Andy Pettitte.
The free-agent left-hander, who is strongly considering retirement, is said to be intrigued with the idea of returning to pinstripes and "could possibly have a deal by the end of the week" with New York, according to a baseball source familiar with the negotiations.
The Yankees are willing to wait as long as necessary for Pettitte, whose original timetable was to defer a decision on 2007 until later this month. Pettitte is the club's No. 1 option because the former Yankee is New York-proven, is left-handed (possibly joining Johnson and Kei Igawa to give them three lefties in the rotation), does not require a lengthy term to his contract and is coming off an impressive second half of 2006.
In this market, the Yankees would do well to get Pettitte at two years and about $26 million. At 34, he's just seven months older than the more expensive Schmidt.
Pettitte, Chien-Ming Wang and Mike Mussina would give the Yankees a solid front three, leaving Johnson, who is recovering from back surgery, Pavano, Igawa, Darrell Rasner, Jeff Karstens and in-season callup Philip Hughes as a comfortable inventory of pitchers to fill the other 66 or so starts. It also would keep the valuable Scott Proctor in the bullpen. In the meantime, as a fallback position only, the Yankees have told Proctor to prepare for Spring Training as a starter.
----
ペティットが入団すれば、井川は6番目の先発投手に。