Andy

Pettitte

Pettitte will start a four-week throwing program before beginning his typical offseason workouts. He’s expected to be ready for the start of spring training.

“I feel good,” he said. “Right now, it’s just like baby steps. I’m throwing just at 60 feet and throwing 30 tosses.” Pettitte will begin his normal offseason pitching program in January. He should be fine for the start of spring training.

Pettitte is scheduled to start tomorrow.

Pettitte was fatigued at the end of the 30-pitch session, but he experienced no pain. ''I felt like I started petering out a little bit,’' he said. ''I think they wanted us to throw for 10 (minutes), and I cut it a minute short. I could have squeezed another minute out, but I told them I was good. I’ll probably throw BP a few more times. We’ll see how it feels (today) and continue to try to go forward and build some strength up.’'

It’s still very unlikely that Pettitte will end up with the Red Sox. He’s put off a visit to Boston to meet with the team, and the offer of $10 million-$12 million per season probably isn’t high enough to get a deal done.

It appears that if the agents are trying to get Pettitte a fifth year, but that has little chance of happening unless another club steps up and makes a big offer. So far, it doesn’t look like the Astros or Red Sox are ready to jump into the bidding.

While talking to Pettitte’s agents, the Astros may also bring up the name of Roger Clemens, who is also represented by the Hendricks brothers. Pettitte is the pitcher the Astros think they have a shot at, however. The longer the left-hander goes without re-signing with the Yankees, the better a chance the Astros have of landing him. They’d still like to free up some money before they enter the bidding.

If all goes well, Pettitte will start Friday in Colorado.

Pettitte reported no discomfort after playing catch for five minutes. He plans to throw again today, and hopes to return Apr. 23 at Colorado, so don’t worry about activating him until the week of the 26th.

The Yankees did offer Pettitte $39 million million over three years, but because they were concerned about his elbow, it was really a two-year deal with a vesting option. The Red Sox firmly dismissed reports that they came in with a four-year, $52 million offer to Pettitte at the end. They did make an offer in that range prior to acquiring Curt Schilling, but it was declined weeks ago.