Hooray, it’s official. I know because the Yankees sent me an email saying so. You can listen to the conference call about the contract deal on Yankees.com.
Here are some quotes from the call:
There never was a point we got to where we were at the end of the line and I needed to make a decision. Until it was brought to me that this was the Yankees’ final offer, that’s what I waited for. I just made a decision and I’m extremely happy to be coming back.
It’s too bad his agents fished around looking for a bigger deal, and stretched this out though it’s important to forget that it is always about the money. His deal with incentives still isn’t bad as he should be able to hit them pretty well (read on for details). It’s weird to see him “wait for a final offer” too when you consider if he had taken the first deal he would be making almost twice as much guaranteed.
There was no other team ever brought into the equation. My mind never changed. I wanted to come back to the Yankees, and in my mind, I was going to be back.
Of course this is what you say during a press call, but it sheds some light on all the rumors his agents were trying to kick up. Keep this in mind in future postseasons, it’s part of the job of an agent to try and stir up interest. Remember Tom Hicks outbidding himself because of Scott Boras’ mechanations? Yeah, it doesn’t always work out best for the agent in question. Boras himself tried that again this season with Varitek and failed (though the contract the Red Sox offered him is probably still too much–not that I mind).
Later on in the call, his agent Randy Hendricks revealed that none of the offers that were floating around were true. Number of people surprised: none.
The contract itself is worth 5.5 million guaranteed, with incentives that can push it up to 12 million. All the incentives are based on innings pitched and days on the roster (i.e., not on the Disabled List) so that shows that the team was concerned about his health coming off the 2008 season. He’ll get $500,000 for hitting 150, 160 and 170 innings pitched and then that escalates to $750,000 for hitting 180, 190, 200 and 210 innings. The roster bonuses are $100,000 for 120 days on the active roster and escaltes to $200,000 for 130 days, $250,000 each for 140 and 150 days, and $400,000 each for 160, 170 and 180 days. So if Pettitte stays healthy all year (on the active 25 man roster) he’ll get about $7.5million not accounting for the innings incentives. If he can stay healthy and pitch 210 innings or more at an average or slightly above level that would be fantastic (though I think it’s unlikely).
That said, during the conference call it’s finally actually revealed that Pettitte did have a shoulder injury that affected his pitching. Hopefully this won’t hurt his performance in 2009 but it’s something of a concern. He’s going to be 37 during the season and arm injuries are a concern (though in the past it’s been his elbow). In any case, Andy Pettitte as a fifth starter is great and I and all Yankee fans should be excited about the 2009 rotation.
Other than really adding to the rotation this affects some of the younger pitchers in a positive way. Someone is going to get hurt, and Joba has an innings limit so Phil Hughes and company will be making appearances. This takes the pressure off of them which will allow Hughes and Ian Kennedy to continue developing their on-the-cusp pitches in AAA. It even makes Kennedy and Alfredo Aceves somewhat expendable so if the fight deal comes along it’s not a tragedy to ship either of them out. You can never have too much pitching depth, and you can’t just go and trade it all away of course but it’s nice to have the option there.
Edit: At the end of the conference call Mark Hale from the Post asked if they really call ARod “Afraud” in the clubhouse with all that Torre book stuff floating around. Thanks Joe Torre!!
Update on 1/27: Found out the exact incentives and put them in for the world to read about.
