Matsui improves; Pettitte sharp again
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- July
- 8
Joe Girardi said after the game that the Yankees have renewed optimism that Hideki Matsui will not need knee surgery. That’s good news given that Wilson Betemit (.242/.269/.424) was hitting sixth tonight.
‘Zilla took swings off a tee today and is working his way up to full-fledged BP. It seems he could be ready for the first game after the break.
I ventured into the Tampa Bay clubhouse after the game and it was interesting to hear Joe Maddon talk about Andy Pettitte. Because they had success against Pettitte previously this season, Maddon thought his hitters were too aggressive with Pettitte early in the game.
“Our approach wasn’t as good as it has been in the past against Andy. He was throwing his cutter down and away to lefties and not necessarily throwing fastballs in fastball counts. He had us off balance for eight innings,” Maddon said.
Down the hall, I asked Andy whether that was the case.
“I threw almost all cutters in those counts,” he said. “It’s a game, it’s a game. They adjust to you, you adjust to them. That’s what pitching is all about. Next time I’ll have to do something different.”
Pettitte is a pretty simple guy - in a good way. He listens to the catcher, he believes in the scouting report and his sole concern is executing the next pitch. Assuming his elbow holds up, the Yankees need to bring him back. He has thrown 119 innings this season and put them in a position to win the game in 13 of his 19 starts.
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on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 11:07 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
If he is HEALTHY the game after the break, fine put him in, but I dont want him playing anything less than 100%. The guy scares me with these injuries.
But I thought he would be out till early August let alone next week
You might as well see what you’ve got with Hit-Deki before the trade deadline.
Yeah, theres a chance him or Damon(hope not) get traded at the deadline. Doubtful, but still a chance
Being able to sign Pettitte to 1 year deals is one of the best bargains in baseball. If he was willing to pitch elsewhere, with the possible exception of Houston but not likely, he could shop himself around for $50M for 3 years. And he would get it easily.
I’m not bringing him back at $16M.
Too rich for a #2 pitcher. Great guy, too much money.
TK, they’re giving 13-14 million a year contracts to #3 and #4 pitchers. Pettitte is a good baseball value at 16 mil on year to years with options. He won’t exercise the options if he’s not healthy or not effective. He’s proven that.
GB -
I want to see Wang, Joba, CC, Hughes and Moose with IPK in the wings next year.
Moose and Andy are a push performance - wise. (although pettitte has better stuff the results are about the same) Even for the Yanks $5M isn’t nothing.
I am happy to reconsider by October/off-season. Maybe Andy has more left in the tank or Moose will get winged. It is close imho.
Moose has been doing great and I’m happy for him and the Yanks but if you trust him more than you do Pettitte going forward, you’re nuts. In a big game, who do you want pitching right now?
The Yankees have something like $87M coming off the books after this year so they can afford Andy.
Next year’s rotation:
Sabathia
Wang
Joba
Pettitte
Hughes
Pettitte and Mussina both have good shots at winning 20 games this year, and NYY won’t let them walk. They let Pettitte get away in 2003 and they realize that may have cost them at least a win against Boston in 2004 and more in ‘05 and ‘06. If Mussina also wins, he’s going to be closing in on 300 wins and a HOF invite as a Yankee.
david robertson supporter who said they were trading matusi or damon? u got a lil inside we don’t know about in ure GM training ?? they arent leaving..
If Pettitte continues to put up good numbers until the end of the season there is no way the Yankees aren’t bringing him back.
All of these Junior GMs declarations about not bringing X player back for this amount of money is rather funny to me. The Yankees are going to do whatever it takes next season to improve this team’s chances and so far re-signing Pettitte next season appears to be the right move. Too much dependence on young pitching will kill you, as this season has shown.
“They let Pettitte get away in 2003 and they realize that may have cost them at least a win against Boston in 2004 and more in ‘05 and ‘06.”
The Yankees drafted Phil Hughes with the draft compensation for Pettitte signing with Houston, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
“Too much dependence on young pitching will kill you, as this season has shown.”
Nope, the injury bug is what has kileld the Yankees. Look at oakland. Their entire rotation is young pitchers and that is the strength of the team. Look at Boston with lester and Masterson and now Buchholz is coming back. Sure kennedy and Hughes were pretty awful, but that in no way means relying on some young pitchers is a bad idea. It’s actually a necessity since veteran pitchers are way overpaid.
As for Moose possibly in the HOF, wouldn’t the HOF put him in as an Oriole? That is where he did his best work. or do you think they would let him choose between Baltimore and New York?
If Pettitte finishes strong and he wants to come back the Yanks will definitely bring him back. It would be nice if they can get him to come back for only $12m or so but I doubt that will happen. The Yanks only have 2 people who they know will definitely be in the rotation next year in Wang and Joba. Probably Hughes also if he is ever healthy. If Moose finishes strong maybe they will bring him back also but I would assume he would have to take a price cut. Pettitte is important because Cashman is not going to want to have to find 3 pitchers for the rotation. 1 or 2 might be hard enough.
This proves how much of an idiot Aaron is
What I said
Yeah, theres a chance him or Damon(hope not) get traded at the deadline. Doubtful, but still a chance
What Aaron said
david robertson supporter who said they were trading matusi or damon? u got a lil inside we don’t know about in ure GM training ?? they arent leaving..
Hmmm I guess he didnt pass reading as a kid.
Pettite’s a great guy and pitched great tonight. He’s traditionally a great 2nd half pitcher so (knock on wood - barring health problems) our first three pitchers all seem to be doing pretty well. If we stablize and get some decent pitching out of 4 and 5, we could go on a run if Jeter and Cano are turning things around as it appears they might be.
As far as bringing Pettite back or not, $16 million is a premium annual rate but a very good pitcher deserves a premium when he is willing to go year to year. I’d rather pay Pettite $16 million for one year than guarantee a lesser pitcher $35 million over 3 years. You can make a case that they need to bring him back. You can look at Mussina and say based on what he’s done they need to bring him back. You can look at Giambi and say based on what he’s done they should look to bring him back at a reduced cost. You can argue that Abreu on a 1 to 2 year contract would be a good re-sign based on what he does for ARod hitting ahead of him, his decent arm and defense (other than his shyness around the wall), and greater power this year. But the problem with that is that you’d also be very right in saying that the team needs to get younger so it doesn’t all add up.
I’m assuming Cashman will be back and will make these decisions. I trust that he will do the right thing and balance the over-arching goal of getting younger with keeping talent on short term contracts if there isn’t a ready, reasonable cost, younger talent to replace them.
BG— I’m with you on your assessment. While all four may have “earned” another year, signing all four would be incredibly counterproductive.
There’s no question that Pettite gets the nod over Mussina. He’s better, he’s 3 1/2 years younger, he’s a longer-term Yankee and he’s left handed.
Abreu is not as consistent or productive as Giambi (it’s close), but he can play the OF (sorta) and is 3+ years younger. I’d lean towards whichever will come back at a discount, and that’s more likely to be Giambi but frankly I’m not incluned to bring either back.
Signing Teixiera makes re-signing Giambi insane since both Damon and Matsui will need significant games at DH. If the Yanks can’t (or wont) sign Teixiera then Giambi’s return becomes much more likely. Abreu should be replaced by a RH bat one way or the other.
Whats wrong with Pettite and his elbow? Is there a concern about his health?
Every once in a while we get to see the brilliance of the ‘older’ guys.
Both Andy and Derek showed last night what Yankee baseball is all about.