Less than a month after announcing his intentions to return to the New York Yankees, it appears Andy Pettitte has a target date to rejoin the 25-man roster. As reported by Mark Hale of the New York Post, the lefty will need just four more minor league appearances. If all goes to plan he could make his first major league start in a year-and-a-half on May10th versus the Tampa Bay Rays.

Based on early returns Pettitte appears to be in great shape and has posted solid numbers in limited action. However it is important to note he hasn’t faced batters above High-A baseball.

While his return isn’t groundbreaking by any means, it is nonetheless very intriguing for fantasy owners in standard 10-man, 5×5 leagues.

Pettitte left the New York Yankees after the 2010 baseball season. He had posted 11-3.28-101-1.27 (23 starts) numbers and yielded a .257 BAA. While it wasn’t a shock that he walked away from the Yankees, many figured he would return in 2011 given his stellar 2010 campaign.

With Pettitte returning, what can fantasy owners expect from him?

First, it’s important to remember that Andy Pettitte will be given every opportunity to regain his role as a mainstay in the New York Yankees rotation. Despite a lack of plan beyond this season, Joe Girardi and company respect Pettitte. There is no possible way he can be expected to pitch out of the bullpen.

Secondly, there is no telling at this point whose job will be in jeopardy once he does make it back to the major leagues. Phil Hughes is off to a disappointing start but it would be shocking if the Bombers pulled the plug on him given the high praise Brian Cashman has showered upon him in recent months. The most likely victim will be Freddy Garcia but that’s hardly a given.

Predicting performance and making an overall assessment of Pettitte is difficult. On the one hand, early reviews of his performances have been solid and he will be returning to a stacked Yankees line-up that will provide him plenty of run support. He is veteran who knows how to pitch.

Yet anytime a player is away from the game for over a year it needs to be a cause for concern.

Personally, if given the opportunity, I am taking a chance on Andy Pettitte. Being in a daily league, I am intrigued with his return to New York where he has amassed a career 128-63 record. That being noted, he was 4-0 on the road during his last season in pinstripes.

For fantasy owners and Yankees fans, the return of Andy Pettitte should be one of the years more inspirational stories.

Sources: Yahoo! Sports

Robert Watkins is former investment professional and partner. A native New Yorker until 9/11, he considers Pa. his adoptive home. A passionate Yankees fan and Pennsylvania sports enthusiast, Robert is a frequent contributor to Yahoo! Sports and News.

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Kyle Drabek threw five scoreless innings, outpitching CC Sabathia, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Drabek, competing for a spot in Toronto’s rotation, allowed five hits. The 24-year-old right-hander struck out five and walked two.

Sabathia, set to start on opening day for the Yankees, gave up three runs and six hits in six innings. The left-hander will make his final exhibition start Sunday in the first major league spring training game at the Miami Marlins’ new ballpark.

New York center fielder Curtis Granderson didn’t play due to a sore right elbow. General manager Brian Cashman said the move was precautionary and added that Granderson will have an MRI on Wednesday.

AP-WF-03-28-12 0229GMT

New York Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain is to be released from the hospital today, three days after dislocating his right ankle bouncing on a trampoline.

New York general manager Brian Cashman announced the news before the Yankees’ game against a Detroit Tigers split squad.

Chamberlain was hurt while playing with his son Thursday at a recreation spot. He needed surgery for the injury in which bone broke through the skin.

Cashman says Chamberlain will be in a nonweight-bearing cast for six weeks. There is no timetable for when the 26-year-old right-hander can resume pitching.

When it comes to the New York Yankees, there are two types of players:

The first are the chosen few elevated to god-like status who wear the pinstripes as a badge of honor.

The second are the many players who are simply labeled as ‘what have you done for us lately?’ or ‘what can you do for us tomorrow?’ Patience is a luxury these players will rarely experience.

Just ask A.J. Burnett.

All of which brings us to the signing of Andy Pettitte. Sure it’s just a minor-league, low risk deal for the Yankees but if Derek Jeter is an alpha-god, then Pettitte is his little brother in terms of New York baseball immortality. He is third in all-time franchise wins with 203 and sports a 123-68 home record. Pettitte has 19 post season wins and five World Series rings. He is a proven winner who, despite being 39 years of age, will be given every opportunity to be part of the starting rotation come mid-April or whenever he feels ready to join the team.

