Andy Always Wanted To Remain With Yanks

From the AP via NJ.com:

Andy Pettitte's only thought was to stay with the Yankees. He had no interest in returning to his hometown Houston Astros.

Still, the 36-year-old left-hander was bothered when the Yankees wanted to cut his salary from $16 million to $10 million.

"Heck, the bottom line is I'm a man, and I guess it does take a shot at your pride a little bit," he said. "But when you put all that aside, I wanted to play for the New York Yankees and, you know, that was the bottom line. I wanted to be there. I wanted to play in that new stadium."

"It just got to the point where Randy called me and said, 'I think this is it, buddy,'" Pettitte said. "It didn't take me long to decide because I knew that was where I was going to play."

The article also says that during the December 11th meeting in Texas between Cashman and Pettitte, Pettitte told Cash that he was willing to sign a deal that included performance bonuses. The two sides had been in negotiations ever since, before finally coming to an agreement today.

I figured this was the case the whole time. Andy had no intentions of playing anywhere else, but his agents, like all agents, were trying to get as much as possible from the Yanks.

It may look like the long negotiations hurt Andy, after all, he could be getting $10 million guaranteed. But to be honest, the deal he got isn't as bad as it seems. Yes the base salary is only $5.5 million, but the bonuses within the deal are easily attainable, and barring major injury he should receive the entire $12 million.