Surprise, Andy Pettitte wants to pitch more than just next year!

[Noe]

"I'd be lying if I didn't say that was some of the stuff that you think about. I realize there are some things that could be enticing that tie me into playing even another year."

Why does it *NOT* surprise me that this drama is necessary for APettitte?  Just go ahead and tell the Yankees you want a multi-year deal and be done with it!  *sheesh*

[Bench]

Why does in *NOT* surprise me that this drama is necessary for APettitte?  Just go ahead and tell the Yankees you want a multi-year deal and be done with it!  *sheesh*

He just wants an escalating player's option every year. He'll decline it if he can't go 100%.

[Fredia]

Why does in *NOT* surprise me that this drama is necessary for APettitte?  Just go ahead and tell the Yankees you want a multi-year deal and be done with it!  *sheesh*

he just wants to pitch longer than his buddy.. hast to prove something  .. wonder whos arm will fall off first

[Mr. Happy]

Shit or get off the pot, Alice.

[Ty in Tampa]

Wanker.

[coop]

I don't believe for a second that Pettitte had any intentions of retiring.  He only declined his option so that he squeeze a much longer and more lucrative term out of the Yankees.  It was the Lord's will all along.

[Amy]

I would think the lord would have long ago stopped advising Pettitte on his career, seeing as homosexuality is an abomination before God (or some such nonsense).

[Limey]

Roger Lite.

[dirty steve]

I would think the lord would have long ago stopped advising Pettitte on his career, seeing as homosexuality is an abomination before God (or some such nonsense).

POTW, for me at least.

[Limey]

I would think the lord would have long ago stopped advising Pettitte on his career, seeing as homosexuality is an abomination before God (or some such nonsense).

Andy's personal beliefs have a very wide stance.

[Noe]

I don't believe for a second that Pettitte had any intentions of retiring. 

At least this whole stuff about being able to go another ten years sure makes it out that he had no intentions.

[Noe]

At least this whole stuff about being able to go another ten years sure makes it out that he had no intentions.

Hmmmmm... more information being put out by the Hendrick brothers for the Yankee consumption:

Astros tried hard to bring back Pettitte

But the Astros _ for whom Pettitte pitched from 2004 through 2006, and, more relevantly, who play major-league baseball in the city where Pettitte lives _ made a hard push.

Among those who called Pettitte in recruiting efforts: New manager Cecil Cooper, ace Roy Oswalt, slugger Lance Berkman and veteran starting pitcher Woody Williams, who has a longstanding relationship with Pettitte and Roger Clemens.

Pettitte had to be somewhat tempted. But one underreported aspect of Pettitte's and Clemens' time in Houston was their frustration with the Astros' team culture _ that, unlike the Yankees, the Astros, in the two pitchers' minds, weren't 100 percent committed to winning.

So let me get this straight: Pettitte tells everyone he wants to retire, so he declines the option for this year at 16 million.  Then he says if he does pitch this year, it will be the Yankees.  So the Yankees know they need to sweat a little if they are going to get back their lefty semi-ACE.  So he decides to come back, even though Joe Torre and others said he was going to retire (home life was tough, son was in a football accident, blah, blah, blah).  Yankees pay him 16 million for one year.

But wait....

Now Pettitte is saying he can pitch for 10 years, how he sure would like to be part of the new stadium in 2009 (*hint, hint*).  And now the report is coming out of New York (floated by who?) that the Astros were pushing *hard* to get Pettitte to stay home.  So, if the Yankees are worried beyond this year, they better lock him up for the next three years or so... don't you think?  At least that is what seems to be the ploy here by the Hendrick Brothers.

Oh, and why in the hell is Roger Clemens working for the Houston Astros if he honestly feels that way about the organization?

[GreatBagwellsBeard]

Is there a meter on the clubhouse wall that measures Commitment to Winning (CTW)? Obviously, the Yanks meter always points to 110% because of Jeter, and the Royals' meter has been broken since the 80's, but how does the Astros CTW measure up?  Where are the numbers guys when you need them?

