Thursday, January 15, 2009

Some classic Pettitte-Love

Wallace Matthews of Newsday thinks that Andy Pettitte would be perfect for the Mets.

The Yankees can find nearly a half-billion dollars to pay three players who, as brilliant as they've performed elsewhere, have yet to do a thing for this franchise. And yet they can't scrape up a nickel more than $10 million for Andy Pettitte, who played an instrumental role in bringing them four world championships?

[A few things:

(1) BrilliantLY.

(2) When did "what have you done for me lately" give way to "what did you do for me a decade ago?" Also, Pettitte's post-season prowess is often overstated. In 35 career-postseason starts (31 of which were made as a Yankee): 218.1 IP, 3.96 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 5.73 K/9, 2.32 K:BB. Decent (especially the nearly 6.1 IP per start), but we're not talking about Schilling or Smoltz post-season career numbers here by any stretch.

(3) Other than providing bulk innings, Pettitte was pretty bad last season, and objectively awful in the second half (79 IP, 5.35 ERA, 1.52 WHIP after the AS break). $10 million? No thanks.]

Pettitte has just as much right to be insulted over the Yankees' contract offer as the Yankees have the right to insult him.

[Where is it written that a player's salary has to go *up* with each new contract, regardless of his performance?]

Last time I checked, the Mets were still shopping for a starting pitcher, and one glance at their roster reminds you of how badly they need one.

[Preferably a *good* starting pitcher, I would assume.]

And best of all, Pettitte doesn't cost you all that much, in money or years. One year at $12 million to $14 million, maybe with an option, probably gets it done, and that's perfect.

[True on the one-year potential. But $12-14MM is still waaaay above market for Pettitte, right?]

7 comments:

Ross said...

oliver perez will give you almost the same averages as pettitte gave the yanks in 2008, is much younger and cheaper (per/yr.)

Mickey Cooper said...

Ross-
Given the remaining available options and his occasional flashes of high-performance, Perez might tempt me as well. However, giving a 4-year deal (somewhere in the $50MM range) to a guy who has a career ERA+ of 96 in almost 1000 innings would make me more than a little nervous.

K-man said...

thats the big thing with perez, he wants 4 years. i suspect that Pettite would be league average in the NL east. Is that worth $10-$12Million for just 1 year? i think it is to the Mets, even if they do overpay slightly. The point is that they need another starter.
Just like the sox could afford to overpay smoltz slightly, the mets could do the same with pettite. what else are they going to do?

Mickey Cooper said...

K-man-
Fair point. The Mets have a new stadium, their own TV network, etc. I'm assuming that they have plenty of cash (even after the Madoff Ponzi Scheme). And there is certainly value in the bulk innings that AP would likely provided. But league-average is a far cry from the tone of Matthews' expectations in that article. Not sure AP would go across town, either.

Nils Nilsson said...

I think that the Mets should trade some light hitting prospects and maybe Moises Alou for the Twins stable of young starters. After all, the Twins will lose them to free agency eventually anyway.

(Runs away crying with bitterness and resentment)

Mickey Cooper said...

Imagine if your Twins had held on to Santana AND Matt Garza last year....

But yeah, how they handled it was good too.

(P.S. Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young combined for 60 walks in 1,237 plate appearances last season.)

(P.P.S. That's roughly equivalent to each of them drawing one BB every two WEEKS.)

Nils Nilsson said...

I hate you, Archie Leach. I hate you!