"Now, what is this site about, how Joe Torre ruined pitchers' arms? Is that it?"
-Michael Kay, August 18, 2009

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Pettitte may not be back; Tex negotiation details

Kat O'Brien has some good stuff in her last post before Christmas.

First, the $10 million offer to Andy Pettitte may no longer be available, as the Yankees are "pretty happy with our team as is," a source said. Pettitte has had this offer on the table for quite a while now, and apparently he's waited too long.

Also, O'Brien shed some light on how the Mark Teixeira negotiations went down, and how sneaky his agent, Scott Boras, could be. The Yankees made him an offer before the Winter Meetings, but withdrew once Boras told them what his client was seeking. They didn't make another offer until late Monday night.

Here's where the fun begins: On Tuesday, Boras said he wanted a 10-year deal, with years nine and 10 as option years. The Yankees immediately said no, offering the now-accepted eight-year, $180 million contract. Later in the day, Boras said Teixeira would accept eight years if the annual salary was $24 million. After conferring, the Yankees said their offer was firm, even though Boras told the Yankees Teixeira would likely go to Boston. The Yankees refused to change their stance, and were told 20 minutes later that Teixeira would accept the $180 million contract.

After reading this, the Yankees really handled these negotations well. They were unaffected by "Boras being Boras," and got what they wanted in the end.

Regarding Pettitte, it's sad that this is the way his Yankee career is ending (again). He hasn't realized he's not the pitcher he once was. A $10 million offer is much more than he's worth at this point.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joe says....
He's a .500 pitcher with an ERA of 5.00 or more. It would be nice to have another lefty starter, but the $10 million offer is one of loyalty and he should recognize that. Having said that, it is a bitter pill to swallow for Andy to have to take a huge pay cut. But, with all due respect to him and his contributions, it was a bitter pill to swallow from the fans' perspective when he left for Houston, also. Let the chips fall where they may.

Andrew Fletcher said...

Agreed that it's a bitter pill for Andy to swallow, but he has to realize his market. I doubt any team is going to come close to $10 million. If he keeps waiting, that number could fall for $6-$7 million from another team.

Jonathon Martin said...

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