MLB

The Andy Pettitte Saga: After Turning Down $10 Million, Astros Now Involved

Posted Jan 08, 2009 2:14PM By Matt Snyder (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Astros, Yankees, AL East, NL Central, MLB Gossip, MLB Rumors

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The Yankees and Andy Pettitte have been going round and round for the better part of this offseason. Seeing how much money the Yankees threw at CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett, I'm sure Pettitte felt like he was owed more than the one-year, $10 million contract the Yanks offered him.

Of course, he also said -- early in the process -- that money wasn't an issue and he just wanted to play for the Yankees.

If that was true, he would have signed the contract.

All of a sudden, the Astros are said to be interested in bringing Pettitte back.

It seems as though Pettitte would accept the same offer he spurned from the Yankees to play in Houston. So what gives?

Peter Abraham speculates that it has everything to do with the payday Burnett received to move to the Bronx.
A.J. Burnett is 32, had never won a thing and is 11 games over .500 for his career. Pettitte is 36, pitched in the World Series seven times and is 88 games over .500. In his mind, a $6.5 million gap between their salaries probably seems ridiculous.
There are two clear sides here.

1. Pettitte is a "true Yankee," like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera. He was with the team for the dynasty years -- in which they won four World Series championships -- and he's still a productive pitcher. He's only four years older than Burnett, and the Yanks seem to want to win now. So he deserves to be paid a sum similar to Burnett. They owe him this much.

2. Pettitte claimed it wasn't about the money. He was named in the Mitchell Report, and claimed he only tried the stuff a few times to recover from injury. I'm not calling him a liar in the blanket sense, but he does seem to have a way with the truth, when convenient, no?

Considering he's already been with the Astros for three seasons, it's not like he's a lifelong Yankee. Plus, this past season he put up a below average ERA for the first time in his career. He's regressing, and he's old.

The Yankees don't owe him anything. They've paid him millions of dollars over the course of his career to play a game.

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Obviously, there could be variations of each argument, but it's the sentiment on either side that is the same. Either you believe the Yankees owe Pettitte, or you believe Pettitte's being unreasonable in wanting more than $10 million from them.

Personally, I don't think they owe him a dime. They offered him a very reasonable salary for his age, especially considering the average year he had last season. If he really thinks he's owed more money, they should be prepared to let him walk.

Finally, I don't have a problem with a professional athlete trying to get the most money he can out of a certain contract, especially with retirement approaching. Pettitte should try to sign somewhere for as much as possible. It's his livelihood. My problem lies in the fact that he said it wasn't about money, and then turned down a really reasonable offer. You don't have to say it's all about the money, but please quit trying to prove what a great guy you are and just play the market in earnest like (almost) everyone else.

Tags: a.j.+burnett, A.j.Burnett, andy+pettitte, AndyPettitte

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