Pettitte Not Making A Good Case For 09

A day after Hot Stove reported that Andy Pettitte would like a return to the Yankees in 2009, he goes out and has another shaky start and showed why there should be serious concern about his effectiveness next year.

Pettitte threw four and two-thirds innings and allowed four runs, three earned, during a stretch of time he says the team should be playing for pride.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” Pettitte said. “I would hope people play for pride and they get paid an awful lot of money to do a job. I hope that would account for something.”

He does get paid a lot of money, but it’s hard to say that he’s accounting for anything.

Over the years Pettitte has been a rock for the Yankees. A solid player who is always dependable when they needed it most. He built a reputation for being a big game starter by winning key world series games and seemingly always coming up with a big win to end a loosing streak.

During the second half of last season when the Yankees needed to win every game they could it was Pettitte who pulled out a perfect 6-0 August and an 11-3 second half record. But this season with his team in nearly the same position he has had a weak 3-6 record.

If the team had those eight extra wins they would be right in the playoff hunt with Boston as the two teams would be tied with 85 wins right now.

Pettitte is making $16 million this year and the rich 36-year-old would likely take a pay-cut for next season, but would it be enough for it to be worth it for the Yankees to open their wallet?

He has the desire to come back, but do the Yankees have the desire to bring him back. His numbers are down basically across the board this year and that is a poor sign for a team with so many young pitchers. Is it worth it to possibly block a spot for a young starter with an over-the-hill throwback to the nineties?

At 13-13 Pettitte has put himself in a position where he could have the first losing season of his career. His ERA has balloned to 4.52 which is the second highest of his career and highest since 1999. His WHIP and BAA are similar to what they have been for the past few years, but if you look just at his second half totals they are alarming.

It could be time to cut Andy loose, but we would have said the same thing about Mike Mussina last season, but he wasn’t a free agent at the end of that year.