Back from my day off, and armed with this news:
- Anthony McCarron of the News warns of the landmines inherent in signing a pitcher to a $100+ million contract, and reminds us of the travails of the pitchers who have received them: Johan Santana, Kevin Brown, Mike Hampton and Barry Zito.
- Pete Abraham of LoHud offers us his ranking of the 20 most important people in the Yankee organization today. His top 3? ….. Joba Chamberlain, Hal Steinbrenner and A-Rod, in that order.
- The rumblings about Pettitte ending up in La-La Land are getting slightly louder, as the Post’s George King details:
“Some,” Colletti wrote in an e-mail about the level of the Dodgers’ interest in Pettitte, who said often at the end of the season that he didn’t want to work for any team other than the Yankees in 2009.
Pettitte apparently has changed his mind after not getting a deal done quickly with the Yankees.
With Monday’s deadline for offering salary arbitration to their free agents looming, the Yankees are faced with a dilemma now that Pettitte has expanded his choices beyond retirement or the Yankees.
If the Yankees offer Pettitte arbitration and he accepts (Dec. 7 is the deadline), he is a signed player and his one-year salary would be determined through the arbitration process.
Considering that is based on the past two seasons, Pettitte would receive an increase from the $16 million he made last year. The Yankees have balked at signing Pettitte, whom they view as a back-end starter, because he doesn’t want to take a pay cut.
Should the Yankees not offer Pettitte arbitration they wouldn’t receive two draft picks as compensation – a first-round pick from the team that he signs with and a sandwich pick.
Pettitte’s dance with the Dodgers could be a ploy to get the Yankees to give him the $16 million he wants.
- This MLB.com item is a couple of days old, but it does have some good news on Phil Hughes. His final AFL stat line: 38 Ks, 13 BB in 30 IP …. and his fastball touching 95. There is also a rundown of other Yankees in the AFL and Winter leagues.
- River Ave. Blues discovers some garish Yankee items for sale over at MLB.com.
- A very happy 39th birthday to the greatest closer in ML history, Mariano Rivera (sorry Goose, Bruce, Trevor and Lee). Otto Velez and Mike Easler each turn 58 today.
- On this date in 1976, the Yanks sign free-agent Reggie Jackson to a five-year, $3.5 million dollar contract.
"Considering that is based on the past two seasons, Pettitte would receive an increase from the $16 million he made last year."
This is by no means guaranteed. He's guaranteed not to get less than about $13 million but that's very different from getting a raise. He could just as easily stay at $16 million or get a slight reduction.
Still, the Yanks have to offer. He's a type A and they'd get good picks from the Dodgers if he signs there. If he accepts then they end up paying a bit more than they wanted. Besides, offering him arbitration gives them more time to negotiate.
I was wrong. There's no floor on the Yanks offer because Pettitte is a free agent. So they could offer $10 million and the arbitrator, could but probably wouldn't side with them. It's just not a given that he gets a raise as the quote implies.
[3] I thought in Arbitration, there was a 20% cut maximum. Is this only for kids (non-FA elligible)?
I'm a little disappointed in Andy. Maybe he has a bigger ego then he lets on. He knows he's not worth $16m. $12m would get it done fast. Could he still be angry with the Yankees over the last time he wasn't resigned?
[3] If he is, then I'd offer him arbitration and let him retire. That was quite some time ago, and that the team brought him back and then supported him throughout his PED admission for him to be angry that they aren't rushing to sign a pay raise... this ain't personal, it's business. So if Andy wants to make this about him, guess what? Gwan! There are cheaper and perhaps just as productive options that we can afford to be patient with. Andy is not a necessity nearly as much as CC would be, not even as much as Lowe who I think we just don't need. It would be NICE to have Andy, but at that rate? How do you justify that? That would spike the rest of the SP market. Byenow...
[4] The point is, if we offer Andy Arb, he will accept, and probably get $14m-$16m. I'll guess that's the delay, and we would be overpaying him at that price.
Question to the board. If you offer Arb to a player, he turns it down and then retires, do we still get the draft picks? I'm thinking about Andy NEXT year.
[5] Not sure, but don't the compensatory draft picks come from the team that signs the FA? So, if Pettitte were to retire after having rejected arbitration, from whom would the Yanks get the picks?
Either that, or there's some strange pooling and slotting of picks I'm not aware of.