Baseball Musings: Pettitte to Pitch

December 03, 2007

Pettitte to Pitch

According to the Houston Chronicle, Andy Pettitte will pitch for the Yankees in 2008:

Andy Pettitte, who contemplated retirement this winter, has told his good friends, a few former Astros teammates and some current Yankees teammates that he will return to the Bronx for the 2008 season.
Through people close to Pettitte, the Chronicle has learned that the veteran lefthander has told family members and teammates that he has decided to return to the Yankees in 2008.

Last month Pettitte declined his $16 million player option for 2008 because he wasn't ready to commit to another season. But Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner told Pettitte they would wait for him until February, if necessary, so he could take his time to make a decision.

That wait is over, and the Yankees have been informed of the decision by Pettitte's agent, Randy Hendricks.

This makes the Yankees decently deep at starter, even if they don't trade for Santana. Wang, Pettitte and Mussina are the veterans, with Hughes, Chamberlain and Kennedy ready to step into the rotation as well. I wonder who will be the odd man out? Mussina, at his age, might be a good one-inning pitcher. He pitched well in the first inning in 2007. If he could learn to come out of the bullpen, he'd help solidify the relief corps.

Posted by David Pinto at 09:22 AM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)

Comments

My vote is a six-man rotation, to keep the kids from reaching their innings caps by August. Besides, Moose is so finicky, I can't imagine him willing to shift to the pen full-time. But then, he's surprised me before.

Posted by: Jersey at December 3, 2007 09:36 AM

If Petitte does come back, Moose's days as a regular starter are over. I think he could be a more than passable set-up guy, now that Chamberlain is apparently headed for the rotation. And Mussina is always available if a starter gets hurt, and somebody will get hurt.

Posted by: Casey Abell at December 3, 2007 09:39 AM

Cherish the surplus, it's not like every starting candidate will remain healthy the entire year.

Posted by: Basura at December 3, 2007 09:45 AM

Mussina put up a .633 opponents OPS for pitches 1-15 in 2007. The number did jump to .801 for pitches 16-30. So a one-inning set-up role looks fine, even two innings is okay though getting riskier.

Set-up ain't starting, but it's become something of a glamour role nowadays. Mussina might not mind it.

Posted by: Casey Abell at December 3, 2007 09:50 AM

Keep Hughes and Melky!!! Go for Santana next Year on the open market and save the future of the Yankees TODAY!!!!

Thanks Andy, welcome home!!!

Posted by: Bryan at December 3, 2007 10:50 AM

The Yankees' rotation isn't as shallow as it was yesterday, but I wouldn't call it "deep" either. No matter how talented Hughes, Chamberlain, and Kennedy may be, it's a stretch for any team to go into a season with three rookie starting pitchers.

Young starters are likely to have adjustment issues, suffer injuries, and/or turn out to be less talented than expected. (The adjustment issues will be magnified in the NY spotlight.) Sometimes a youth movement works out, but it's a huge gamble.

Also, the Yankees are still thin at the front of the rotation -- the very thing that hurt them in recent playoff losses. They still need a #1 guy, Santana or someone else.

Posted by: jvwalt at December 3, 2007 10:54 AM

I don't really understand the benefit of converting Chamberlain to a starter if they have to be as protective as they were last year - if he is as good a 2 pitch pitcher as he was last year - then he's best suited to be a closer - But now they've got Mo for 4 more years

If he's as fragile as they thought last year why convert him to be a 5 inning starter? Then they need to develop his other pitches and build up his endurance.

Something tells me the Moose isn't going to sit well - Maybe I'm wrong - but I don't think so

Posted by: Bandit at December 3, 2007 11:50 AM

Joba WAS a starter last year, until he got to the big league club. He does have a good curve but he rarely threw it in the majors, IIRC, but that's his third pitch. There's also a change developing.

They didn't necessarily think he was any more fragile than any other young pitcher - the Joba rules had more to do with Torre than with Joba.

