Pettitte's return to Bronx blessing in disguise for 'Stros

The biggest crock in sports today is the tired "no respect" crutch, and that Andy Pettitte essentially fired it on his hometown Houston Astros while leaving town is both wrong and lame.

So the Astros' $12 million offer made Andy Pettitte feel down? (Getty Images)

We long ago reached critical mass on this subject. You can no longer wade through the postgame of any playoff or championship without at least one of the winning players riffing on how everyone disrespected them, nobody gave them any credit, the whole world was against them, yada, yada, yada (yawn).

Anyway. So it goes in negotiations, too.

The Astros so far this offseason addressed their biggest deficiency from 2006 by investing $100 million in slugger Carlos Lee -- something their pitchers should appreciate each time they take the mound.

They worked with Pettitte while he waffled on whether he wanted to retire, finally offering him a one-year, $12 million deal for '07 when he decided that, yes, he did want to play again.

Three years ago, just after the lefty signed with Houston, the Astros even reached out and hired his playmate, too. Granted, the playmate -- Roger Clemens -- is going to the Hall of Fame one day, but still. You get the point. They've done everything possible to make things warm and fuzzy for Pettitte.

And Pettitte, who went to the Yankees essentially for $32 million over two years (including a second-year player option), says he was "shocked" that the Astros didn't do more? Welcome, Jason Jennings.

No, Pettitte says, it's not about the money. It never is. Uh-huh. Except, in the end, it's always about the glue. That's how you measure respect, to many of these knuckleheads.

What, genuflecting and laying a path of rose petals would have seduced Pettitte to re-sign in Houston?

All sorts of theories abound: From the Astros having to hold the line with Pettitte because owner Drayton McLane wanted to appease commissioner Bud Selig, who was angry at the dough the Astros handed Lee, to the club being over Pettitte by attempting to acquire Jon Garland from the White Sox last week.

That trade, in which the Astros would have added an established starter in Garland for pitchers Taylor Buchholz, Jason Hirsh and outfielder Willy Taveras -- same package for which they acquired Jennings on Tuesday -- was nixed when the White Sox didn't like Buchholz's medical reports.

As to the second point -- the Astros' run at Garland. If they're not proactive this winter after getting themselves hamstrung in each of the past two offseasons, they're not only irresponsible, they're negligent.

Two winters ago, they badly miscalculated the Carlos Beltran negotiations by graciously adhering to his timeframe, and they wound up high and dry when he signed with the New York Mets.