The Pettitte signing is bad news for Ivan Nova, not Phil Hughes

Despite posting 16 wins and a 3.70 ERA, the Yankees are already committed to a starting rotation that includes CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Michael Pineda, and Phil Hughes.

If there were are any doubters as to whether or not the Yankees are committed to Hughes, this should have been extinguished by the proclamations of general manager Brian Cashman when speaking with Joel Sherman of the NY Post over the winter. “Aside from last year he was viewed, and not just by us, as one of the better young arms in the game; with success to prove it. He was a dominant reliever for us in 2009 and an All-Star as a starter in 2010. Why would I judge him by last year when he was injured? It feels like everyone wants to take him down a peg. I think he is a top-of-the-rotation starter.”

An unlikely as it sounds for any 16-game winner, this is hardly good news. Nova has struggled this spring (he was scorched for four first inning runs versus Baltimore yesterday). More telling however is Nova’s history. In 2011 he struck out just 98 batters in 165 innings pitched while yielding opponents a .258 BAA. These are hardly elite underlying numbers.

Tough to swallow, Nova will most likely head to the pen or to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre once Andy Pettitte is ready for his big league return.

Is this fair? Hardly. Yet these are the Yankees where you are either a legend or your disposable.

Sources: Yahoo! Sports

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Robert Watkins is former investment professional and partner. A native New Yorker until 9/11, he considers Pa. his adoptive home. A passionate Yankees fan and Pennsylvania sports enthusiast, Robert is a frequent contributor to Yahoo! Sports and News.

(Reuters) – A visit to the New York Yankees‘ spring training facility to spend time with former team mates convinced Andy Pettitte to come out of retirement and rejoin the team he won five World Series titles with.

Pettitte, 39, last pitched in the majors in 2010 with New York when he went 11-3 with a 3.28 earned run average to earn his third All-Star nod.

But a visit to New York’s training camp in Florida, where Pettitte threw batting practice, triggered his desire to return and on Friday the Yankees said the broad-shouldered left-hander signed a one-year minor-league contract worth $2.5 million.

“‘I missed it. I feel good. And after being around the guys, I want to play. I really want to play,’” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, speaking on WFAN radio, said Pettitte told him. “If he’s healthy, I think he can help us. I think he can help us significantly.”

The left-hander was expected to arrive at spring training next week for a 10-day stint before getting assigned to a minor league team to continue his work.

Cashman said Pettitte would miss at least the first month of the 2012 Major League Baseball getting into pitching shape.

When Pettitte retired ahead of the 2011 season, he had compiled a career record of 240-138 and a 3.88 ERA over 16 MLB seasons spent with the Yankees and Houston Astros.

Presuming he can regain his old form, the addition of Pettitte would shake-up of the team’s rotation.

“I’m happy for him if that’s what he wants to do,” Yankees captain Derek Jeter told WFAN. “Andy’s going to compete, that’s what he enjoys doing. He expects a lot out of himself. His expectation levels are as high as anyone.

“There is going to be a lot of people excited about having him back.”

C.C. Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova lead New York’s five-man pitching rotation with newly-acquired Michael Pineda, Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia competing to join them.

(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

TAMPA, Fla. — Pitcher Andy Pettitte has ended his one-year retirement and is making a comeback with the New York Yankees.

The Yankees announced Friday that Pettitte had signed a minor league deal with an invitation to big league spring training. If added to the major league roster, Pettitte would get a $2.5 million, one-year contract.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said there are no incentives in the deal and that Pettitte — who is expected in camp Tuesday — will only be a starter.

Cashman believes Pettitte will not be ready to break camp with the team when spring training ends early next month.

The 39-year-old Pettitte last played in 2010. The left-hander sat out last season, but was with the Yankees

in camp this spring as an instructor. He threw batting practice several times, and also had a private bullpen session for team officials, including Cashman, manager Joe Girardi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild last Tuesday.

Pettitte first expressed interest in pitching again last December.

Pettitte is 240-138 lifetime. In his last season with the Yankees, he was an All-Star and went 11-3.

For many years, Pettitte was an ace for the Yankees and one of their most dependable pitchers in the postseason. He is 19-10 with a 3.83 ERA in 42 career postseason starts.