Andy Pettitte To Retire
Capping off a tumultuous offseason in which the Yankees seemed to have been denied every player they really wanted, Andy Pettitte has to retire. While we can hold out hope that Andy changes his mind at some point and joins the club for the second half ala Roger Clemens, this leaves the Yankees with very little margin for error in their rotation. They need CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, and AJ Burnett to pitch well, and have to get decent production from at least one of their young pitchers or reclamation projects. They still project to win about 90 games and to be better than the other wild card contenders, but the gap between them and their closest competitors is very slim, such that one injury to a top 3 starter could really hurt their chances of making the postseason. There is no way to spin this as anything other than a blow to the Yankees championship hopes.
As for Andy, he is a fan favorite here in New York, and rightfully so. For many of us, watching him blossom from a prospect into a rotation stalwart was an important element of the beginning of our Yankee fandom, as Ben Kabak eloquently notes:
I grew up with Andy Pettitte. I was 12 and he was 23 when he came up to pitch in the Majors. I saw him morph from a prospect to a team leader and a stalwart in the rotation. I’ll certainly miss his stare, his familiar leg kick, his pick-off move and the fact that he would pitch every five days and give it his all. We’re all growing up and getting older, and it just won’t be the same in the Bronx without him.
There will be a lot of eulogizing done over the next few days, both for Andy’s career and for the Yankees 2011 season. Discussions of Andy’s Hall of Fame worthiness are likely to dominate the former, while gratuitous shots at Brian Cashman and the Yankee front office are likely to characterize the latter. We will address these issues over the next few days. For now, let’s just tip our caps to a great Yankee. Andy Pettitte will be missed.
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Makes no sense wife and kids want him to pitch. Kids will want to hang out with thier friends and not Andy. I think this is foolish and now the rotation is a certifiable disgrace.
Disgrace is a bit extreme. As Moshe said they are still projected to win 90 games, just no margin for error now.
His wife and kids may want him to pitch, but it sounds like Andy didn’t want to, at least not as much as he/we thought.
It’s like Swish said, he’s earned the right to go out on his terms. Can’t hate Andy for this decision at all.
My thoughts:
Sad to see him go. Was at the stadium for his 1st and 200th win and he was always a favorite.
I was very disappointed when i saw him come up in the Mitchell Report, but am glad he has handled it way better than a certain other Texan.
While a first look at his numbers doesn’t point to the HOF, it was his playoff performances and the way he seemed to almost always come up big after a Yankee loss that will be long remembered.
Game 6 of 1996 WS will always stand out among the rest.
Closing out Atlanta Fulton County Stadium (yes this is the same as the above line), the Metrodome and of course Yankee Stadium with wins are also highlights.
The immediate reaction of course is that of Moshe, what the current loss means to the 2011 rotation.
Finally echoing Ben Kabak’s comments it is sad to grow older and have things change. Andy came up when I was in Junior High and several schools and degrees later I slave away at an office and can’t make it to as many games as i once did….
In the long shot that Andy will ever read this, I’ll just write down a few honest words of my own:
This is a sad day for me. Of course I’m devastated that the Yankees’ rotation for 2011 won’t be as good as it could be. But that’s nothing when compared to another thing that will make me sad. And that’s not having the option of watching Andy Pettitte pitch every 5th day of the best part of my year, from april to october. I “grew up in baseball” watching him pitch, as he was already a great pitcher when I first started watching baseball, around 2002. And I just fell in love with his style, his stare, his pick offs and the whole experience that was “Andy Pettitte on the mound tonight for the Yankees”. And there were A LOT of nights in which I got little to no sleep, just to watch his slider/slurve get hitters looking, his cutter down and in for right handed batters, his change down and away… It will be hard to find another guy who draws my attention like Andy did. But he deserves a break. So, thank you so much for everything, Andy. You did more for me than you will ever imagine. Baseball, for me, is not baseball without Andy Pettitte. I will have to re-educate myself. Starting now, Spring Training 2011. Wish me luck.
I’m glad he’s retiring personally, he obviously wasn’t in to it this year like he has been and that is all too clear based on how long it took to announce. The last thing we needed is a Brett Favre coming back because he feels he owes it to us but not really wanting too, he has deserved the time to spend with his kids and wife and we have no right to say anything bad about this man!
This year even with Andy was probably not going to be a WS year for us anyway and I would rather give a few kids the opportunity to get some experience for 2012 and strengthen our future instead of trying to force Andy back.
AND THEN THEIR WERE THREE….I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL TWO OF THE FOUR ARE LEFT.. ANDY WAS GREAT FOR THE YANKEES..I BELIEVE HE SHOULD GET IN THE HOF..POST SEASON GETS HIM IN..
I love Andy and if there was a Hall of very good he is in but unfortunatley he isn’t a hall of fame pitcher.
I don’t believe that a guy who just happen to be on a winning team a bunch and made it to the playoffs more than others gets in because of it, it’s the same problem I have with that argument for Bernie, neither are HOF worthy but both would be in the hall of very good.
In over 260 innings Andy logged a 3.8 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP which is very good but isn’t other wordly compared to his regular season stats.
Mike Mussina- 270 wins/153 losses, 3.68 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 7.1 K/9, 3.58 K/BB, 57 CG/23 SHO, .638 W%, 5x AS
Jack Morris- 254 wins/186 losses, 3.90 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, 1.78 K/BB, 175 CG/28 SHO, .577 W%, 5x AS
Andy Pettitte- 240 wins/138 losses, 3.88 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 6.6 K/9, 2.34 K/BB, 25 CG/4 SHO, .635 W%, 3x AS
David Wells- 239 wins/157 losses, 4.13 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, 3.06 K/BB, 54 CG/12 SHO, .604 W%, 3x AS
If anything Moose is the hall of famer and at the end of the day he isn’t getting very much verbal support for the hall right now and probably won’t be in, so if Moose doesn’t go I don’t see how any of the others on this do.
Well put. Looking at Moose’s numbers i think he has a solid case. Morris has a crazy CG number but i guess that is due to pitching in a slightly earlier era, otherwise I would give the nod to Andy over Jack, but i dont think either get in. Throw in the HGH stuff and how the hall has treated steriod guys and there is zero chance he gets in.