For Pettitte, being a 40-year old pitcher trumps being a 30-year old pitcher since he suggested that he is a better pitcher than he was a decade ago. Pettitte, who is excited about the baseball detour that took him from retired instructor to dependable starting pitcher (again) has lofty goals. He stressed that he wants to stay healthy, make each of his starts and also log at least 200 innings.
“Heck, I want to win 20 games,” Pettitte added. “That’s what I want.”
As long as Pettitte avoids injuries, the Yankees trust that he will be effective. He was 5-4 with a 2.87 earned run average and averaged 8.2 strikeouts and 2.5 walks per nine innings last year, excellent statistics for a left-hander who was a spectator throughout 2011. Pettitte was honest about how much the Yankees need him stay on the mound and produce. The same is true for CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda, the two starters that precede him in the rotation, and Phil Hughes, who follows him and who already has a stiff upper back this spring.
“It’s a big responsibility,” Pettitte said. “I want to uphold that responsibility.”
Repoz
Posted: February 20, 2013 at 06:33 AM |
7 comment(s)
Login to Bookmark
Tags:
yankees
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. ajnrules Posted: February 20, 2013 at 07:18 AM (#4372410)-24 in 1986, 20 in 1987
-21 in 1990, 21 in 1997, 20 in 1998
-20 in 2001
EDIT: Crazy...not even Cy Young did it! As far as I can tell the only other guys to do it were Bob Feller and Warren Spahn!
Other than a dazzling 2005 in Houston, Pettitte hasn't pitched 200 IP with an ERA below 4.00 since 2001 (3.99 in 200.6 IP). Before that, 1997, which is his only other dazzling year.
He has at times been very good in small doses, or a solid innings-eater in large doses, but rarely the twain have met.
I think the whole PED issue is overblown but other than being liked by the writers it's hard to see how he got out of the whole thing so easily.
Very nice stats. One does wonder though...given he has used before could he have taken the year off to 'rebuild'? I mean, all but the HR numbers are better than his career average and the HR is barely off (0.9 vs 0.8) all while 38-40 years old. Seems a bit suspicious yet the writers seem to totally ignore it.
Pettitte is smart to come back though. With a solid year he'll pass Jack Morris in total wins (245 now so just needs a 10 win season to pass Morris). One more post-season win and he is up to 20 of those. Those are getting to serious HOF consideration numbers. The smart thing for him is to keep going out and delaying his first ballot as long as possible - hoping that Bonds or Clemens gets into the HOF thus making it much easier for voters to say 'screw it' to PED's and to let him in.
It's possible, although his fastball velocity in 2012 was down 1.2 mph from 2010 (87.8 vs. 89.0). I figured he's mixing his pitches differently although there's not a ton of difference in percentages according to his Fangraphs page. The biggest difference I see between his 2010 and 2012 is his GB% going from 43.9% to 56.3%. So maybe he's traded some velocity for some sink.
Ah well. In truth I'd prefer to just ignore PED's unless they are clearly harmful to the players health. Make them open and known and do real tests and put in guidelines about usage. It is just silly how much time and effort is spent trying to stop usage of certain PED's but encouraging others (ones that aren't banned).
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main