Andy Pettitte to retire...

[TeddyBallGame9]

He will announce it tomorrow according to ESPN.

He was always a class act.

[a700hitter]

He will announce it tomorrow according to ESPN.

He was always a class act.

He was a phony, a hypocrite, a cheat, and a rat-snitch. Nothing classy about that at all.

[BSN07]

Pettitte was a good pitcher.

 

He never really rocked the boat. I don't care about PED's, so I won't hold it against him.

 

When I think of him, I think of that game he pitched in the snow early on in his career.That image has always stuck with me.

[redsoxrules]

YES!

[Will617]

Best. Offseason. Ever.

[a700hitter]

Pettitte was a good pitcher.

 

He never really rocked the boat. I don't care about PED's, so I won't hold it against him.

 

When I think of him, I think of that game he pitched in the snow early on in his career.That image has always stuck with me.

Being a phony, hypocrite, rat-snitch has nothing to do with his use of PEDs. The PEDs made him a cheater, the least of his bad qualities.

[a700hitter]

To Paraphrase the immortally obnoxious John Sterling:

 

Season Ova!

Playoffs Ova!

World Series Ova!

Thuuuuh Yankeees Lose!!!!

Thuuuuh Yankeees Lose!!!!

[Spudboy]

Lol.

[Palodios]

Best. Offseason. Ever.

 

This. This. This. This.

[yankees228]

As expected, Pettitte reached his official decision prior to Spring Training. This sucks.

[Flynnatic10]

That sucks. At least they have time to find a replacement!

[yankees228]

It won't help much, but I wonder if they'll bring in Kevin Millwood now.

[yeszir]

Good riddance

[Flynnatic10]

Better than him retiring in Spring Training where they have no time!

[VA Sox Fan]

:thumbsup:

[jacksonianmarch]

Well, I am glad he didnt string this out into Spring Training. I have a feeling the FO has been tipped off to this based upon their s*** on the wall signings of Colon, Garcia and probably the signing of Millwood which I expect soon. But this hurts more than losing Lee. Without Lee, we made it to the ALCS to face Lee. Without Pettitte, we dont make the playoffs in 2010. 5 WS titles, a whopping 8 WS appearances and only one season really ended by injury (with Houston). He had a great career. A borderline HOF career. His ERA and WHIP dont jump out at you, but his post-season resume will and that might get him in via the veteran's ballot. Regardless, he was one of the best pitchers in the illustrious Yankee history and I respect his decision. Any man who can stare $12 million in the face and say no must really be set on his decision. Regardless, good luck with retirement, but we are f***ed right now

[italstallianion]

I kind of wish that he did play another year or two to try and pad numbers to eventually get into the HOF. Ditto with Schilling.

[Keeper]

Just making the playoffs will be hard enough, but I don't see the Yankees going anywhere with Sabathia, Hughes, and Burnett as their top 3. That won't cut it in October.

[jacksonianmarch]

It "could" but we'd need Burnett to return to a 4ERA pitcher, we'd need Hughes to elevate his game to ace status and we'd need status quo from CC. Regardless, losing Pettitte leaves us with almost no room for injury or ineffectiveness. We'll make the playoffs, but having to throw Freddy Garcia in a short series would suck

[raygator]

GOOD!

[SoxFanForsyth]

It "could" but we'd need Burnett to return to a 4ERA pitcher' date=' we'd need Hughes to elevate his game to ace status and we'd need status quo from CC. Regardless, losing Pettitte leaves us with almost no room for injury or ineffectiveness. We'll make the playoffs, but having to throw Freddy Garcia in a short series would suck[/quote']

 

Why would you throw Garcia in a short series? You can just go with a 3 man rotation in a short series.

 

Also - the AL East has gotten much better this offseason. Say what you want about TB, but they've got strong pitching and still have Longo and Zobrist along with Damon and Manny. They're not going to make the post season but they will win some games and aren't a team you can go 15-3 against. The O's got a lot better, and if they sign Vlad they're going to be stout. Possibly a sleeper if Matusz and Weiters break out.