Posted by: Jersey at December 3, 2007 12:11 PM

If Mussina wants to make the Hall of Fame, he needs to start for the next couple of years. Having any other role will kill his chances. I'm betting he wants to make the HoF, and won't be happy at all to come out of the pen.

Posted by: Bacca at December 3, 2007 12:32 PM

Sorry, but Moose just can't cut it as a starter any more. You don't want to look at his OPS allowed after the first 30 pitches last year. A couple more miserable seasons as a starter would hurt, not help his HoF chances. Which I think are remote, anyway.

Posted by: Casey Abell at December 3, 2007 01:01 PM

I agree, Dave. I wouldn't mind Mussina going to the bullpen and possibly being the setup man. Despite his problems last year (the 5.15 ERA), he only walked 35 in 152 IP. The Yanks biggest problem in their bullpen last year was guys walking too many batters. Maybe Moose can rectify that.

Posted by: Mike S. at December 3, 2007 04:49 PM

Casey:

Compare Mussina's number of wins, ERA, ERA+, strikeouts, walks, and number of times top-10 for Cy Young Award to Jack Morris'. Guess what, despite about 40 or so less games, Mussina has only 4 less wins, has an ERA .20 lower, an ERA+ 17 higher, more K's, less walks, and one more Top-10 CYA finish. If one thinks Morris is HOF-worthy, what then of Moose? Mussina's HOF chances may be 50-50 or so, but "remote" isn't the word for them.

An aside: Mo's deal is for 3 years, not 4.

Posted by: Mike S. at December 3, 2007 04:58 PM

I don't know about Moose' HoF case, but comparing him to Morris isn't the way to make it. Morris got 37% of the vote last year, in a weak class, despite having a bunch of things that people vote for over Moose ("winningest pitcher of the 80's", "World Series champion" and a signature moment right up there with Kirk Gibson's HR in that 10-inning shutout in Game 7 of the '91 Series).

As I said, I don't have an objective look at his HoF case, but if Morris can't make it, I don't think Moose will. HoF voters love the intangibles and love the stories - that's what they wrote about, after all, and Morris has those all over Moose.

Posted by: Subrata Sircar at December 3, 2007 07:51 PM

S S above has Jack Morris' WS moment perfect, but if stories get HOF votes, how come Orlando Cepeda was voted in after he sold narcotics to Puerto Rican schoolchildren and went to jail for a year. That was lower than Rose & Bonds. Cepeda is in and Gil Hodges with similar bat stats, a better fielder at 1B & a damn sight better human, isn't.

Posted by: Bob S at December 3, 2007 09:26 PM

Winningest pitcher of 80s was only because the Seavers, Carltons and Palmers retired in the mid 80s, and the Clemens, Johnsons and Madduxs started in the mid-80s. So there was a gap of pitchers who pitched in the WHOLE decade that not many could fill. Morris did. Truth is, Mussina's numbers are better than Morris's, and comparing him to Morris (who gets a lot of support) MAY be the way to make it.

If you put me in a time machine and take me back to say, 1985, I feared Stieb more than Morris. I grant Morris some intangibles, but the actual numbers favor Moose.

As for signature moment? Heck, my dad was at one. Don Larsen's. But at 81-91, he isn't HOF-worthy.

As for Hodges, I suggest reading the chapter on the 1955 Dodgers in Rob Neyer's book Baseball Dynasties. He has a part in there arguing against Hodges numbers (never higher than 8th in HOF vote, probably only 6th best player on his own team) and comparing his stats---rightfully so---to Rocky Colavito and Boog Powell. A convincing case against Hodges getting in. Remember, we are talking Hodges the player here, leaving 1969 out of it.

Posted by: Mike S. at December 3, 2007 10:14 PM

Morris won't make the Hall and neither will Mussina. Well, who knows what the vets committee will do, though lately the committee hasn't been enshrining any players.

But the whole argument about the Hall is beside the point. Mussina just doesn't have the stamina to start any more. But he can still be effective for the first twenty pitches or so. So make him the eighth inning set-up man and put Chamberlain into the rotation.

Posted by: Casey Abell at December 4, 2007 08:53 AM

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