You're the GM of the New York Yankees. You just brought back one of the most beloved players in your franchise's modern era. This is an occasion to pat each other on the back and smile about how great baseball can be, right? Wrong. See the real Brian Cashman went on the YES network during the broadcast of today's spring training game to talk about Pettite's return. Rather than just being gracious, and saying how happy he was to have Andy back, Cashman went into a detailed discussion of his talks with Pettitte. And though he certainly seems happy about the pitcher's return, it seems unnecessary to include the part about how he had originally offered Pettitte way more money, but that Andy's indecision cost him a bigger payday.
The quote comes at 1:11 into the video when Cashman is talking about conversations he had with Pettitte six weeks ago:
[Pettitte] said, "I'm thinking about it." But he wasn't willing to follow through. I even made him an offer and he said no. And it was a significant offer. It was similar money to what he was making before. You know $10-$12M range. And I said If I offered this to you, would you take it? He said "No, no. I'm not in. I'm just thinking about it right now. I'm probably going to need about six weeks." And that put me in a bad spot, because I have to improve the club....
Cashman goes on to say that after telling Pettitte three weeks ago that the Yankees were no longer interested, Andy came to Spring Training as a guest instructor and decided he wanted to play. So the team signed him to a 1-year deal for $2.5 million.
