From the AP, via ESPN:
The 36-year-old left-hander said near the end of the season that he’d likely want to remain with the Yankees, and he confirmed that decision Tuesday in an interview with KRIV television in Houston.
“It’s great to hear,” Cashman said Wednesday at the general managers’ meetings. “Obviously, Andy is a guy you’d like to have back.”
With Pettitte’s status uncertain and Mike Mussina leaning toward retirement, Cashman’s priority is starting pitching. Pettitte likely would have to agree to a cut from his $16 million salary last season, when he went 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA this year — his highest ERA since 1999. Pettitte was 2-7 with a 6.23 ERA in his final 11 starts, and he missed his last turn because of a sore pitching shoulder. End-of-season tests failed to reveal significant issues.
“We’re pretty comfortable about where he’s at physically,” Cashman said.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, while Andy had some atrocious outings for a variety of reasons, his peripherals were actually better in 2008 than 2007 indicating that he got unlucky quite a lot because of the team’s amazing defense. I think if he isn’t made to be the innings anchor on the team as he had to be in 2007 after Chien-Ming Wang went down that he will fare much better. He will also have a lot more time to get ready for the season, as he isn’t pondering whether to retire or not and he doesn’t have to go talk to Congress this year so he’ll be able to condition himself better. He can slip into the #3 or #4 spot easily depending on how things go, and that would give the Yankees a better starter there than a great number of teams around baseball.
A two year deal, as he is rumored to be after, would still be ridiculous but one year at $10million or so would be perfect.
