Three years later, Yankees recover what they lost

Three years ago, it was hard to understand why the New York Yankees parted with Andy Pettitte. He was a productive southpaw who was more effective against right-handed hitters, pitching in a home ballpark that had deep dimensions in left-center field.

More importantly he was a proven performer in the postseason. Now that Pettitte is back after three seasons with the Houston Astros, the Yankees have improved their chances to return to the World Series for the first time since 2003.

Since it's pretty much a given that New York will be playing in October each year, why haven't the Yankees focused before on landing and keeping pitchers who have had a strong track record in the postseason? New York hasn't missed the playoffs since 1993 (1994 doesn't count because of the strike), so the Yankees can take a different approach than most teams.

They should and can go after guys like Pettitte and Orlando Hernandez, who has at times looked lost between April and September only to turn it around when the klieg lights were brighter than ever and each moment was tense.


Both Hernandez and Pettitte are perfect fits for New York. Nothing fazes them. They are clutch.
In many ways, Houston was never going to reap the return from its investment in Pettitte that the Yankees did and still could. The Astros made the playoffs just once during his time there and Pettitte may not warrant being paid his asking price of $14 million for what he does in the regular season.

But as Houston should have considered when it was negotiating with him is that Pettitte is valuable not only for his postseason potential but also for the influence he exerts over Roger Clemens. Clemens, who has seven Cy Young awards, has been teammates with his good friend since coming over to the Yankees in 1999. They hang out with each other, they work out together, and their career paths intertwined for the last seven years. It's Pettitte and Clemens. Clemens and Pettitte.

You think Pettitte could convince his good buddy to come out of retirement and take the mound for the Yanks again? It doesn't seem too far-fetched and if that's the case New York will be getting another pitcher who has been very successful in the postseason. Only someone who is naive would think Yankees general manager Brian Cashman hasn't thought about this.

Six years removed from their last title, Cashman and New York have finally realized that it's not the players who put up numbers during the regular season that bring championships; it's the guys that have a knack for getting the job done in October. That's why former third baseman Scott Brosius, a .257 lifetime hitter, is loved by New Yorkers while the guy now playing his position, future Hall-of-Fame inductee Alex Rodriguez, has been skewered.

Pettitte is what the Yankees need. Three years after the fact, they finally realized what they were missing.