What's At Stake: Andy Pettitte and Contract Incentives

After a long drawn out contract dispute with the Yankees last offseason, Andy Pettitte finally settled on a one-year deal that only guaranteed him $5.5 million, but gave him an opportunity to earn as much as $12 million if he reached certain incentives. Then there is this bit from SI’s Jon Heyman: “Andy Pettitte begged the Yankees to keep pitching through his shoulder fatigue—though it appears he’s going to make almost all his incentives and more than double his $5.5 million salary, anyway. Yankees people realize they need Pettitte in the playoffs.” What Heyman is insinuating is that Pettitte wants to pitch more for his salary than anything else while River Ave Blues thinks differently: “I doubt Andy wants to pitch just so he can reach his incentives. He knows as well as anyone what’s at stake right now, and if his shoulder really was an issue he wouldn’t be begging into September games when the team has a playoff spot all but locked u...