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We’ve read the accounts and chronology of how Andy Pettitte reconsidered retirement and signed a one-year minor league contract with an invitation to spring training with the New York Yankees.

General manager Brian Cashman is said to have wanted Pettitte to return since the end of the 2010 season, but that Pettitte felt it was time to retire.

A number of athletes in all sports suffer from withdrawal when they retire; some even return. Most of the time they realize they should have never come back.

Pettitte said he got the itch to play again after working out and spending time early in spring training as an instructor for the Yankees. But at age 39 and with a lot of rust to shake off, it makes you wonder why Cashman was so receptive to another Pettitte encore.

Remember, as much as we identify Pettitte with the Yankees, he left the Bronx after the 2003 season to sign with his hometown Houston Astros.

Three years later he returned to the Yankees, who welcomed him back with open arms.

Cashman could have said, “We love you, Andy, but we have to move on and give some of our younger guys a chance.”

Instead, he embraced the idea of having an experienced and trusted pitcher in the rotation.

It’s true that there is no risk involved here. Pettitte will probably need an extended spring training and begin the season in Scranton at the Triple A level. But if he shows he still has anything left, the Yankees won’t waste time fitting him into the starting rotation.

Pettitte will only wear pinstripes again if he is a starter.

So what does that tell you?

We recently speculated that all the newfound optimism about the Yankees rotation had taken a turn for the negative. CC Sabathia is not a concern, but everyone else penciled in as a starter is.

Michael Pineda, the Yankees’ hard-throwing 23-year-old right-hander and best hitting prospect, who was acquired from the Mariners for Jesus Montero, came to camp overweight and has lost some zip on his fastball. 

It’s too early to panic, of course, but Pineda has opened eyes in all the wrong ways.

Freddie Garcia injured his throwing hand when hit by a ground ball, and although it doesn’t look serious the Yankees have him only as No. 5 in the rotation.

Phil Hughes has pitched better this spring than he did in a disappointing 2010 season, but the Yankees really don’t know what to expect from him. And they don’t seem to have decided whether he is a starter or reliever.

Ivan Nova had a breakthrough year in 2011 reminiscent of Hughes’ 2010 outing. That’s all the Yankees need to know about setting expectations too high for Nova.

Hiroki Kuroda is an inning-eater who gave the Dodgers four solid seasons. But he is 37 and pitching in the American League, which has the designated hitter and a couple of new bashers named Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder.

What’s more, Yankee Stadium is not as kind to pitchers as Dodger Stadium.

All of this might have had Cashman nostalgic for A.J. Burnett.

Instead, he is hoping that Pettitte still has enough to give the Yankees 10-12 victories and 20-25 starts. He is a trusted arm who might be known as Old Reliable if former Yankee Tommy Henrich didn’t have that nickname back in the 1940s.

Now we want to know whether Jorge Posada will return as Pettitte’s personal catcher.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

What do Lefty Gomez and Whitey Ford have in common besides being left-handed pitchers?

They are the only pitchers originally signed by the Yankees who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

As difficult as it might be to believe given that the franchise has 27 World Series titles, more than double the 11 won by the second-place St. Louis Cardinals, the Yankees have had mixed success with developing their own pitchers.

Maybe that’s to be expected when they are known as Murderer’s Row and the Bronx Bombers.

The Yankees have had some top flight pitchers come through the organization over the years such as Ron Guidry, Mel Stottlemeyer, Andy Pettitte and future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera. But many of their most noteworthy contributors  began their career elsewhere.

Hall of Famer Red Ruffling, who was 231-124 in 15 years with New York, spent almost six seasons in Boston before coming to the Bronx. Don Larsen, who pitched that perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series, was acquired from Baltimore. Much more recently, Jim Catfish Hunter, David Cone, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina and C.C. Sabathia were originally drafted or signed as undrafted free agents by other teams.

Michael Pineda, a rookie with the Seattle Mariners last season, makes the list in 2012..

That’s why Yankee fans may want to temper their enthusiasm about those good young arms in the farm system. The Yankees have high hopes for Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos, D.J. Mitchell and David Phelps, among others.

But pitchers are a risky business. The Mets built their franchise around Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Nolan Ryan, Jon Matlack and Dwight Gooden, but even a pitching-oriented organization can swing and miss sometimes.

Look no farther than Generation K with Paul Wilson, Jason Isringhausen and Bill Pulsipher. Only Isringhausen endured, and that was when he was converted to a reliever. 

The Yankees have Sabathia and Pineda at the top of their rotation but are counting on home-grown Ivan Nova to produce a solid No. 2/3 starter. He was 16-4 last season. Is he for real or a one-hit wonder?

Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes have seen their potential possibly squandered in a never-ending ordeal of pitch counts and indecision over whether they’re starers or relievers. Chamberlain is recovering from Tommy John surgery (By the way, John is another successful Yankee who was 91-60 in eight years, but started with the White Sox and then went to the Dodgers).

The Yankees are still trying to determine whether Hughes, now in his sixth year, is the starter who was 18-8 in 2010 or the reliever who was 8-3 in 44 appearances in ’08.

They will give him every chance especially after letting Ian Kennedy get away.

So who do we think rank among the best of the Yankees acquisitions over the years?

Here are a few who come to mind: 

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