And The Left-Handed Jedi Passes On His Greatest Lesson...

Via George King, it sounds like there was a very specific purpose for Andy Pettitte's ST guest instructor visit this year:

“I always have conversations about pitching [with Pettitte],” Sabathia said of the retired left-hander who was in Yankees camp this week and threw batting practice. “He showed me the grip for the cutter. I used it [Thursday in a simulated game] and I am going to take it into the game.’’

Awesome.  Love it.  Regardless of whether the velocity comes up from 88 or not, adding a cutter should help keep hitters honest against CC's fastball this year and thereby make his slider and changeup more effective.  If it proves to be an effective pitch for the big fella, the Steinbrenners might have to give Andy another few million just as a thank you.

"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."

2013 Storylines Review: End Of An Era

(Courtesy of Howard Simmons/NY Daily News)

The Giants have won a few championships recently, and the Cardinals are trying to get another one of their own this postseason.  But the last true baseball dynasty was the 1996-2001 New York Yankees.  Those Yankee teams, driven by an up-the-middle core of homegrown players and a ton of smart acquisitions that fit the team's yearly needs and clubhouse environment, played in 5 of 6 World Series in that span and won 4 of them.  Were it not for that fateful Luis Gonzalez bloop single, it could have been a clean 5-for-5.  Those days are long gone, and while the 2009 championship was fantastic, it's a footnote to the extended era of success the Yankees have had up until 2013, an era defined by those '96-'01 years and the key players involved.

The Core Four lost its first member when Jorge Posada retired after the 2011 season, and it stood to lose at least 1 more after 2013 when Mariano Rivera announced that this season would be his last.  Another connection to that era of dominance was leaving, and the Yankees were drawing closer and closer to the official end of that era.  Between the year-long celebration of Mo, Andy Pettitte's retirement announcement, and the health-related struggles of Derek Jeter, 2013 did indeed end up being the final chapter of the last great Yankee dynasty.

2013 AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: September 2013

There was hope.  After 5 months of mostly bad baseball, there was still hope for a late Yankee playoff run in September, hope that they themselves helped inspire with a 17-12 run from mid-August to mid-September.  But in the end everything that plagued them in the first 5 months came back to kill the hope in the final 2+ weeks of the regular season.  Injuries, extended stretches of dormant offense, and to put it mildly, incredibly uneven starting and relief pitching.  The Yankees went 6-9 in their final 15 games of the season, including 2 separate 4-game losing streaks, to eliminate themselves from postseason contention and render the final handful of games meaningless, save for the career celebrations of Mo and Andy.

It was a long season, one with more bad than good.  But there were still some noteworthy performances in September, and after the jump you can check out the final batch of monthly AB4AR awards honoring those performances.

Not The Way Andy Should Have Gone Out

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

I got nothing this morning, gang.  I'm still bummed about the way yesterday's game went down.  I know I shouldn't be.  If anything, I should have expected the Yankees to lose in the fashion they did because it's what they've done all year long.  Sure, there have been a few flashes of offensive competency here and there, but overall this has been a painfully bad offensive team incapable of doing anything - get a hit, put the ball in play, make contact - when they really needed to and they saved the worst for last yesterday.  The fairytale ending was laid out for them from about the 5th inning on and they gagged on their chance to write it time and time again.

Andy Pettitte To Retire (Again) After This Season

From the man himself:

“I’m announcing my retirement prior to the conclusion of our season because I want all of our fans to know now—while I’m still wearing this uniform—how grateful I am for their support throughout my career. I want to have the opportunity to tip my cap to them during these remaining days and thank them for making my time here with the Yankees so special.

I’ve reached the point where I know that I’ve left everything I have out there on that field. The time is right. I’ve exhausted myself, mentally and physically, and that’s exactly how I want to leave this game.

One of the things I struggled with in making this announcement now was doing anything to take away from Mariano’s day on Sunday. It is his day. He means so much to me, and has meant so much to my career that I would just hate to somehow take the attention away from him.”

It's never as big a deal the second or third time around, but it's still newsworthy that another member of the Core Four is hanging 'em up.  This one is especially newsworthy simply because Andy, like Mo, proved he can still get it done this season and the Yankees could definitely use him in next year's rotation.  Oh well, that's 40% that needs to be replaced with Kuroda still up in the air.

