The New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals should never be mentioned in the same column, let alone the same sentence or headline. 

The Yankees are baseball’s consummate high -ent tenant, perennially fielding the sport’s best paid team while playing in America’s largest city and media capital.  Oh, and they’re pretty good too, having made the playoffs in 13 of the last 14 seasons. 

The Royals, on the other hand, play in one of baseball’s smallest markets, continually have one of the game’s lowest payrolls and have finished over .500 just once during those same 14 seasons.

Their differences aside, the Yankees and Royals actually shared the back page this morning when both teams made superb personnel decisions. 

New York signed veteran lefty Andy Pettitte to a bargain basement one–year contract worth $5.5 million plus incentives, while Kansas City inked young ace Zack Greinke to a four-year deal worth $38 million.

To state each of the reasons why the Pettitte move was a good one for the Yankees would be an academic exercise at this point, as every media outlet from ESPN to ranyontheroyals.com has dedicated valuable time and effort to that very task. 

However, the one benefit of the deal we feel obliged to discuss is the tremendous amount of flexibility it gives Yankees skipper Joe Girardi.

In Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes, Girardi has at his disposal two young, ultra-talented right-handers.  Yet, both have serious questions as the 2009 season approaches. 

After bouncing from the bullpen to the starting rotation in ’08, Chamberlain’s assignment for this season is still somewhat murky, as is the general consensus regarding his durability as a starter. 

Hughes endured a horrid ’08 campaign after logging only a handful innings in Triple A, and many in the game feel strongly that he needs more minor league seasoning before giving the big leagues another shot.

The re-signing of Pettitte allows New York greater latitude in dealing with Chamberlain and Hughes. 

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