 

Basically - the AL East is a very tough division top to bottom, no 'gimme' games anymore. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if a White Sox or Tigers or A's won the WC this year because of the disparity between the good and bad teams in their division. The Royals and Guardians are dogs this year and will be overrun. You could get 28 wins just from those two teams alone.

[jacksonianmarch]

Regardless how good the Rays are, they were dominant in 2008, okay in 2009 and dominant again in 2010 based on pen. Look at the numbers. In 2008, they had the best pen in baseball, in 2009 they had one of the worst and in 2010 they had one of the best again. As their pen goes, so will go their team. Also, subtracting a rabbit like Crawford and a 30HR guy in Pena is not offset by adding an aging Damon and Manny. It will be eased a bit, but offense was their problem last yr and they just lost 2 of their best offensive players, downgraded in the rotation and seriously downgraded in the pen. They'll be back by 2013, IMO, but this upcoming yr, they'll be a .500 team. Toronto lost Marcum and nearly their entire pen, which they rebuilt with vets coming off down yrs plus Frank Francisco who will be depended on to be their closer (yuck). Their offense loses Overbay and Wells and adds in only Juan Rivera. The Jays are going to be the dogs of the division, IMO. The Orioles lose one of their best hitters in Wigginton and add in a guy coming off an abysmal yr in Lee. Getting Reynolds is a risk as well. Vlad would be an upgrade, but overall, they didnt do much where they needed to, in the rotation. Plus, they are probably losing Millwood, who at least gave them innings. I think the Sox are bound for 95-100 wins, the Yanks 90-95 wins, the Rays 80-85 wins, the O's 70-75 wins and the Jays 65-70 wins. The Jays did themselves a favor by unloading Wells and cheapening their roster, but they're a ways away

[SCM33]

Being a phony' date=' hypocrite, rat-snitch has nothing to do with his use of PEDs. The PEDs made him a cheater, the least of his bad qualities.[/quote']

 

Oh come on. Really?

 

Manny Ramirez in all likelihood used them during his sox career. David Ortiz used them. Nomar used them. Damon was linked to them. Mo Vaughn used them. Jeremy Giambi used them. Gabe Kapler has been linked to them. Manny Alexander used them. Jose Canseco used them.

 

The RedSox are just as much linked to steroid usage, if not more than most teams in all of baseball.

 

Andy Pettitte was a lot of things, bad guy is not one of them.

 

He was a rat? Yeah, on Roger Clemens....a complete shitbag who only cared about himself. Roger Clemens, a guy who asked me for 10 bucks for an autograph at a practically EMPTY fenway park in 1993 when I was 10 years old.

 

Play fair, rid your mind of anything that had to do with steroid usage, admissions, denials or whatever the criteria, and Pettitte was a good guy, and an awesome competitor.

[Emmz]

Roger Clemens would have sold him out if he had the chance. The dude threw everyone under the bus to try and prevent his name from getting soiled. I don't care if anyone rats Roger Clemens out.

[a700hitter]

Oh come on. Really?

 

Manny Ramirez in all likelihood used them during his sox career. David Ortiz used them. Nomar used them. Damon was linked to them. Mo Vaughn used them. Jeremy Giambi used them. Gabe Kapler has been linked to them. Manny Alexander used them. Jose Canseco used them.

 

The RedSox are just as much linked to steroid usage, if not more than most teams in all of baseball.

 

Andy Pettitte was a lot of things, bad guy is not one of them.

 

He was a rat? Yeah, on Roger Clemens....a complete shitbag who only cared about himself. Roger Clemens, a guy who asked me for 10 bucks for an autograph at a practically EMPTY fenway park in 1993 when I was 10 years old.