What About Andy?

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

We know Mariano Rivera is retiring after this season.  We assume Derek Jeter is not after the announcement yesterday that his season is over, even if it might be the best idea.  But what about the third remaining active member of the Core Four?  What about Andy Pettitte?  What's his deal?  The 41-year-old lefty pitched another solid game last night, good enough to win against a stout opposing lineup.  It was the latest in what's been an underappreciated good month of starts from Andy, something this rotation desperately needed with its struggles at the top.  This late season rebound from Pettitte makes the question of whether he will retire for good after this season a little more difficult to answer than it may have been a few months ago.

Andy Making A Late Season Charge

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

For the better part of this summer, Andy Pettitte has been more problem than solution.  The majority of his starts in June and July after coming off the DL were of the "5-6 IP, 4ish ER allowed" variety, and paired with the struggles of Hughes and CC helped hasten the team's fall in the playoff race.  His 7-run disaster against the White Sox earlier this month may have been the low point of the season, but after last night's excellent start it's looking like it also could have been the turnaround point for him.

AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: June 2013

It feels strange picking "Best Of" awards after such a poor month for the Yankees.  Their 11-16 record was made even more depressing by how pitiful the offense became as players crashed back to regression earth or got re-injured, and the resulting lifelessness their games took on really started to test the patience of the fanbase. But believe it or not, there were a few bright, shiny moments and month-long displays of good baseball from a few guys, so to get some good vibes going in a new month where the boys are currently undefeated let's look back on those now.

Andy's Struggles At Home

(This definitely didn't help matters)

Didn't get to it yesterday, but there was another troubling trend in Andy Pettitte's game that came up on the ESPN broadcast the other night, that being his rather significant home/road splits this season.  Andy's been getting knocked around pretty good at Yankee Stadium in his last 5 starts there and his season home slash line presently sits at 5.72/3.91/4.29, compared to 2.81/3.14/3.18 on the road.

The simplest explanation for this extreme split is that Andy has gotten hit a lot more at home and given up more walks at home.  He's given up 11 more hits in 2.1 fewer IP in his starts at The Stadium and walked over twice as many batters there than on the road (15 to 7).  Digging a little deeper, there doesn't seem to be a drastic difference in his H/R contact rates and he isn't giving up more homers at home, so as with his overall uneven performance since coming off the DL this could just be a case where his .346 BABIP at home is a little unluckier than it should be and his .277 BABIP on the road is a little luckier.

What's Up With Andy?

Andy Pettitte turned in another ho-hum performance last night, giving up 5 ER on 9 hits in 6.2 innings of work.  Since coming off the DL, he's posted a 4.91 ERA in 25.2 IP, with 30 hits allowed in those innings.  Like CC, he's been much more hittable since coming off the DL, but why?  Is the back still bothering him?  Has he lost some of his stuff because of it?

Hard to say.  Pettitte's FIP for June is just 2.66, a full 2 runs lower than his ERA.  He's walked fewer batters on average than he did in April or May, and there's nothing in his June contact splits to suggest he's getting knocked around the park by opposing hitters.  He's got a .341 BABIP against this month, so there could just be some bad luck in play here.

The Yankees need more from Andy, there's no doubting that.  But to turn his June struggles into a bigger story might be a bit premature based on his overall statistical and PitchF/X profile.  The only thing that stands out to me is a slight trend in him leaving his cutter up in the zone a bit, and even that is registering him a better whiff rate on the pitch than he had in the first 2 months.  If Andy's back is still giving him problems, there's really not much other than the ERA to support it.  It could just be a case of him needing a few breaks to go his way.

Andy Pettitte To The DL, Vidal Nuno Called Back Up

This doesn't come as good news after Joe talked him leaving the game early last night down like it was no big deal.  The Yankees have elected to put Andy Pettitte on the disabled list with his upper left trap injury, and have recalled Vidal Nuno from Triple-A to take his spot on the roster and presumably in the rotation as well.

