The Baseball Thread

now if he'd just see the light and put Milwaukee back where they belong...

When Pettitte retired last year, he, like his buddy Clemens, took the word retire loosely. “I guess you can never say never,” Pettitte said.

He didn’t, and now he’s back. The Yankees’ worries – the ones that have grown evident over the last month in Tampa – prompted it. And if anything was going to placate them, it was the player craving another taste coming to the team in search of championship No. 28 – the old couple together for one final hurrah.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-passan_andy_pettitte_new_york_yankees_return_031612

Jamie Moyer may still survive as the #5 Rockie hurler.

(if you just need an old guy to root for...)

Jamie Moyer, at 49 years old, has made it back in the big leagues.

Moyer earned a spot in the Colorado Rockies' rotation and will start the team's second game of the season.

"It is still Jamie Moyer. It's the Jamie Moyer that was pitching prior to the arm injury that cost him the entire
2011 season. It's the same guy," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said Friday before the team's spring training game
against the Texas Rangers at Salt River Fields.

"It's the same worker. It's the same professional. It's the same stuff, same velocity, same pitches. When he's
right, same type of effectiveness. You're going to venture into this."

Sources: Giants make Cain richest righty

The San Francisco Giants have worked out a new contract for All-Star Matt Cain that will make him
the highest-paid right-handed pitcher in baseball history.

Cain, who is set to earn about $15 million in the last year of his contract, will receive a five-year
extension for a guaranteed $112.5 million, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

The guaranteed money includes a $5 million signing bonus and a $7.5 million buyout in 2018. That year
has a player vesting option for $21 million.

Cain's option would become guaranteed if he pitches 200 innings in 2017 or 400 innings combined in
2016-17 and is not on the disabled list at the end of the 2017 season for a right elbow or right shoulder
injury. If it does not become guaranteed, it would be a team option.

Cain also receives a full no-trade clause.

Giants general manager Brian Sabean has said for years his priority is to keep his pitching staff intact
for the long haul -- and that hasn't changed. Two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum reached
a $40.5 million, two-year deal in late January.

"Ensuring that Matt remained a Giant beyond this season was a top priority for the organization. Matt is
an integral part of the team whose performance on the mound will be one of the keys to our success for
years to come," Sabean said in a statement Monday.

Among pitchers, only the Yankees' CC Sabathia and the Mets' Johan Santana, both left-handers, agreed to
larger contracts. Sabathia got a $161 million deal from 2009 to 2015 that had an additional year and
$30 million in guaranteed money added last fall. Santana agreed to a $137.5 million contract from 2008 to 2013.

The previous record for a right-handed pitcher was Kevin Brown's $105 million contract the Dodgers gave him
after the 1998 season.