Andy Pettitte’s decision over whether to return for a 16th major league season or retire will come down to his two families — his own and the Yankees.
Pettitte has been through this to-be-determined situation before and each time he has chosen to continue to pitch. The 37-year-old is eligible for free agency and he’s not certain whether he’ll be back.
“I need to get home and talk to my family,” Pettitte said after winning Game 6 to capture his fifth World Series ring. “I’ll need to talk to the Yankees and find out where they’re at and then I’ll try to figure out what I’d like to do.”
Last night, Pettitte appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, along with Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada.
“If I pitch one more [year], that would probably be good,” Pettitte said on the show. “I’m not real sure what I want to do, but I’m definitely close to the end. I got kids that are getting older, one in high school now, and I really would like to be home with them a little bit.”
Brian Cashman said yesterday that Pettitte delivered what the Yankees expected of him this year. But the general manager wouldn’t commit to saying whether the team wanted the popular lefty back or not.
“I’ll wait for the process to start,” Cashman said in a phone conversation. “That’s for another day.”
Pettitte took a pay cut last year, signing for just $5.5 million in base salary as the Yankees invested heavily in CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira. Pettitte then made $5 million in incentives for games started and days on the active roster, so he banked $10.5 million this year.
As usual, Pettitte had a strong regular season, going 14-8 with a 4.16 ERA while throwing 194 2/3 innings over the course of 32 starts. He was terrific in the playoffs, going 4-0 in five starts and posting a 3.52 ERA.
Three of Pettitte’s wins clinched a playoff series for the Yankees: Game 3 of the ALDS against the Twins, Game 6 of the ALCS versus the Angels and Game 6 of the World Series against the Phillies, whom he beat on three days’ rest. No pitcher had ever started and won the clinching game in each of the three playoff rounds before. It also is the second time Pettitte has been victorious in a championship-clincher: He also did it in the 1998 World Series.
Cashman said the Yankees believed Pettitte’s 2008 statistics (14-14, 4.54 ERA) were misleading and were caused primarily by poor defense behind him. The Yankees shored up their infield defensively this year when they signed Teixeira.
“This one’s sweet because so many years passed,” Pettitte said of his newest ring. “You don’t know if you’re ever going to be able to do it again. It’s just very gratifying to do it.”
Additional reporting
by Brian Costello