It's a small bit surprising that Joe would be so open about how not big a deal the injury was in last night's presser and then have this be the move the next day.  The Yankees just got done botching the Kevin Youkilis situation, so they shouldn't really be saying boo about anybody's health if the actions aren't in agreement.  There's a chance this is the Yankees using this latest injury blip as justification for putting Andy on the DL and giving him a significant chunk of time to fully rest his back, which they didn't do last time.  That being said, it still doesn't do much to ease the concern about this being a lingering issue for Andy for the rest of the season.

Latest On Pettitte & Stewart

The injury epidemic of 2013 continued to spread last night, as both Andy Pettitte and Chris Stewart left the game early.  Pettitte's back started acting up again and the team diagnosed his injury as a tight left trap.  Stewart pulled up lame running the bases in the 7th and was clearly affected by something in his left groin.  There was no official diagnosis on his injury.  He was scheduled for an MRI after the game, but as of yet the team has not announced the results.

After last night's game Joe talked down the seriousness of Andy's back.  There's no word on whether he will have to skip another start or two, and I would imagine the team will give him a few days before making that decision.  Regardless of what that decision is, this should still be a greater cause for concern.  This marks the second time in less than 2 months that Andy has had back problems.  No one needs to be reminded that that's not a good sign for an older pitcher like him.  He's dangerously close to venturing into DL territory the next time it flares up again.

As for Stewart, while we won't know anything for sure until word comes out on the MRI findings, Bryan Hoch reported late last night that he could be heading to the DL to recover.  That would put the team in a very bad spot with their remaining catcher depth.  Austin Romine will take over starting duties for the time being, and he represents the only healthy catcher ont he 40-man roster.  Bobby Wilson would be the top internal replacement option, and he's only hitting .174 in Triple-A.  It's just the chance Romine needs if it turns out Stewart does have to go on the DL.  Hardly the scenario New York wanted, though.

BREAKING NEWS: Andy Leaves Tonight's Start With Apparent Injury (Updated)

He wasn't having that great a start to begin with, but it just got worse for Andy Pettitte when he had to leave tonight's game with 2 outs in the top of the 5th inning.  Pettitte had just thrown a pitch to strike out his second straight batter of the inning and appeared to grimace on his last pitch.  Joe didn't take any chances and removed Andy from the game.

It would be unfair to speculate, but the first place you think of with Andy is his back.  He's already missed a few starts due to back spasms this year and those type of problems don't just go away when you're his age.  More on this story as it becomes available.

** UPDATE 5/17 6:50 AM- The team announced that Pettitte left last night's game with a tight left trap.  After the game, Joe said he wasn't too concerned about it, so that's good news.  It was not said whether Pettitte will miss his next start. **

Cutter Problems Killing Andy Lately

(Courtesy of the AP)

After allowing just 7 ER in his first 4 starts of the season, and going at least 6 innings in each of those starts, Andy Pettitte has struggled mightily in his last 2 outings, the second of which came yesterday against Oakland.  In 9.1 IP over both starts, Pettitte has allowed 10 ER on 14 H and 5 BB, with just 5 K to show for his effort.  According to Andy, his cutter has been the source of his struggles in the last week.  He just hasn't had any kind of control over the pitch let alone command, and a quick look at the pitch location plot is proof of that:

Andy's Back Acting Up, Next Start Pushed Back To Friday

(Courtesy of the AP)

While the inclement weather in Cleveland did allow the Yankees to move back to the top of their starting rotation this weekend, they still ended up having to do some juggling when Andy Pettitte's back started bothering him.  On Friday it was announced that his back had stiffened up on him during his last start and he was pushed back to Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, and then yesterday afternoon Joe announced that Andy will be moved back to Friday of this week to make sure his back has all the time it needs to get right.

For a rotation that started the season with health concerns at the top in CC and the bottom in Phil, this minor setback with Andy comes as a bummer.  He had been the team's best starter through the first two rotation turns, and the importance of keeping older starters like him and Kuroda healthy this season has been repeatedly stated.  It's for that exact reason that this decision by the Yankees is the right one.  The off-day today allows them to push Andy back a few extra days without having to use a 6th starter and without having to juggle any other pitchers around.  Using those few extra days to make sure this back issue stays a minor one is the smart move to keep Andy feeling good and pitching well in the long run.

