Andy Pettitte expected to reveal his decision on whether to return – MLB New York Yankees News
There is not much to do for the New York Yankees this offseason. Much of what they are going to do will depend on free agents Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte.
The 40-year-old veteran pitcher is expected to give the Yankees a timetable for his answer in a few days. Throughout the past season, Pettitte indicated that he is looking forward to returning to the Bronx after coming out of retirement earlier last year.
He also said that he will not make the Yankees wait as long as he did last offseason, when he was unable to make a decision until Spring Training.
Yankees’ Manager Joe Girardi and General Manager Brian Cashman are expecting his answer to be “Yes”. Yankees’ pitching rotation was unable to live up to the expectations last year and even with Pettitte around, the rotation will have question marks.
“You can make it go quick in free agency and trades,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “If you want to compel someone to move as fast as possible and want something done early, you’ve got to pay to get it done ... a lot. I’d rather take the patient approach.”
He added, “I’m ready to rock and roll, but it’s hard for players and agents to move early if they feel there could be more options later. You can overpay if you jump in too early and I don’t want to do that, but that won’t prevent me from doing something
if I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Ace C.C. Sabathia, who suffered a serious elbow injury last season, has still not fully recovered. He had a decent time on the mound during the regular season but failed to handle the pressure in the playoffs. Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova and David Phelps are
also finding it hard to keep their place on the big league roster.
When he was healthy in 2012, Pettitte was effective as usual. Although he made only 12 starts (missing three months with a broken leg), the results he produced were quite outstanding. Pettitte was on a $2.5 million contract last season as the Yankees’ budget
had already been decided. However, he is expected to be a lot more expensive this season if he decides to return.
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