Recent developments may push Pettitte toward Yanks

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Figuring they are working from behind, the Yankees are said to be willing to do "whatever it takes'' to get Andy Pettitte back into pinstripes. And if that means beating the Astros' price by $3 million or more, offering a second-year player's option or a flat two-year deal, then so be it.

Yankees people believe Pettitte would lean toward staying home in Houston, if all things were equal. So they are doing what they can to make them unequal, and that includes having Derek Jeter and other former Yankees teammates and friends call him to try to sway him.

Pettitte went 14-13 with a 4.20 ERA last year for the Astros.

The Yankees have opened by offering Pettitte $15 million. They've also told him they'll improve that, perhaps to $17 million, which would top the $16.5 million he made in 2006. The Yankees also said they'll give Pettitte a second year if he so desires. The Astros are way behind financially, at $12 million.

Even so, interested parties have seen the competition as a 50-50 proposition.

"Certainly, we have a geographical edge,'' Astros general manager Tim Pupura said. "And certainly, you have to expect the Yankees to have a financial edge.''

The Yankees' full-court press can do nothing but enhance their chances to reacquire their top target. And if that isn't enough, they may hope that two things that happened here at the Winter Meetings sent Pettitte a message about where he stands.

Given the chance to reacquire Ted Lilly for $40 million over four years on Wednesday, the Yankees passed.

Given the chance at acquiring a different top-of-the-rotation starter on Thursday, the Astros pounced. You can't blame them. Really, you can't. But even so, it may not help them with Pettitte.

Unlike the Yankees, the Astros don't have five viable starters. Feeling slightly uncertain about which team Pettitte will choose, the Astros went ahead and agreed to a deal Thursday morning to obtain Jon Garland from the White Sox for three young players -- Willy Taveras, Jason Hirsh and Taylor Buchholz -- only to see it fall through when, according to sources, the White Sox became concerned with the health of Buchholz.

We can't forget that Pettitte left the Yankees three years ago feeling somewhat slighted by his own team when it reduced its offer to him from a three-year contract to a two-year contract. So it's reasonable to wonder whether Pettitte felt the least bit slighted at the news that the Astros had a deal for a pitcher to replace him.

And indeed, Garland would have been replacing him. Purpura said it "would have been very difficult'' to employ both Garland and Pettitte and said they will continue to seek a top starter. If they can't resurrect a deal with the White Sox, they will look for another one.

"We have to pursue other options,'' Purpura explained. "He's talking to other clubs, and we're talking to other clubs.

"We've been very open with (Pettitte's agents) Randy and Alan Hendricks. We've had full disclosure that our biggest objective is a top-of-the-rotation starter. We're not going to wait and wait and wait. We have to move forward. We have to continue to look.''

Meanwhile, Pettitte is continuing to think things over. He is expected to have a decision by Christmas, but it may come much sooner than that. He said he was leaning toward retiring only a couple weeks ago, but after a good week of workouts with his training guru Brian McNamee, Pettitte announced on Wednesday that he would be playing somewhere.

Where he plays appears to be up in the air. But the chances he'll return to the Yankees may have been enhanced by what happened here Thursday.