Ken Rosenthal is reporting that "it is inevitable" that Andy Pettite will re-sign with the New York Yankees. On Thursday, the New York posted reported the same, along with these comments from Brian Cashman:
Brian Cashman, who last week visited Pettitte in
, stressed the Yankees would like the veteran lefty to pitch in pinstripes. Houston "We would like to have him back and he would like to come back so it sets up for a happy ending,'' Cashman said.
Is Cashman a regular at a city massage parlor?? So it appears that Pettite, like Rafael Furcal, will return to his former team in 2009.
So now that the Yankees have their 5th starting pretty much wrapped up, what does this do for the market for Derek Lowe, who was according to many baseball writers and analysts "the most reliable" starting pitcher on the free agent market. Their point was that Lowe is a slamdunk for 33-34 starts and 200+ innings for any team who signs him. ESPN's Buster Olney had this to say about Lowe's market value in this morning's blog post:
When the offseason began, the agent for Derek Lowe was asking teams for five years and $90 million, baseball executives say. Now that asking price is down by almost a third, and some general managers speculate that if the Yankees retain Andy Pettitte on a one-year deal, Lowe's price will inevitably drop -- and significantly.
The Yankees have been patiently waiting for Pettitte to make his decision, and as one official notes, one possible reason they have allowed him to take his time -- rather than give him a deadline -- is that the longer they wait, the more likely it is that Lowe will be offered to them at a much more acceptable wage than what he was asking for at the outset of the off-season.
With Pettite going to the Yankees, what team will be bidding on Derek Lowe. You have the Mets-but they are planning on waiting out the market to see if prices come down faster than the Dow Jones Industrials have over the last 12 months. You also have the Braves, Cubs and possibly the Red Sox should they fail to sign Mark Teixeira. But the Braves may not want to spend money on Lowe since they are probably the 4th best team in the NL East right now. The Cubs may attempt to sign Lowe since they failed to land Jake Peavy via trade. The Red Sox, should they not sign Mark Teixeira, could sign Lowe since they will not be in the market for Manny Ramirez.
Speaking of Jake Peavy, Kevin Towers should just wait till June or July for Peavy's market value to increase. By June-July 2009, there will be plenty of teams in the wildcard chase looking for that ace starting pitcher to put them over the hump.