Hall or No Hall Part 2: Andy Pettitte

After IIH, IIF, IIc elected Bernie Williams into Cooperstown, Hall or No Hall will continue this week because the Yankees have rattled off a pretty solid week or two of winning since we started. And this week, we’ll take a look at the always durable, always reliable Andy Pettitte.

Good:
Andy’s been the symbol of consistency since he broke into the majors in 1995. A four-time World Champion, he has finished in the top 5 in the Cy Young Voting 4 times. Andy has claim to the award in 1996, although it wrongfully sits on Pat Hengten’s mantle right now. Andy has only appeared in 2 All-Star games. However pitchers have more difficult time getting into the All-Star Game because they cannot be voted on by the fans. A legitimate claim last year was that a .270 hitter had no right to start at shortstop in the All-Star Game and just got in on the benefit of the doubt from the fans because he’s one of the game’s biggest superstars.

But Andy’s regular season success pales in comparison to what he does in big games. Andy is one of the most dominant postseason pitchers in the history of the game. Although he has the benefit of starting more games and pitching more innings in the postseason than any other pitcher in baseball, the numbers that he put up are still quite impressive. 14-9 with a 3.96 ERA ranks up there on the all-time postseason lists. And his value in other must-win games is obvious: Pettitte is 17-2 in 24 starts when trying to prevent the Yankees from getting swept.

Bad:
Andy only one dominant season, 1996, and his numbers show a very good #2 pitcher. #2 pitchers don’t make the Hall too often. And in a comparison to Whitey Ford, another lefty who came up big in big situations, Andy’s ERA, baseball’s statistical crown jewel in determining a pitcher’s worth, was over a point higher than Whitey’s ERA (3.89 to 2.75). And Whitey pitched better in big games than Pettitte (Ford was 10-8 with a 2.71 ERA in 22 World Series games)

Ugly:
Andy is one of the many Yankees who were busted for using PEDs in the blatantly biased Mitchell Report. Before the 2008 season, he tearfully admitted to using HGH in an attempt to try to come back from injury. However, his notoriety isn’t nearly as bad as other steroid users because he was pretty straightforward in coming clean about his past.

And you can also make the case for most pitchers that their numbers are going to be a little bloated compared to pitchers of the past because pitchers in the 1990s had to go up against steroid swollen hitters.

Verdict:
Andy’s still a borderline candidate that probably won’t get in. The steroids issue will hurt him. But the main issue is his stats. He still needs to put up some quality years before he retires to better his chances, and I just don’t see that happening at the twilight of his career. But hey, Moose did win 20 games last year after a 2007 where he was banished to the bullpen…

Next Week Edition: Paul O’Neill