You see, I remember 2006 . I remember it VERY well, thank you very much.

It was the last year of Andy Pettitte’s 3 year contract with his hometown team. You know, the team he grew up rooting for. Supposedly. You know, the year when Roger Dodjer the Prima Donna wanted to play in the WBC, but then was too tired to show up for the first part of the year because he didn’t KNOW if he wanted to play or just retire and oh, oh, whatever would he DOOOOOOO?

I remember Andy sucking like a black hole in the first half, carrying an ERA of over 5, giving up homers like he was pitching BP.

And, in fact, I remember that when his best bud Rodger Dodjer decided to re-up with the Astros, planning his first start on June 22 – you know, the 22 to match his pro-rated 22 mill salary, which matched his famous jersey #22, it didn’t seem to galvanize Andy Candy one little bit.

And, in fact, I remember that the ONLY reason that the Astros managed to end up with a record over .500 is that they FINALLY decided to bench the suckulous carcass of what had once been Preston Wilson and allow Luke Scott, hated by the Organisation, to be called up and play LF and he pretty much singlehandedly batted the Stros into the W column.

Because Rodger Dodjer had sore legs/pulled hammy /something that made him sit/suck in September, so he wasn’t exactly no help…

And, in fact, I remember that after the season Andy said stuff like – gee, Ida know if I wanna keep playing or retire or what. And with the Carlos the Jackal failure in painful memory, Drayton said to his employees – look, seeing as how Andy Candy don’t wanna tell us how he feels, we best go find SOMEbody to pitch. Get rid of Boras clients and young pitchers because they ain’t worth nothin if they don’t come right up and pitch like Oswalt.

And, in fact, I remember that SUDDENLY, Andy got his little self ALL indignant that the Astros weren’t sitting around waiting for him to make up his little mind and said he was gonna go back to his REAL luuuuuvvvv, the Yankees. And for more money. And for a player option because he was a gonna bring back that Yankee playoff magic they’d been missin since him-n Roger left (not that Andy exactly helped them win the 03 Series, but I digress…)

So now, this year, in spite of him sucking like Backe in the second half, he is demanding that the Yankees pay him 16 million – yes, you read that right, SIXTEEN million to be the #5 guy. And the Yankees, by the way, are REDUCING payroll just like bout everyone else. So they have offered him an extremely generous 10 mill, but Andy is pouting bout that. He, of course, has been saying he only wants his Yankees, but seems Cashman is gettin a lil tired of the Prima Donna.

Drayton, we all know, has told Ed Wade not to spend any more money – we’ve hired great character like Jason Michaels and Lou Palmissano and Aaron Boone to be Good Guys. And the cold hard facts are that Andy Pettitte is no Roger Clemens. Regaradless of how many adulterous afffairs he had, regardless of how many syringes he denied getting stuck with (wait – which pitcher am I talking about here?) Andy isn’t half the pitcher Roger is, nor is he the kind of Star – and make no mistake, Roger was a Star, matched or maybe barely exceeded by Barry Lamar Bonds, who more than pays for himself.

The truth is that it absolutely is NOT about the money – Andy wants his butt kissed and thinks he should get Roger treatment. Well, Andy should look around and see what kind of treatment Roger is getting – Giff Neilson won’t be associated with him, Memorial Hospital took his name off the Sports Medicine Center Roger had donated millions and time to, the media is demanding he apologise for denying accusations of felonious activities.

(The problem isn’t the commission of all the felonies, the problem is with not apologizing for committing them in the first place…)

Besides, fans and media, for the most part, only care if baseball players commit the felonies if they are any good at playing baseball.

but I digress

The point is that Andy Pettitte is no longer a #2 starter and he isn’t worth any 10 mill a year. And, frankly, I don’t like a player who acts like the Astros are what you get stuck with when the popular kid don’t wanna take you to the prom. You have to EARN the status of Prima Donna and Andy ain’t all that.

I like hometown boys as well as anyone else. But far as I’m concerned, Andy’s hometown is New York City (as he’s actually said) and he can stay there.

Tags: Houston Astros

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Pettitte. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.