Andy Pettitte Re-Signs with Yankees for One-Year, $11.75 Million Deal
December 9, 2009 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
This week, Andy Pettitte announced that he wanted to return to pitch in 2010 for the Yankees.
On Wednesday, the Yankees and Pettitte agreed on a one-year deal worth $11.75 million to bring the 37-year-old left hander back for at least one more season.
This is the third time Pettitte has put off retirement to pitch again for the Yankees. It’s hard to blame him after a terrific 2009 season.
He went 14-8 in the regular season with a 4.16 ERA in 194.2 innings. He had 148 strikeouts in 32 start.
In the postseason, he went 4-0 and won every clinching game for the Yankees against the Twins, Angels, and Phillies en route to the 2009 World Series Championship.
His best game of the year might have been on Aug. 31 in Baltimore at Camden Yards. Pettitte pitched a perfect game into the seventh inning before a ball hit by Adam Jones to Jerry Hairston, Jr. at third was bobbled for an error. Nick Markakis’ single in the next at-bat ended the no-hitter.
Pettitte went eight strong innings, allowed only two hits, one run, and struck out eight to pick up that win. He was merely seven outs away from Yankee history and perfection.
However, I think Pettitte would definitely have traded that perfect game for his fifth World Series title, which he got in November.
Last year, the Yankees originally offered Pettitte $10 million, but pulled it back after the signings of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira. The Yankees did eventually re-sign Pettitte on Jan. 26 for a $5.5 million base salary, with an extra $5 million in incentives.
Pettitte is the third guaranteed part of the rotation that includes Sabathia and Burnett, the rotation that Joe Girardi went with throughout the entire 2009 playoffs.
Despite Pettitte’s 2009 return, the Yankees are rumored to still be interested in bringing in another big-time pitcher to add to their rotation. Roy Halladay is the biggest name that has been mentioned with the Yankees, but John Lackey is also in the mix.
Now that they have taken care of their biggest pitching priority for 2010 in Pettitte, the Yankees and Brian Cashman can move on to adding on to the rest of their team.
Read more New York Yankees news on BleacherReport.com
Yankee Tickets
Shop Yankee
