Looking at the contracts that have been signed, Andy seems to be worth $10MM or more.

Johnson got $8MM. He’s 46 and a real risk not to reach 200 innings. His numbers were put up in a weaker league.

Dempster got $12MM, and an escalating multi-year contract. Granted he had a much better year than Andy in 2008, but if you look at his performance over the last three years, I don’t know that I would not rather have Andy.

If Smoltz hits his incentives, he’ll make around $10MM for at most two-thirds of a season.

Next, from a demand point of view, there are only two free agent starters left who are better than Andy. Lowe and Sheets. Sheets has an issue and Lowe has rejected a 3 year contract at around $13M per. Lowe is better than Andy, but not by that much once you factor in the league he pitched in and the much worse defense behind Andy.

Next, this HGH issue is IMO way overblown. Yes, it embarrassed the Yanks, and I’m sure strained their relationship, but it did not affect the way Andy pitched last year. No one claims it did that I’ve read.

Andy’s numbers were down last year due to a second half shoulder injury. Almost everyone agrees he pitched through it to help the Yanks. He could have gone to Tampa in July, like some other pitchers might have done, and had very pretty 2008 numbers, but he did not.

Andy is very likely to give you 200+ innings. He’s never been worse than a league average pitcher. He’s almost always been better, usually significantly better. That would be of enormous value to the Yanks next year.

If the Yanks have decided they need another solid starter, it’s silly for them to trade Nady or Swisher for one. Neither player is going to bring back much in a trade, and why trade them and weaken our depth when we can sign a pitcher?

The Yanks appear to have budgeted at least $10MM for another starter. Andy is right there. If it takes another million or two to get the deal done it seems silly to quibble in an offseason where the Yanks gave Marte $12MM over 3 years and have spent enormous sums to be the best team in baseball.

If Andy is really holding out for $16MM, then that’s another issue. But I find it difficult to believe that’s his final position.

The Yanks and Andy ought to sit down and hash out the deal.

Wang:
2005 105 ERA+, 116 IP
2006 124, 218 IP
2007 121, 199 IP
2008 109, 99 IP

Harang:
2005 112 ERA+, 211 IP
2006 124, 234 IP
2007 125, 231 IP
2008 94, 184

Yes, Harang pitched 47 fewer innings than in ’07. That’s what happens when you miss 5-6 starts due to injury. (BTW, Wang pitched 100 fewer innings.)

Vrsce,

That’s the basic problem with Andy and the Yankees right now. Doreen also touched on something important.

The Yankees went into the off-season with a business model in place partly because of conversations they had with Pettitte during the season.

These decisions weren’t made in a vaccuum.

Its also not a news flash, no matter what spin is put out by the Hendricks Brothers, re: Andy’s paycut. Both sides knew it was coming.

I completely understand Andy’s desire for more money. Basically because, regardless of his “aw shucks” nature, clearly the money is important to him. Its human nature for ballplayers to want more money.

Its why he left for Houston before and why he’s unwilling to come to terms with the Yankees now.

I get that. I’d just be more comfortable if he just admits it and not get into the “they owe me for the past” argument.

No they don’t. That went out the window when he kept his mouth shut about what was coming up re: his HGH use, signed a 16 million dollar deal, and, truth be told, didn’t pitch well enough to justify that deal.

Once he did that, the “owing” by the Yankees went out the window. In fact, its Andy that “owes” the Yankees for taking the PR hit and not making life miserable for signing a deal under false pretenses.

This all gets down to one simple premise. Andy Pettitte believes he’s worth more than 10 million per season.

Only way that’s true is if his agents mines an offer exceeding that number. If they do, he’s got leverage. If they don’t, he’s got none.

If I were the Yankees, I would give this my best efforts through Sunday. If no deal could be reached by that time, I’d move on.

Only thing worse than dragging this out longer is signing a guy who feels slighted by the terms of the deal. That’s when you get into drama and this team doesn’t need it.

If he’s not a Yankee by Monday, go find a guy who wants to be here.

With the team that’s being assembled, that may not be too tough a task.

It would be interesting to know how much it would take for Andy to come back and if the Yankees were willing to pony up the extra $$$. If Andy is still looking for $16m, he is suffering from delusions. I think that $12mil is sufficient. I don’t know if the Yankees have offered that much, but if they did, why wouldn’t Andy take it?

I love the posts where people are so willing to take these unknown (and injured) commodities like Sheets and Harang as opposed to a very known commodity like Pettitte. Loyalty is most certainly fleeting around here.