Sports : Baseball - Pettitte reportedly set to retire Friday

Andy Pettitte reportedly has informed the Yankees of his intention to retire and will announce that decision on Friday.

Pettitte's decision was initially reported by Michael Kay, Yankees television broadcaster and host on ESPN Radio in New York, who cited an unidentified source. The Associated Press said a news conference will be held Friday at Yankee Stadium.

Neither the Yankees nor Pettitte has confirmed or commented on the reports.

Pettitte, 38, pitched 16 seasons in the Major Leagues, 13 of them with the Yankees. He went 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA last season but missed two months due to a left groin injury. He has 240 career wins, 203 of them with the Yankees. He ranks third in franchise history in victories, behind Hall of Famers Whitey Ford (236) and Red Ruffing (231), and holds the all-time record for the most postseason wins with 19.

The left-hander won five World Series titles with the Yankees: 1996, 1998-2000 and 2009.

Pettitte, who returned to the Yankees in 2007 after three seasons with the Houston Astros, took time after both the 2008 and 2009 seasons before deciding to return rather than retire. He has cited a desire to be with his family at home in Texas as opposed to continuing his career in New York as the factor in his decisions.

Baseball : Yanks to proceed with Pettitte-less plans

NEW YORK -- The Yankees have left the lights on for Andy Pettitte, but with the free-agent left-hander still leaning toward retirement, their offseason plans do not include the five-time World Series winner.

General manager Brian Cashman said on Tuesday that the team is taking Pettitte seriously after he told the Yankees not to count on him, as the 38-year-old considers walking away from the game to spend more time with his family.

"Right now, Andy is leaning toward retirement," Cashman said. "He has not currently decided he wants to pursue playing next year. He wanted to make sure that we were not being held up. We need to do our business as though he's not playing."

Pettitte has largely remained silent this offseason and has not commented publicly in recent weeks -- a stage that included the Yankees missing out on their top target, Cliff Lee, who signed with the Phillies.

Cashman said that nothing has changed with Pettitte's situation.

"There's no official announcement that he's retired, but I can tell you he's not officially in play," Cashman said.

"We're obviously focused on the available markets to us and those players on the free-agent market and trade market that will be available. Andy currently is not one of those guys. If he chooses to be, obviously he knows we'd love to talk to him."

The Yankees would welcome back Pettitte with open arms, considering their pitching outlook. After putting all their eggs into the Lee basket, the Yankees are left with only CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes as rotation locks.

If spring arrived today, New York would head into camp with a group of largely unpredictable candidates to round out the rotation, headlined by Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre and followed by less likely choices among Andrew Brackman, Dellin Betances, Adam Warren, Hector Noesi and Manny Banuelos.

Cashman said that the preference would not be to head to Tampa without adding more talent to that group, but said that it is "certainly possible," noting that pitchers could be acquired in-season as well.

"The bottom line is, there's a price to pay for waiting for Cliff Lee," Cashman said. "Now, part of that price is definitely going to be the loss of previous opportunities existing, and at the same time, now it's going to have to be some patience."

Regarding the free-agent and trade fronts, there does not appear to be anything hot on the Yankees' radar. They are known to have sniffed around free agent Freddy Garcia, but are not thought to be interested in free agent Brandon Webb.

"There's not much available, to be quite honest," Cashman said. "But if something is there for the taking that we like and we can match up with, we'll strike.

"... There might be some things that emerge over time that aren't available at this moment. We've got a lot of time, but the markets are not the same as they were a month ago. That's the difficult thing."

The situation increases the importance of getting a bounce-back year from A.J. Burnett, who is entering the third year of a five-year, $82.5 million deal.

Burnett was 10-15 with a 5.26 ERA last year and plans to meet with new pitching coach Larry Rothschild in January to work on his mechanics. Burnett has converted a barn at his Maryland residence into an indoor pitching facility.

"We signed A.J. not to pitch toward the back of the rotation, to be a front-of-the-rotation starter," Cashman said. "That's what his abilities are, that's what he's capable of doing. That's what we expect.

"I believe you'll see that again, but that means a lot of hard work. I know he's up for it. I've talked to A.J. several times now and met with him in person in Maryland. He knows the responsibility he has to us and this fan base. He's committed."

In assembling the rotation for 2011, one avenue Cashman emphatically ruled out is moving Joba Chamberlain -- again -- from the bullpen to the rotation. When a reporter brought up the idea, Cashman quipped, "Bite your tongue."

"His stuff plays so much more significantly out of the 'pen," Cashman later explained. "We've given him the opportunity to show what he can do out of the rotation, and the velocity dropped. It's just not the same stuff."

Cashman said the Yankees' other targets include a right-handed reliever as well as a right-handed-hitting outfielder for the bench, plus a utility infielder. But gathering arms will remain the focus.

"The most important area is pitching, whether it's the rotation or the bullpen," he said.

Baseball : The Greatest Pitching Rotations Ever

The Greatest Pitching Rotations Ever

"How did we get Cliff Lee, too?"

Cory Matthews is surely jumping for joy, as late Monday night the Philadelphia Phillies signed ace Cliff Lee to a 5-year, $120 million deal. The lefty left money on the table to rejoin the Phillies after being dealt from Philly to Seattle following the 2009 season.

The 2011 Philadelphia Phillies rotation, which was already projected to be one of the best in baseball, now looks scary ridiculous: Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton. Will the 2011 Phillies end up being the best rotation of all-time?

We take a look at the eight best pitching rotations in a segment we like to call, “Strait Eight – The Greatest Pitching Rotations Ever”.

