Fanhouse has always been a source for hilarious commenters (not in the Deadspin sense - in the "Kids say the darndest things" sense), and it has gotten really great now that Mariotti has started "writing" for them (yeah, you left a "dying medium" for AOL. Great job there, Jay), so it's a great place to go if you have crippling self-esteem issues. Nothing cheers me up quite like a retard on the internet.
From the latest made-up crap on Andy Pettitte (we're not going to sign him, folks... Not for the money he wants. For that matter, I really doubt anybody but the Yankees can/will pay him the amount of money he wants.), we get "Rich LaCava":
As a big time Yankee fan, I say good riddance to Andy and don't let the locker room door hit you in the ass on the way out. You are a so so pitcher who has always had so so seasons on both the Yankees and Astros and probably will not even get into the Hall of Fame.Yeah! That bum! He probably won't even get into Cooperstown!
How skewed must your worldview be if you think that, in order for someone to not qualify for "sucks" status, he has to be among the ten or so best players/plumbers/pandas of his generation?
Anyways, he has something of a point (stated in the most idiotic, asinine way possible). Andy Pettitte is an overrated pitcher. Now, I think that "overrated" tends to get tossed around quite a bit, and it's used generally as a way to say "sucks" without any evidence, but the man really is overvalued as a pitcher.
In the seasons during which he received Cy Young votes (1996, '97, 2000, '03, '05), only Pettitte's 2005 season is really "legendary" (and he only placed 5th that year! I've talked about this before, I think, but mostly about how Clemens had a good case for winning another CYA that season. Pettitte arguably had a better year in 2005 than either of his higher-placing teammates. Oswalt put up the highest ERA and WHIP of the Clemens-Pettitte-Oswalt tandem, but placed 4th in CY voting. Clemens, of course, led the league in ERA and was behind only Martinez in WHIP [though he was #1 in H/9IP], but he pitched 11 fewer innings that Andy. Anyways, the point is that, if you look at Pettitte's year, it was fucking fantastic). All his other seasons were either "merely" great (1997 was a great year: 155 ERA+) or pretty average-to-good.
But people place a large value on "wins," so Pettitte is rated fairly highly.
Pettitte will probably make the hall of fame, particularly if he pitches decently over the next few seasons, but it will mostly be on the strength of his championships, occasional greatness, and being a Yankee.
Still, it's total bullshit that a Yankees "fan" hates on the guy like that. He wants way too much money to be an average pitcher next year, but he'll get the job done. Fanhouse (with the exception of Texans blogger Stephaney Stradley) can go eat a dick.
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