Pettitte to be a 'Stro

ESPN had that days ago. If it's $$$, it's NY. If family, with enough $, then here he be. Duh. Forget Atlanta. This is a two horse race.

 

Me do. YEAH!!!

 

Yankee fan here.........

I posted this in the "Vasquez to NY" thread in the hangout section........thought you might like to see it.

 

After the Yanks sign Kevin Brown the race for Pettitte will be over, and he'll become our new opening day starter. Hey Kev, get your a** up to the big apple a.s.a.p.

 

oswalt will be our opening day starter. pettitte would be a nice #2 or #3

 

Actually, seeing as our last 4 opening day starters (Oswalt, Miller, Elarton, Reynolds) have all had injury plagued years that very year, I say lets throw out Robertson or someone bad and let them be cursed.

Yes... after this year's playoffs, I do believe in curses.

 

Uh-oh... the holy trinity of ESPN baseball (Gammons, Stark, and Kurkjan) just said that they're hearing serious rumblings from team officials that Pettite may just end up in Houston.

I don't listen to a thing Gammons says... but the other two have some credibility.

 

i agree with nick, that opening day thing is disturbing. oswalt would be the rightful ace but i'd pitch robertson or villone.

i'd take vasquez over pettite too if i'm the yanks.

 

Pettitte gets the soft sell
By DALE ROBERTSON
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle


BOB McNair loves football, and he was of the opinion Houston needed an NFL team. So Bob spent a bit of money and worked a few rooms to provide a replacement for the Oilers.

McNair likes baseball, too, and he's of the opinion the Astros need Andy Pettitte. So, with his second-year Texans playing at home last Sunday, he put his rainmaking skills to work on Drayton McLane's behalf.

Pettitte and his "99.9 percent" retired Yankees teammate Roger Clemens were invited to join McNair in his expansive suite at Reliant Stadium after the Texans feted them for being hometown heroes. Both accepted, as did another chap from the baseball world.

Gerry Hunsicker.

This was not a coincidence. While the Astros' general manager and the Texans' owner share a passion for the sport of kings -- they even share ownership in a thoroughbred -- McNair wasn't horsin' around. He believed social contact between Hunsicker and Pettitte couldn't possibly be a bad thing as the Astros ponder what they can do to convince the star lefthander to eschew New York's riches and ply his trade in Houston instead.

At first, there was awkwardness. Pettitte kept his distance. It was Clemens who convinced him to go exchange pleasantries with Hunsicker.

" `Andy, get on over there and put some money in your pockets,' " Clemens recalled saying. "It wasn't going to hurt anything for them to talk a little."

Reports McNair: "I hear they had a nice conversation."

Hunsicker, for his part, has demurred discussing what was discussed, although we must assume it was nothing substantive. He had joked to McNair's secretary when the invite was extended and he was informed Pettitte would be there: "Tell Bob to bring his checkbook."

As it stands, the Astros have no money in their budget for the Deer Park native, whose fair market value is certain to exceed $10 million per season, for an absolute minimum of three seasons. But perhaps McNair, whose team isn't bound by a hard salary cap and whose civic largess knows no bounds, would be willing to ante up for the good of Houston. Well, Bob?

"Now don't go giving Drayton any ideas," McNair said, laughing.

There have been two formal meetings between the Astros and Pettitte's people, brothers Randy and Alan Hendricks, neither of whom were part of the McNair party for the Texans-Falcons. Also missing was McLane, who returns from a business trip to Poland on Sunday night.

The critical stage of the negotiations, if there are to be substantive ones, occurs next week. Wherever Pettitte signs -- Atlanta may also be on the short list -- the Hendricks would no doubt like to make a splash with the news at baseball's winter meetings, which open the weekend after next.

There was a time when Clemens and the Astros -- Hunsicker in particular -- weren't on friendly terms. The GM's relationship with Team Hendricks went due south when efforts to make a trade with Toronto for Rocket blew up and Rocket acquired a Bronx address. But Randy Hendricks extended an olive branch at a baseball dinner last spring. It appears the Astros can count on Clemens being no worse than a neutral force in their pursuit of Pettitte.

Actually, he's sounding like an ally, no small thing because Pettitte looks up to Rocket and routinely seeks his counsel. Andy's willingness to get in lock step with Clemens' demanding offseason training regimen contributed to his becoming a 21-game winner.

"Andy would be part of a strong rotation here," Clemens said. "He wouldn't have to go it alone like I did for all those years before I got to New York. It could be a good situation."

But Clemens made it clear he would never push Pettitte to take a deep "hometown" discount for a locker at Minute Maid Park.

"Andy's earned the right to be paid like a (Curt) Schilling or a (Pedro) Martinez," Clemens said. "You know what you're getting with him, both as a pitcher and a person. He may be a strong Christian, but put him out there on the mound and he's as tough as anybody."

Clemens and McNair were together again in one of Reliant's plush clubs Thursday morning. They were introduced with Bum Phillips and Calvin Murphy as two of the 38 local legends who will be saluted Jan. 26 in CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz' Super Bowl kickoff gala.

Yet over Clemens' 20 big-league seasons, the guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famer never pitched a regular-season or playoff game in Houston, something McLane confessed to the Hendricks he wishes he could change.

If the Astros can't really afford Pettitte, though, they could hardly afford Pettitte and Clemens, assuming the 0.1 percent of Rocket that isn't fully committed to retirement might overrule the 99.9 percent that is.

"I told Roger he'd only have to pitch home games," McNair said, trying to be helpful.

Clemens chimed in with another alternative.

"I'm a pretty good batting practice pitcher," he said. "I can throw strikes. I'll go down and throw to Bidge (Craig Biggio) and Baggy (Jeff Bagwell) anytime they want."

Looks like whatever Clemens says goes, so i guess that means we'll be seeing Pettite in an Astros uniform. Since he is a strong Christian, they should also tell Pettite that Lakewood Church is moving into the Compaq Center.

 

I anticipate good news here on out. I definitely will like to see Andy as a 'Stro.

 

agreed.

 

Andy is in the fold. My attention now is directed squarely on 0.01%. Hell why were at it let's throw Nolan in for a pitch or two.

Go Astros!!

 

Damn decimal points

I can't get mad at the edit function any longer, because I realize it's proof reading times around here.

Reminds me of a Led Zepplin song

 

Hmm, if Bob McNair would buy the Astros....dang, someone woke me up, I was dreaming.

 

I hope your right, but I cannot see the Yankees giving him up without a fight. I also do not see them taking on an aging, often hurt Kevin Brown at $15 Mil per season for 4 years if they can get AP for the same price or slightly cheaper. Like I said I hope your right and you seem to know something the rest of us dont so I wont close the door on this just yet.

 

George Steinbrener on Kevin Brown.

"Get him here now!"

 

So, he enjoys losing money and would try to lose even more to satisfy a fickle crowd? Sweet.

 

I didn't notice the sig on this being Drayton McLane. Don't cry for McLane, and don't buy the tears.

 

How many high priced, high profile free agents did the Texans sign after last season? Didn't they lose their leading sacker (Posey) to free agency? How about Ryan Young? Didn't McNair spend a boatload of money on a player who never played a down (Boselli). Didn't he receive taxpayer help for a new stadium? Sounds like the same type of things thing McLane gets bashed for.