2013 Storylines: End Of An Era

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

While the main focal point of this season will and rightfully should be Robinson Cano, and as the front office decides how much they want to pay to usher in the Robinson Cano Era of the Yankees, there is another era that will be ending after this season.  It started with the retirement of Jorge Posada, but the un-retirement of Andy Pettitte kept the Core Four flame burning.  Now with Mo set to retire after this year, Andy following him out the door, and Derek Jeter entering the twilight of his career, the final chapters of the Core Four Era will be written and the book will be closed.

Rotation Starting To Take Shape This Week

(Courtesy of the AP)

The bulk of the early ST focus has been on the lineup and its shrinking number of healthy, productive players, but the rotation hasn't exactly been running at full song so far either.  Ivan Nova and Hiroki Kuroda have each made a pair of starts, David Phelps has made four, and that's it as far as projected Major League starters are concerned.  In the last few days, however, the picture has cleared up considerably with the rest of the rotation.

Phil Hughes graduated to a mound over the weekend, and per Chad Jennings threw a 26-pitch bullpen session this morning with no reported back issues.  He's graduating to facing live hitters later this week and could end up on track to start the season.  The other big news to come out of the weekend was the upcoming rotation schedule, which has Andy Pettitte penciled in to make his spring debut on Wednesday and CC Sabathia on Friday.  Sabathia threw a 50-pitch sim game yesterday morning rather than face the Blue Jays, and this has been about as quiet a spring for Pettitte as I can remember.

The level of concern about those three was low, so it's not like this is huge unexpected news.  But it's always good to see your starting rotation all pitching.  The rotation is going to have to carry this team early, and they should take the first big step towards doing that this week.

Nothing To See Here, Folks...

Nope, nothing at all.  No big deal.  Just the 2 best pitchers in the last 30+ years of Yankee history doing their thing in the bullpen.  That's a pretty everyday occurrence right there.  Probably discussing the finer points of the cutter and counting their World Series rings.  Moving on...

(Photo courtesy of Erik Boland)

Projecting Andy Pettitte

(What can Andy-Wan do in 2013?)

Andy Pettitte's decision to come back for the 2013 season wasn't nearly as dramatic or surprising as his return last season.  He already sounded like he was leaning towards coming back when he said he was going to take some time to think it over, and the Yankees re-signed him to another 1-year deal with little trouble in late November.  Now that it's officially been determined that he won't be participating in the World Baseball Classic, we can start to look forward to what Andy's going to do on the mound for the Yanks in 2013 and for how long he's going to do it.  Pettitte is an important part of the Yankee rotation as the middle link between the rock solid 1-2 starters and the iffy back end, but his age and related injury concerns make him a bit more of a question mark than your average #3 starter.

Along with it being prospect season and still the late part of hot stove season, it's also projection season.  There isn't a whole lot out there on Andy yet, but it's still worth taking a peek to see what kind of production Andy is projected to put up this coming season.

To Pitch Or Not To Pitch?

(Definitely don't want a repeat of this.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

First Andy Pettitte was going to participate in the World Baseball Classic this year.  Then the rosters were announced and he wasn't because the Yankees had concerns about him injuring himself.  Now it sounds like the window of opportunity might be open for him again per the latest report from Wally Matthews, who can actually be of value as a writer when he sticks to his reporting guns.  According to the report, Joe Torre confirmed that the Yankees would still prefer to have Pettitte skip the WBC but that both sides have until February 20th to make an official decision.

Personally, I think it would be cool to see Pettitte pitch in the WBC.  It's obvious he wants to, he's probably already in good pitching shape from his offseason workouts knowing that he was planning to play this season from the beginning, and I think we can all be sure this season is going to be his real, actual final one, so why not get that experience in while he still has the chance?

At the same time, I can see where the Yankees are coming from and when I put my homer fan glasses back on to look at the situation, I start to side with them.  Pettitte hasn't been a pillar of good health in his later years, and even though last year's injury was on a fluke play, those same fluke risks and regular injury risks are always there.  Pettitte is an important part of the Yankee rotation, and if he's going to get hurt and miss games in 2013, I'd rather it be because of something that happened in a Yankee uniform after the season started.  Even a minor injury in the WBC could be something that lingers and negatively affects his performance over the course of the entire Major League season, and that wouldn't be a good thing.

So we'll see where this goes.  My money is on the Yankees holding firm and us seeing Andy pitching in ST games in March rather than WBC games.