Saber Dummies: Andy Pettitte Retires: Great Yankee, Good Pitcher, Not Quite a Hall of Famer

My approach to analyzing the Yankees' off-season was to assume Andy Pettitte would be retiring, which became official today. Pettitte is beloved by Yankee fans and deservedly so, considering the role he played in winning 5 titles in a 13 year Yankee career. Pettitte's numbers were always good, usually never great, but his consistency is remarkable considering all the time spent in the AL East. Some have called Pettitte the greatest number 3 starter of his generation; others would say he was clearly a number 1 at different points in his career, even if the numbers suggest he wasn't an "ace." I say why not split the difference and call Pettitte a very good number 2 starter, who's role varied depending on the other pitchers he was surrounded by.

Is he a Hall-of-Famer? Not likely, although he'll probably get some votes. Pettitte's 240 wins are impressive--if you like that sort of useless thing--but they aren't really hall worthy. His 3.88 career ERA along with his 3.75 career FIP are also good, especially in the tough division, but again not really HOF stuff. Looking at the numbers, Pettitte really was incredibly consistent: 10 seasons with over 200 innings, 12 years over 190, an ERA no higher than 4.70 in a given season (in 1999, the year he sort of lost it briefly) and a career strikeout to walk ratio of 2.34. Pettitte never won the Cy Young, although his 1997 season was pretty spectacular (2.88 ERA, WAR of 7.1, beaten out by Roger Clemens and his magic syringe). Speaking of syringe, it'd be a shame for Pettitte to lose any HOF votes based on his admitted use of PED's on two separate occasions while recovering from injury. Even without that admission he still probably isn't HOF bound, but hats off to a remarkable career none the less.