In what has become somewhat of an annual event, Andy Pettitte has re-signed with the New York Yankees on a one-year deal that will reportedly pay the lefty $11.75 million dollars. It's seems like every offseason, I ask myself how can Pettitte keep racking up eight figure salaries? The answer is simple; he's worth it.
Even at his advanced age of 37, Pettitte is still an above average starter. It seems that he could wake up out of bed and hand you a 3.5-4 WAR season without much effort. Over the last eight seasons, his average WAR has been 4.14. If you remove the injury shortened season of 2004, he has earned a 4.46 WAR over the past seven season in which he has thrown at least 130 innings.
Since 2002, he has made over $93 million dollars. That seems like a lot for a guy who isn't necessarily thought of as an ace. Despite not having the ace tag ,and the increasing number of birthday candles on his cake, he has delivered nearly $120 million in WAR value in those years.
At a salary of $11.75 million dollars, Pettitte needs to give the Yankees a little more than 2.5 WAR in 2010 to give them a fair return on their investment. His FIP and xFIP were a bit elevated in 2009 due to higher than normal walk rates, but nothing alarming. With his track record of giving nearly 200 innings per season plus an above average FIP/xFIP, it should be pretty easy for the Yankees to get value once again from Pettitte.