8. 2003 Chicago Cubs: Mark Prior (18-6, 2.43), Carlos Zambrano (13-11, 3.11), Kerry Wood (14-11, 3.20), Matt Clement (14-12, 4.11)

Unfortunately for Cubs fans, the 2003 team is mainly known for Steve Bartman and Alex S. Gonzalez’s inability to handle a routine ground ball. But, their rotation was ridiculous. They won the NL Central with a 88-74 record and manager Dusty Baker was far from shy from overusing his stud aces. After the 2003 season that saw Prior win 18 games, he would win just 18 more in his career.

7. 2003 Florida Marlins: Josh Beckett (9-8, 3.04), Dontrelle Willis (14-6, 3.30), Mark Redman (14-9, 3.59), Brad Penny (14-10, 4.13), Carl Pavano (12-13, 4.30)

The Marlins won the Wild Card with a 91-71 record. They then came back from a 3-1 deficit in the NLCS to down the Chicago Cubs. Game six was the infamous “Bartman” game. The Fish then downed the favored Yankees in six games to claim their second World Series Crown. Their staff remained in tact in 2004 and they even added A.J. Burnett, who was injured in 2003, but the Marlins managed to finish just four games over .500. They would then witness a mass-exodus, much like they did in 1997 after winning their first World Series, Beckett to the Red Sox, Pavano to the Yankees, Penny to the Dodgers and Willis began to struggle prior to being dealt to the Tigers.

6. 2003 Oakland Athletics: Tim Hudson (16-7, 2.70), Mark Mulder (15-9, 3.13), Barry Zito (14-12, 3.30), Ted Lilly (12-10, 4.34)

The A’s went 96-66 en route to an AL West crown in 2003. They were up 2-0 on the Boston Red Sox in the 2003 ALDS and didn’t win another game. They would maintain the nucleus of Hudson, Zito and Mulder for one more season but finished second in the division. Mulder then bolted for St. Louis and Hudson was traded to Atlanta prior to the 2005 season. Zito then left in 2007 to take an umpteen million dollar deal with the Giants.

5. 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers: Sandy Koufax (27-9, 1.73), Claude Osteen (17-14, 2.85), Don Sutton (12-12, 2.99), Don Drysdale (13-16, 3.42)

How good was Sandy Koufax? Seriously, 27-9 with an 1.73 era. That’s ridiculous. The rest of the rotation was pretty good, as well. They combined for a 2.68 era and struck out 840 batters. Koufax, Drysdale and Sutton are all in the Hall of Fame. They went 95-67 in ’66, but were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. They lost 5-2 in game one and wouldn’t score again. Game three and game four were both 1-0 defeats.

4. 1993 Atlanta Braves: Greg Maddux (20-10, 2.36), Steve Avery (18-6, 2.94), Tom Glavine (22-6, 3.20), John Smoltz (15-11, 3.62)

Steve Avery, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz were all named to the NL All-Star team. Somehow Greg Maddux wasn’t, but at the end of the season he won his second Cy Young. He would win four strait from 1992 to 1995. The Braves won 104 games in 1993 and barely edged the San Francisco Giants on the last day to win the NL West, in what could be considered the greatest division race in baseball history. Think about it, the Giants did not advance to the postseason with 103 wins. The Braves would lose to the Phillies in the NLCS, but the nucleus of Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz would remain in tact throughout the 90′s and become an integral part of the Braves’ 14 consecutive division titles.

3. 1986 New York Mets: Ron Darling (15-6, 2.81), Dwight Gooden (17-6, 2.84), Bob Ojeda (18-5, 2.57), Sid Fernandez (16-6, 3.52)

When most people think of the 1986 New York Mets, they automatically think Bill Buckner and the Mookie Wilson groundball that went through his legs in game six and allowed New York to win it all in game seven. Well, they wouldn’t have been in that situation if not for their unreal starting rotation. All four starters pitched over 200 innings. Gooden and Fernandez struck out 200+ batters and Ojeda, Darling and Gooden’s ERA’s all ranked in the top five in the National League.

2. 1998 Atlanta Braves: Greg Maddux (18-9, 2.22), Tom Glavine (20-6, 2.47), John Smoltz (17-3, 2.90), Denny Neagle (16-11, 3.55), Kevin Millwood (17-8, 4.08)

Subract Steve Avery from the 1993 rotation and add Denny Neagle and Kevin Millwood. In all serious, you could probably place any of the Braves’ rotations from the 90′s on this list. It truly is amazing that they were only able to win one World Series Championship. In 1998, the Braves’ starters ERA was 2.97, which was 1.30 lower than the league average. All five starters placed in the top five in the National League in wins. Glavine claimed his second Cy Young at the end of the year, while Maddux and Smoltz tied for fourth in voting. The Braves finished a ridiculous 106-56, but choked once again the playoffs, losing to the Padres in six games in the NLCS.

1. 1971 Baltimore Orioles: Jim Palmer (20-9, 2.68), Dave McNally (21-5, 2.68), Pat Dobson (20-8, 2.90), Mike Cueller (20-9, 3.08)

Four 20-game winners? That is absolutely ridiculous. Only one other team since 1920 has had four 20-game winners and that was the 1920 Chicago White Sox. Obviously, all four starters ranked in the top ten in the AL in wins, while Palmer, McNally and Dobson ranked in the top eight in ERA. The O’s would finish the season 101-57 and advanced to their third strait World Series. They lost to Roberto Clemente and the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.

Amazingly, only two teams on this list won World Series titles and both needed help from other forces to get it done. The Marlins with Bartman’s interference in 2003 and the Mets with Buckner’s infamous groundball through his legs in 1986.