What Andy Pettitte's Retirement Means For The Yankees

Yesterday, long-time Yankees' starting pitcher and original "core-four" member, LHP Andy Pettitte, officially announced his retirement from major league baseball. A 22nd round draft-pick by the Yankees in 1990, Pettitte, 38, pitched 16 seasons in the majors: 13 with the Yankees (1995-2003, 2007-2010) and three more with the Houston Astros (2004-2006). A three-time All-Star and five-time World Champion (all with Yankees), Pettitte won 21 games twice in his career (1996 & 2003), and is the winningest pitcher in postseason history with a 19-10 record and 3.83 ERA in 42 postseason starts. His 19 wins are the most all-time. Pettitte was en route to one of his best seasons last year, 11-2 with an ERA in the low 2's and an AL All-Star, before a groin injury cut six weeks of his season, as he made just five more starts (two in the postseason), before the Yankees lost in six games to the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series.

I'll pass along some quotes here from Pettitte before I get into the post (courtesy of yankees.com).

"My arm feels great. My body feels great. I know that my body would get where it needs to be, but my heart is not where it needs to be," Pettitte said. "I just feel like if I have any kind of hesitation on doing this, my heart is not fully completely sold out to do this again."

"Being on the New York Yankees, you have an opportunity to play with some of the greatest players to ever play in the game. That is fun," Pettitte said. "You have a chance to win a championship every year, and that has been fun, and it has been special. I have to thank the Steinbrenner family for that."

"At the end of the season last year, I started losing a little bit of that desire to compete," Pettitte said. "I guess because I was out of it for the two and a half months of the second half, so I definitely thought about it. For me, it's not the right way to do it. That's all that I kept telling myself: 'This isn't the right way to do it.'"

"I will not pitch this season, I can assure you of that, and I do not plan on pitching again," Pettitte said. "I think taking the mound every fifth day is over. I am looking forward to this next chapter in my life, and figuring out what that is. I don't want it to be anything except hanging out with my family."

After nearly three months of awaiting a decision from Pettitte, the Yankees tried to operate under the impression that Pettitte would not be returning to the Bronx for the 2011 season. However, after they failed to sign prized left-hander Cliff Lee, the Yankees, it seemed, hoped for the best that Pettitte would return for another season. Missing out on Lee left the Yankees' 2011 rotation in question. While they would be anchored by the front two of ace CC Sabathia and rising star Phil Hughes, the rest of the rotation, led by the "jekyll and hyde" pitching of A.J. Burnett, is in jeopardy. As it stands now, the Yankees have three pitchers who will definitely be in the rotation: Sabathia, Hughes and Burnett. However, it is the final two spots in the rotation that are yet to be determined and where the Yankees' pitching woes lie. During spring training, the final two spots will be up for grabs (barring a trade for a viable starter) by competition as rookie Ivan Nova, returning pitcher Sergio Mitre, and recent minor-league signees, but former All-Star aces, Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia will all compete for the final two spots. In those four is where the problem is: you don't know what you're going to get from any of them.

Nova, 24, who made his rookie debut last year, dominated in Triple-A but struggled a bit in the majors, otherwise he was solid. Mitre, 29, a journey-man pitcher returning for his third year with the Yankees, was primarily used out of the bullpen last year before an injury tampered with his season. Originally a starter, he did start a few games for the Yankees back in 2009, but was mediocre at best. Colon and Garcia are both former aces. Colon, 37, a former 21-game winner and 2005 AL Cy Young Award winner, has seen his star fallen with age and health. The last time he pitched in the major leagues was in 2009 with the Chicago White Sox. Garcia, 35, pitched to a 12-6 record last year with a 4.64 ERA in 28 starts for the White Sox. Once an 18-game winner, Garcia has seen his career dwindle the past few years due to injury.

That's why the Yankees needed Andy Pettitte back.

With Pettitte, you know what you're getting. His 162 game average suggests at least a 17-10 record, a 3.88 ERA, 34 stars, 215 innings. While he's no-doubtly fallen from there, now a 13-15 game winner, Pettitte is still a viable and trustworthy starter. With Pettitte on the mound, you always expected a win. He's certainly better from what the Yankees now have to choose from.

The Yankees' signing of shut-down reliever Rafael Soriano last week led many to believe that the Yankees were acknowledging the likelihood of Pettitte not returning, as the new reliever would help to shorten games out of the bullpen along with closer Mariano Rivera and pitchers Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson. The Soriano signing, while criticized by many, including GM Brian Cashman who called it an "ownership driven move," could be looked at as both good and bad. The bad being the money/years (3-years/$36 million), the good being that now, in essence, when the Yankees play, their opponents' game will be shortened to 7 innings as Robertson/Chamberlain will get the 7th, Soriano the 8th and Rivera the 9th. It's a dominant bullpen and a dominant "bridge to Mariano."

But alas, although the Yankees fixed their bullpen, and the Soriano signing will ease the loss of Pettitte, due to now-shortened games from a lock-down bullpen, the rotation is still in question.

In my opinion, I think the best option for the Yankees is to trade for a quality starting pitcher. They've been rumored to be interested in the Angels' Scott Kazmir, Althetics' Gio Gonzalez, Padres' Wade LeBlanc & Clayton Richard, and the Diamondbacks' Joe Saunders. Any of these pitchers would be a significant upgrade over their options right now.

Had Pettitte returned this season, when the Yankees truly needed him most, a rotation of Sabathia-Hughes-Pettitte-Burnett-? would look a lot better than Sabathia-Hughes-Burnett-?-?.

So what does Andy Pettitte's retirement mean for the Yankees now, especially to the pitchers fighting for a rotation spot?

"Step up."

Thanks for the memories, Andy. (2009 World Series Game Six)