure makes it less of a blow if Pettitte gets hurt or falls apart.. John Smoltz and Brad Penny got similar contracts from the Red Sox so i'm wondering if these incentive-laden deals are going to become a trend for older and/or injury prone pitchers.

[cmaff051]

If he pitches 210 innings this year, the Yankees will gladly pay him $11 million. It is a steal.

[Pharmcat]

If he pitches 210 innings this year, the Yankees will gladly pay him $11 million. It is a steal.

yep, yanks got a good deal, and everything falls into place

joba innings limitation, injury? we got 3 guys in AAA who could step in (aceves, phil, ian)

[CR Reina]

John Smoltz and Brad Penny got similar contracts from the Red Sox so i'm wondering if these incentive-laden deals are going to become a trend for older and/or injury prone pitchers.

This kind of deal would probably be anathema to most players in previous years, but perhaps the economy is dictating it. I would like to see it become a trend and make contracts more of a meritocracy. It is one thing owners could conceivably dig in on without truly colluding.

The Yankees only competition in these talks were retirement and the 'respect' factor, so he's actually fortunate to get the deal he did and I agree that he is likely to max out on it since he threw 222.3, 214.3, 215.3 and 204.0 innings in each of the past four seasons.

[nykgeneralmanager]

We needed the depth because our rotation is not full of the healthiest guys or the guys most likely to throw well over 200 innings. Aside from that, our backup plans (Hughes, Kennedy, Aceves) likely need some more time in AAA to begin the season before really being ready. I was ready to let Pettitte walk if he really wanted $16 million, but this is a good signing.

[Pharmcat]

We needed the depth because our rotation is not full of the healthiest guys or the guys most likely to throw well over 200 innings. Aside from that, our backup plans (Hughes, Kennedy, Aceves) likely need some more time in AAA to begin the season before really being ready. I was ready to let Pettitte walk if he really wanted $16 million, but this is a good signing.

how much time do you think phil needs in AAA?

[CR Reina]

how much time do you think phil needs in AAA?

He needs as much time as it takes Burnett to make his first appearance on the 15-day DL.

[SaVaGe]

Our rotation is set. Can't wait until Phil gets ready