At some point, Andy Pettitte is going to have to decide, once and for all, whether he’s going to play next season or retire. (Technically, there’s also an option C, better known as “the Bernie Williams,” in which he’d do neither of those things, but the Bernie Williams is exceedingly rare.) Reports yesterday said that the Yankees were actually expecting to hear from Pettitte this week with a decision. But Brian Cashman says that’s not really the case and that he’s proceeding as if the lefty won’t be back — mostly because Pettitte’s already told Cashman not to count on his return.
Via the Post:
“We’ve been moving forward as if he’s not playing,” Cashman said. “He may tell us otherwise at some point, but, no, this week we’re not expecting to hear anything from Andy. He’s already given us the courtesy on several occasions of telling us don’t count on him and he’s not expecting to play. It’s not official, but he didn’t want to hold us up.”
Many around the Yankees believe Pettitte is going to retire. Cashman said Pettitte has been clear that is the way he is leaning. The GM went so far as to say he would not even expect a call from Pettitte if he elects to retire, only one if he wants to play in 2011.
Not that they’ve been “moving forward” by signing any new starting pitchers, of course — meaning that if Pettitte retires, we’ll either see exactly how creative Cashman can get, or we’ll be seeing an awful lot of Sergio Mitre next season.