 

Play fair, rid your mind of anything that had to do with steroid usage, admissions, denials or whatever the criteria, and Pettitte was a good guy, and an awesome competitor.

As I said earlier, the PED usage was the least of his bad qualities. That only made him a cheater. Plenty of players were cheating at the time, but Pettitte held himself out as a devoutly religious man who turned to Jesus for guidance. I could really care less about the PED use. Manny and others PED users did not hold themselves out as religious role models. When he first got caught by being named in the Mitchell Report, he lied and said that he only used it the two times as indicated in the report. Later, when Congress came knocking and the stakes were higher, he remembered using it additional times, but he claimed to have prayed to Jesus before injecting himself. Wow, what a good religious thing to do.

 

 

Pettitte claimed to have turned to Jesus for guidance when he left the Yankees for Houston. He claimed he went to Houston to be close to his family. Yet, only a few short years later his family somehow must have relocated east, because he returned to the Yankees for big bucks. Those decisions had everything to do with money and nothing to do with Jesus or family. That makes him a phony and a hypocrite. I can't stomach religious hypocrisy.

 

As for Clemens, sure he is a shitbag, but he and Andy were best friends which speaks volumes about Pettitte also. In the end Pettitte showed his true colors by ratting out his best friend like a coward. He did it by swearing out an affidavit. He also had his wife do an affidavit so that the Feds would agree to not make him testify before Congress and accuse Clemens face to face like a man. He is a backstabbing rat who sold out his best friend like a coward. It doesn't matter that we don't like Clemens or that Clemens is a shitbag. He was Pettitte's best friend.

 

PEDs are the least of the problem with Pettitte. The man has zero character, but parades himself around with a totally phony public persona.

[a700hitter]

Roger Clemens would have sold him out if he had the chance. The dude threw everyone under the bus to try and prevent his name from getting soiled. I don't care if anyone rats Roger Clemens out.

I was thrilled that Pettitte threw his best friend under the bus, and I was glad that he did it in such a backstabbing cowardly way. We all knew that Clemens was human garbage, but this episode exposed Pettitte as a lowlife liar backstabbing rat. I already knew that he was a huge religious hypocrite and phony.

[DirtDog]

I kind of wish that he did play another year or two to try and pad numbers to eventually get into the HOF. Ditto with Schilling.

 

Schilling did try to do that. He swindled a contract out of the Sox and injuries shut him down the entire 08 season.

[DirtDog]

Jeremy Giambi used them..

lol

[Dipre]

Schilling did try to do that. He swindled a contract out of the Sox and injuries shut him down the entire 08 season.

 

Wait, what?

 

He passed all of his physical examinations in November, and it was well publicized that the Sox believed him to be healthy enough to pitch and that's why they signed him to that contract.

 

After he was diagnosed with the shoulder issue, he wanted to have surgery so he could pitch at least part of the season and the playoffs and the Sox doctors said "no" making the decision that ultimately didn't allow Schilling to pitch at all in 2008.

 

Swindling requires a desire to cheat, so how exactly did Schilling fool the Sox when he passed all of his physical examinations? If he was injured before he signed the contract, the blame goes to the Sox medical team, because he believed he could pitch.

[Dojji]

I'll say this on Schilling. Sometimes a HoF bid is better when you go out at the right time. The last pitch he threw was in a winning effort in Game 2 of the World Series. If there is ever a good way to end a career, winning a World Series game on the way to a sweep is that. It's better than trying to come back when you don't have it and leaving on a very sour note like many HoF pitchers do. And it cements his reputation as a dominant playoff pitcher far better than any other way that career could have ended.

 

That 2008 contract and the medical thing? That'll be forgotten. Just one of those things where crap happens. I'm glad he went out when he did, he was near the edge of losing his stuff anyway and I had no real illusions that he'd be dominant in 2008 no matter what happened. As it is, other than a few dedicated haters he ensured he'll be remembered fondly.