What If Pettitte Takes His Time?
By Mike Silva ~ November 30th, 2009. Filed under: Offseason Speculation.
Last offseason Andy Pettitte didn’t sign his one year deal until late January. Although I’m sure the Yankees knew about his intentions before then, it certainly took a while for the veteran lefty to decide. It appears this offseason will be more of the same as I don’t forsee Pettitte signing any earlier. What do the Yankees do if he waits too long? Will there be a point where they start to look elsewhere? It’s has yet to be talked about, but this could put the team in a tight spot.
Pettitte seems to be the only pitcher not named Roy Halladay in which the Yankees are showing interest. We reported here they are keeping tabs on John Lackey, but at this point don’t like the price tag. Other secondary pitchers like Joel Pineiro, Jon Garland, and Jason Marquis are downgrades. What if the Yanks fail to land Halladay or Lackey and Pettitte retires? Are you comfortable with Chamberlain, Hughes, and some veteran rounding out the rotation? Even if that other pitcher is a low risk/high reward (like Erik Bedard) it still isn’t as good as Pettitte.
Making a final decision about your career is not easy. The Yankees shouldn’t rush Pettitte, but at some point the clock will start to tick. Remember, some believe the Yankees only have about $20 million dollars to play with in 2010 payroll. That means a contingency plan of signing a pitcher and bringing Pettitte in at excess probably won’t work. Maybe this is much ado about nothing, but certainly it’s possible the Yankees could be painted into a tough spot with the rotation. The good news is the Yankees have plenty of arms to compete in case there is such baseball Armageddon.
