Andy Pettitte had been on the fence about returning to the Yankees for 2008, but now he's telling teammates that he will indeed accept an offer to pitch one more year in pinstripes.
Pettitte originally declined to exercise a $16 million option for next season, saying he needed more time to decide whether he'd pitch again or retire. His teammates, especially Jorge Posada, started working on him after that, urging him to come back. And it didn't hurt for Brian Cashman to say the $16 million was a standing offer. That's the kind of offer that's hard to refuse, and Pettitte decided he couldn't.
Pettitte, back with the Yanks in 2007 after a short exile in Houston, went 15-9 with a solid 4.05 ERA, and was the team's most reliable starter after Chien-Ming Wang. The Yankees hope that, perhaps as early as today, they will be able to add yet another veteran lefty to their rotation: Johan Santana, whom they are still trying to acquire from the Twins.
The Yankees had a bunch of key contributors come up for free agency this off-season, including Posada, Mariano Rivera and of course Alex Rodriguez. We were led to believe by some that Joe Torre's departure would sway some of these guys to jump ship, but they've all elected to return. So obviously they did not feel this incredible loyalty to Joe, nor were they cheesed enough at the organization over Torre's dismissal to decide they didn't want all that money. Bottom line: The Yankees pay better than anyone, so guys will want to play there. We all want to believe in touchy-feely crap about guys sticking up for their guys, but in the end, Steinbrenner dough speaks louder than sentiment.
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Tags: alex rodriguez, andy pettitte, brian cashman, jorge posada, new york yankees
