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Andy, Rocket rift widening

Ken Davidoff

January 20, 2008

Andy Pettitte is said by friends to be upset with Roger Clemens because of Clemens' aggressive defense to the charges leveled against him in the Mitchell Report. Most of all, Pettitte didn't care for Clemens' public airing of his taped phone call with accuser Brian McNamee, which accomplished little.

Among its many unexpected consequences, the Mitchell Report has magnified just how different Clemens and Pettitte are. And with the two men set to share a table at Capitol Hill's Rayburn Hall next month, it's as good a time as any to point out that this supposed mentor-protege's relationship has been overblown by the media - with this space as guilty as anyone else.

"They were never as close as they were made out to be," a friend of both said on the condition of anonymity. "They just sort of went along with it in the media, because it was a good story."

Indeed, we had one of the game's all-time best pitchers taking a fellow Texan under his wing, a guy whose childhood bedroom featured a Clemens poster. We had the pair bolting together to the Astros and returning together (a few months apart, granted) to New York.

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Though Clemens and Pettitte enjoyed working out together, their relationship didn't extend much beyond that. Clemens is an extrovert, Pettitte an introvert. Clemens enjoyed going out after games on road trips; Pettitte almost always stayed in. Their families aren't particularly close, although both make the Houston area their full-time residences.

When Clemens sat out the start of the 2006 season, keeping the Astros waiting for months on yet another unretirement, Pettitte joined other veteran teammates in growing annoyed by The Rocket's prima-donna vacillating.

And of course, when Pettitte corroborated McNamee's testimony to Mitchell on Dec. 15, it put Clemens in an awful spot. Clemens didn't display any affection for Pettitte in his interview with Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes," saying only that he had no clue that Pettitte used human growth hormone.

The Clemens-Pettitte relationship will face its toughest challenge ever Feb. 13, when the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will ask Pettitte to weigh in on McNamee's accusations toward Clemens. Really, it's an obstacle that they might not be able to overcome - because they were never that close in the first place.

He's got to go

This space has advised for some time now - read my blog, please! - that the Twins should hold on to Johan Santana. With underwhelming offers, why shouldn't the Twins make a very feasible run at the playoffs, then let Santana leave after the season and pick up a couple of compensatory amateur draft picks?

A veteran executive plugged into the Twins' thinking, however, said, "That ain't happening." And he predicted, furthermore, that Minnesota will unload Santana before the start of spring training.

The logic: "First of all, if Santana comes to camp with the Twins, the trade question will be hanging over him every day. Second of all, once camp starts, the Yankees and Red Sox will be less willing to give up pieces from their major-league roster [such as Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jon Lester].

"Third of all, let's say we get to July 31. Why would Santana, with two months to go before free agency, sign a long-term deal and not open up a bidding war?"

Fair points, all. Although I do think that if the Twins are waiting for Hank Steinbrenner to bend, that is a faulty strategy.

Tough times

The list of remaining free agents is immense, and there aren't many natural landing spots for those veterans. As one agent said, "There are a lot more free agents on the market than there usually are in mid-January." If a Santana trade doesn't happen, and if the prices on Livan Hernandez and Kyle Lohse continue to drop, the Mets eventually will have to seriously consider signing one of the two.

Around the leagues

Here's an adjustment for Joe Torre: The Dodgers are telling industry people that, having signed Andruw Jones and Hiroki Kuroda, they're tapped out, budgetwise.

The Jackie Robinson Foundation celebrated its namesake's 89th birthday Thursday. Up next: the foundation's annual dinner, March 3 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Call 212-290-8600 for tickets.