As Andy Pettitte Bows Out, Yankees Scramble for Pitching Answers

NEW YORK -- Asked Friday about his plans for the future, now that he is an ex-pitcher, Andy Pettitte couldn't come up with many specifics.

"I hate uncertainty," he said.

Then he better avoid following his former team the next month or two.

Uncertainty will be the theme of Yankees camp as soon as pitchers and catchers report Feb. 14. The Yankees, and their fans, had hoped or prayed that this was just one more of Pettitte's annual dalliances with retirement before coming back to the Bronx. But this time, it stuck, and his old ballclub is stuck, too.

Spurned by Cliff Lee and waived adios to by Pettitte, the Yankees have a rotation of CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, question mark and bigger question mark.

"It's obviously (a rotation) that's incomplete," general manager Brian Cashman said after Pettitte's retirement news conference Friday.

Pettitte told Cashman on Oct. 22, the night the Rangers eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs, that he felt finished.

"At the end of the season last year," Pettitte admitted Friday, "I started losing a little bit of that desire to compete."

"At the end of the season last year, I started losing a little bit of that desire to compete."
- Andy Pettitte All Cashman could do was hold out hope, stay in touch with Pettitte and work on finding alternatives. (Cashman knew that if he pushed Pettitte for an answer, the answer would be no.)

Then Lee picked Philadelphia, and, as Cashman put it, "All the inventory that we liked (had come) off the board."

So while everyone waited for a puff of smoke out of Deer Park, Texas, Cashman did what he felt he could to assemble some candidates for back of the rotation. As a result, Freddy Garcia, Sergio Mitre, Bartolo Colon and Ivan Nova are the leaders for the Nos. 4 and 5 spots.

And that doesn't even get into the issues at Nos. 2 and 3; A.J. Burnett was a mess for most of 2010 and Phil Hughes faded badly in the second half.

Chew on this: After the All-Star break, Yankees starters other than Sabathia and Pettitte went 16-23 with a 5.83 ERA (327 hits and 57 homers in 293 1/3 innings).

So when Lee spurned the Yankees, they needed Pettitte more than ever. Pettitte knew it, and in the second week of January he agreed to begin working out to see if he was physically up to pitching again.

Four weeks of workouts showed Pettitte he could still pitch. Pettitte's shoulder, elbow, groin and back were fine.

Only one body part ached.

"My heart's not where it needs to be," Pettitte said. "I just feel like that my heart is not fully and completely sold out to do this again.

"It just didn't feel right for me anymore. I didn't have the hunger, the drive, that I felt like I needed. I don't know how to explain it, but I just knew that it was different."

(Pettitte insisted that the upcoming Roger Clemens trial, in which Pettitte could be a key witness, had "zero" effect on his decision.)

Probably the biggest thing tugging Pettitte back toward a uniform was the Yankees' dire need for him.

"There is no doubt about it," Pettitte said, "that when they didn't get (Lee) I felt a huge obligation. That was when I started working out. ... I felt like it I owed it to this team, to this organization."

Give Pettitte credit for not coming back just for the paycheck or the adulation. He said he didn't want to ruin all he had accomplished, or let down the fans and the team, by turning in a subpar year because he didn't have that drive.

Pettitte said it's "100 percent" he doesn't come back midseason, and while he wouldn't rule out a return in 2012 with as much certainty, he said it would take his "stomach churning" all year with longing for the game for that to happen.

"I believe I'm done," Pettitte said. "I would not be doing what I'm doing right now (holding a news conference) it I didn't think I was done."

So if Pettitte won't come riding back in to save the Yankees, who will?

In the past, when Cashman was general manager in name only, if the Yankees needed a pitcher, and everyone knew they needed a pitcher, they didn't care, they would just overpay.

That's not Cashman's style.

"You can't force it," he said. "If you want to force it, you're going to make a mistake.

"I'm willing to take it day by day and step by step."

Some high-priced pitcher will become available in a trade, and Cashman will be able to offer salary relief. Tampa Bay's reconstruction probably buys the Yankees more time, too, making it less likely they fall far behind early and have to make a panic move.

In the meantime, it's Garcia, Colon, Mitre and Nova. Last year, those four combined to go 13-11 with a 4.34 ERA, allowing 258 hits and striking out just 144 in 253 big-league innings (157 of those by Garcia, none by Colon).

"We'll never replace him," manager Joe Girardi said of Pettitte, "but someone will step up."

That someone might have to be Cashman.

"Our starting rotation is not where it needs to be right now," Cashman said. "There's no doubt about that.

"But I'm confident that I'll get it there. I just can't tell you how long it's going to take. But I'm up for the challenge."

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Steve Phillips reflects on Andy Pettitte's career and what's next for the Yankees