(Also, as I came up with this half-assed joke, it occurred to me that whenever Timmah Redding walks into a clubhouse, the meter breaks.)

[Noe]

Is there a meter on the clubhouse wall that measures Commitment to Winning (CTW)? Obviously, the Yanks meter always points to 110% because of Jeter, and the Royals' meter has been broken since the 80's, but how does the Astros CTW measure up?  Where are the numbers guys when you need them?

(Also, as I came up with this half-assed joke, it occurred to me that whenever Timmah Redding walks into a clubhouse, the meter breaks.)

Apparently, CTW is much more important than *actually* winning.  Perception is reality to these guys?  The Houston Astros have been a winning team for the last decade and if we look at the definition of winning brought forth by such people as John Wooden, then these players would be ashamed of themselves for their own shallowness.  They shared the same clubhouse with Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio and dare to say that there isn't a commitment to winning?  The same Bagwell who coined the phrase "Play hard or don't play at all" that now hangs at the entrance of the workout room that bears his name.

Who am I kidding?  Clemens and Pettitte ashamed of their own shallowness?  *pshaw*!

[pravata]

Apparently, CTW is much more important than *actually* winning.  Perception is reality to these guys?  The Houston Astros have been a winning team for the last decade and if we look at the definition of winning brought forth by such people as John Wooden, then these players would be ashamed of themselves for their own shallowness.  They shared the same clubhouse with Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio and dare to say that there isn't a commitment to winning?  The same Bagwell who coined the phrase "Play hard or don't play at all" that now hangs at the entrance of the workout room that bears his name.

Who am I kidding?  Clemens and Pettitte ashamed of their own shallowness?  *pshaw*!

Wasn't this one of Ortiz's unsourced rumors?

[Noe]

Wasn't this one of Ortiz's unsourced rumors?

Yeah, the media really likes to pick up stuff from each other nowadays, don't they?

[Ty in Tampa]

Wasn't this one of Ortiz's unsourced rumors?

While I'd love to pile on DQ and Princess Alice, this smells like something that may have come out of someone's anus.

[JimR]

While I'd love to pile on DQ and Princess Alice, this smells like something that may have come out of someone's anus.

like Billy Wagner's?

[Andyzipp]

This is a pretty simple thing to understand: Commitment to winning = Willingness to spend whatever a player wants on whomever that player considers important.  Starting with himself.

[Noe]

like Billy Wagner's?

or Mike Hampton (who hasn't won anything with anybody he's been with if the ideal for CTW is to actually win a championship).

[pravata]

This is a pretty simple thing to understand: Commitment to winning = Willingness to spend whatever a player wants on whomever that player considers important.  Starting with himself.

Like when the Astros paid Clemens the highest pro-rated salary for a pitcher ever.  The thing the NY paper is remembering is some candy assed unsourced little squib (naturally I think Ortiz) that they were surprised at how the Astros took losing so easily.  Naturally, I can't find the thing now.

[Noe]

This is a pretty simple thing to understand: Commitment to winning = Willingness to spend whatever a player wants on whomever that player considers important.  Starting with himself.

Yup, shallow, huh?

[Amy]

Maybe Andy and DQ were just jealous that they didn't have bronze statues outside the ballpark.  After all, they did deign to leave the center of the universe to grace our humble little burg.  As for taking losing easily, maybe they just didn't know what to make of an owner who didn't threaten to fire everyone in sight if they lost more than two consecutive games.

[Andyzipp]

Like when the Astros paid Clemens the highest pro-rated salary for a pitcher ever.  The thing the NY paper is remembering is some candy assed unsourced little squib (naturally I think Ortiz) that they were surprised at how the Astros took losing so easily.  Naturally, I can't find the thing now.

Right. But the Astros clearly weren't CTW(tm) as they weren't willing to pay Alice as well the next year.  CTW(tm) is a moving target.

[MusicMan]

CTW(tm) is a moving target.

No, CTW = CTS.

[BUWebguy]

No, CTW = CTS.

Children's Television Workshop?

[MusicMan]

Commitment to Spending.