Tag: Andy Pettitte HGH

According to ESPN.com, the Yankees and starter Andy Pettitte are close to agreeing to an incentive-laden, one-year contract.

The deal, sources told Olney, could be done as soon as Monday afternoon. It would pay Pettitte nearly $6 million, with incentives that could make it worth as much as $12 million.

Pettitte was 14-14 for the Yankees last season with a 4.54 ERA. He started 33 games. Pitching with a sore shoulder, he was 2-7 with a 6.23 ERA in his final 11 starts and missed his last turn of the season.
It was his second season back in New York after three seasons with the Houston Astros.

Pettitte began his career with the Yankees, pitching his first nine big league seasons in pinstripes. After last season, indications were that Pettitte and the Yankees wanted to make a deal, but were unable to come to terms on a dollar figure — until talks heated up this weekend.

Pettitte earned $16 million last season.

If he signs, Pettitte would join a projected starting rotation featuring CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain.

So a $10 million, one-year contact wasn’t good enough for Pettitte two weeks ago, but an incentive-laden one-year contract is good enough now? I don’t get it.

Pettitte’s greed cost him $4 million in guaranteed money. He thought he was worth more and could get more than what the Yankees were offering, but he must have realized that pitchers who go 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA (on a great offensive team by the way) don’t earn a lot on the open market.

The Yankees won this battle if Pettitte signs.

Far be it for me to question any man’s financial worth, but what the hell is wrong with Andy Pettitte?

Andy Pettitte may not be returning to the New York Yankees after all.

The left-handed starter has rejected the Yankees’ one-year, $10 million offer, The New York Times reported, citing a person with knowledge of the negotiations.

There’s also the issue of money.

The $10 million offer Pettitte reportedly rejected would represent a $6 million decrease from the $16 million the Yankees paid Pettitte last year. And that comes at the same time the team has pledged $180 million to first baseman Mark Teixeira and a combined $243.5 million for starting pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

Pettitte went 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA last season, after starting the year at the center of baseball’s performance-enhancing drugs scandal.

Pettitte, 36, waited until early December 2007 to tell the Yankees he would pitch in 2008. That was before the release of the Mitchell report, which included Pettitte, and he had not told the Yankees he might be included in the report, which said he had used human growth hormone. He subsequently admitted using HGH and was supported publicly by the Yankees.

Let me get this straight. He’s 36 years old, is coming off a 14-14 season playing for one of the best offenses in Major League Baseball and the Yankees stood by him through his HGH scandal. And $10 million isn’t enough? Half of what he made in 2008 should be enough. The guy is on the down swing of his career and now he wants to play hardball with his next contract? Give me a break.