Why No Love For Pettitte?

Earlier today I got to thinking about this past offseason and the discussions housed here involving whether or not the Yankees should sign Derek Lowe or Andy Pettitte. Plenty of opinions flew back and forth but the overwhelming result was that Pettitte would be the better fit for the Yankees given the lower salary and lesser commitment. After all, 1-yr/$10 mil (assuming all incentives kick in) is much easier to handle than 4-yr/$60 mil, especially for a team that had spent a pretty penny on CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira.

Lately, however, with the injury to Chien-Ming Wang and the “emergence” of Phil Hughes, I have heard a few fans suggest that Pettitte should pitch out of the bullpen when Wang returns. At first, I wanted to respond by saying that no, Joba does not belong in the bullpen, until it dawned on me that this age old Chamberlain debate had now been pushed upon Pettitte… which made my head hurt even more than the aforementioned age old Chamberlain debates.

Then I began to remember when Pettitte actually did sign and how everyone seemed to assign the term “fifth starter” upon him. As the title of this post suggests, what gives? Why no love for Pettitte? Do people realize he has been one of the best and most reliable pitchers over the last several seasons?

If Pettitte is a fifth starter, he is without question the best fifth starter in baseball right now, given that he would be a #3 in most other teams in the game and perhaps even a #2. Put him on some of the lesser-quality teams like the Nationals, Rockies, and Pirates and he might actually be the ace.

Over the last four seasons, Pettitte has averaged 213 innings and +4.6 wins. His total of +18.3 wins in that span of 2005-08 ranks ninth amongst all pitchers, ahead of both Jake Peavy and Josh Beckett. In 2004, he missed time due to injuries, but here are his win values from 2002-08, excluding that injury plagued 2004 campaign: +4.2, +5.5, +5.8, +3.5, +4.5, +4.4. Granted, I’m not here to make any sort of Hall of Fame case for the guy, but rather to point out he has had a terribly underrated career and he is still producing at a very high level. In fact, through five starts this season he has already amassed +1 win.

If the Yankees have a fifth starter, it sure isn’t Andy Pettitte, and if any of their starters is going to be relegated into bullpen duty, it should not be Andy Pettitte. People really need to start realizing that what he brings to the table is not a marginal upgrade over an average or replacement pitcher but rather almost the guarantee of +3.5 to +4 wins.