The New York Yankees' "Core 4" was down to two, until Friday.
Andy Pettitte decided to rejoin the Yankees after retiring last spring, signing a minor-league contract. He'll team up again with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera (but not Jorge Posada) this summer, assuming all things go well with a left arm that has won 240 games but will turn 40 in June. Those 240 wins are currently 54 more than any active player (Roy Halladay, 188).
And all of a sudden, the Yankees have an incredible boost to a rotation that was beleaguered last season. Said Boston manager Bobby Valentine:
"Is he going to be a starter or just pick people off? I thought they had too much pitching before. Now what do they have? Too, too much pitching."
(Valentine's quips are going to add a new dimension to this rivalry, for sure.)
Pettitte probably won't break camp with the team -- he'll need to build some strength in that arm, so it looks like Phil Hughes, Freddy Garcia, Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova are still vying for three spots. But another will likely be out once Pettitte is ready, meaning there is likely to be some April pressure on that quartet. And it's a great problem to have if you're Yankees manager Joe Girardi.
"My message would be, if you don't want someone to take your job, go out and pitch well," Girardi said to MLB.com. "That's the bottom line. It's not like Andy is going to break camp with us April 6; he's got to get ready and go out and pitch, so go out and control the things you can control. That's all you can do in this game."
Related: Is Andy Pettitte a Hall of Famer?
No comments:
Post a Comment