Spurned by Lee, Yanks need Pettitte now

The Yankees’ reaction to Cliff Lee’s return to the Phillies ranged from early afternoon denial to late-night shock to enough day-after worry to begin a concentrated campaign to pull Andy Pettitte away from the edge of retirement.

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That’s the Yankees’ mission: salvaging their rotation, which without Lee and Pettitte has little chance of standing up to the Red Sox this summer, let alone the Phillies in October.

With a potential alignment of CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre, it's no wonder the Yankees are ready to offer Pettitte a blank check to return. They’ll need his experience and winning pedigree, and mostly a stronger left-handed presence to help offset Boston's bolstered attack that now has lefties Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.

But even with Pettitte, the Yankees acknowledge they'll be several rungs below the Phillies, in awe of baseball's best group of starters. One team elder said, “I’m just glad we’re not in the National League. We’ll see if (the Phillies) can hit, but that rotation is incredible.”

Can the Yankees rebound? Money obviously is not an object for re-signing Pettitte. He can literally ask for whatever he wants after pulling down a modest $11.75 million last year, but he told GM Brian Cashman a decision about next season has less to do with salary than with coaxing his body into another winter of intense workouts.

After spending two months on the disabled list last summer with a groin injury, Pettitte isn’t sure he’s strong enough to get back into shape. At least that’s what he says now. The Yankees are hoping to persuade Pettitte to reconsider and are willing to fly to Texas to motivate him face to face.

There are other possibilities for the Yankees to explore, including a trade for Chris Carpenter. The Cardinals righty has a $15 million option for 2012, money that almost certainly will be earmarked to tie up Albert Pujols.

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The Yankees just might be thinking along those lines, having come to an agreement in principle with catcher Russell Martin on Tuesday morning. That allows the Yankees to potentially deal Jesus Montero, their 21-year-old can’t-miss catching prospect who, until Lee slipped away, was being groomed to replace Jorge Posada.

But that equation changed radically in the past 24 hours. A less appetizing option would be to press the Royals for Zack Greinke, although just about everyone believes the Yankees are only moderately interested. Despite their willingness to take on troubled characters in the past — Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson — the team’s hierarchy suspects Greinke would be fatally matched to the New York baseball culture.

Of course, the best option of all would’ve been Lee himself. Tough, mature, October-tested, already having survived in a big market with a voracious fan base in Philly. The Yankees had every reason to believe their six-year, $148 million offer would be enough to pry Lee away from the Rangers, as they were under the impression that the left-hander was a hard-core capitalist hunting for the last dollar.

The Yankees figured they’d made an irresistible offer to Lee and his agent, Darek Braunecker: the most money, the most years, the biggest stage, a near-guarantee of getting to the postseason every October, where Lee could forge a legacy as a latter-day Sandy Koufax.

But the Yankees were disturbed that Lee’s camp was out of touch over the weekend, and they grew increasingly pessimistic when Braunecker called on Monday morning to say talks were “progressing” with other teams. One Yankees exec was predicting failure as early as 1 p.m., saying, “If Cliff wanted to be in New York, he would’ve accepted our offer by now.”

It was becoming clear that Lee had no real interest in being a Yankee — or a Ranger for that matter. Maybe it was the unpleasant experience Lee’s wife had at Yankee Stadium during the playoffs, being harassed by drunken fans. Maybe it was the Arlington heat that turned Lee away from the Rangers.

Or maybe it was just a lingering nostalgia that compelled Lee to open the door to the Phillies. Braunecker reached out to GM Ruben Amaro Jr. during the winter meetings, indicating his client was ready for a homecoming. The Phillies weren’t just pleasantly surprised, they were stunned: Lee, after all, was traded to the Mariners after the ’09 World Series precisely because the Phillies didn’t think they could afford him.

Instead, they ultimately realized Lee was willing to leave $28 million on the table, passing up the Yankees’ $148 million (guaranteed for seven years) for the Phillies’ $120 million (over five). So much for Lee being cast as the bloodless mercenary. He teams with Roy Halladay as the game’s best 1-2 punch and gives the Phillies the greatest rotation in modern history.

In retrospect, the Yankees say they have no regrets about the way they courted Lee. They made every salient point about the benefits and perks of playing in New York. But one executive said, “It was clear from Day One (that) Lee’s heart wasn’t it. And he didn’t like Texas, either. I have to give him credit; he could’ve just taken our money. But he kept waiting for someone else.”

The Phillies were that mystery team all along. The Yankees called it a clean fight and paid their respects to the winner. Still, getting blown off by Lee was like a fist to the face to baseball’s richest franchise. This time the Yankees’ money was left untouched.