Arghh.......My Yanks have been screwed........by a team from Texas!

[NYCdog]

As I have repeatedly said before................I thought the Yanks were going to make a huge mistake thiss off-season that would bring us playoff MISERY in the Bronx for a long while.

And now they are going to make that mistake............and let Andy Pettite, the BEST big money, big game pitcher and SECOND best LEFTY in all of baseball, go...... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

Dec. 10, 2003, 4:49PM

Report: Free agent Pettitte on verge of deal with Astros
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Free agent lefthander Andy Pettitte, one of baseball’s winningest pitchers, is on the verge of an agreement with the Astros, industry sources said today.

The sources cautioned that some details remained to be worked out and that the deal still could fall apart if the New York Yankees made a last-ditch effort to re-sign Pettitte.

Pettitte has already taken a physical, and Astros owner Drayton McLane and agents Randy and Alan Hendricks are attempting to complete the deal within 24 hours, sources said.

Barring a snag, Pettitte would give the Astros the kind of bona fide No. 1 starting pitcher they haven’t had in several years. His departure would be a blow for the Yankees, who had said re-signing him was their No. 1 off season priority.

Pettitte, 31, would join Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller to make the front three of the Astros’ starting rotation as strong as any in baseball. During nine seasons with the Yankees, he has won 149 games and is coming off a season in which he went 21-8 with a 4.02 ERA. The Yankees were 23-10 in his 33 starts.

He won 17 of his last 20 decisions.

He’s the first pitcher in the post-expansion era to win at least 12 games in each of his first nine seasons. He 13-8 in 30 postseason starts. The Astros were considered longshots when Pettitte became a free agent. He’d said his preference was to remain with the Yankees.

With 149 victories, he’s ninth on the Yankees’ all-time victory list and appeared on his way to being remembered as one of the franchise’s all-time greats.

However, it appears the club never budged much from its original offer of around $30 million over three years. Pettitte’s father, Tom, told the New York Times on Tuesday that the family was frustrated by the Yankees’ seeming disinterest in signing Pettitte.

Meanwhile, the Astros began courting him almost from the moment he became a free agent and quickly laid out the parameters of their offer. Ironically, the signing of Pettitte comes a few weeks after the Astros traded closer Billy Wagner. At the time of that deal, they said they could no longer afford his $8 million salary.

Now, they’re poised to add a player expected to make even more than that next season.

If this does indeed happen, then you can expect two things out of this.........

1.........The Red Sox might finally whoop our ass! With there Pedro, Schill, Lowe rotation versus our Moose, Vazquez and ugh..........David Wells [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img] we all know who has the better rotation. And even if we add Sheff and Vlad, if the Sox add A-ROD, which I feel will happen, then the Sox might have the better offense too. Which could spell disaster for us in the Bronx for a long time.

2.........You playoff-long-starved baseball fans in Texas can finally start storing the bottles of "bubbly" in the fridge in preparation for October. Cause the Astros WILL go to the World Series. They will sport one of the best rotations in the NL next season with Pettite/Oswalt/Miller, each of which has the ability to easily win 20+ games..........if they stay healthy. Not even the loveable Cubs one-two of Wood/Prior could top this. And flame-baller Octavio Dotel will make fans forget about Wagner with his play. And with the offenseive production being solid as a rock............this all could add up to next season being the Astros year to win it all.

Thus next season I predict..............it will be an Astros vs. Red Sox fall classic.....