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New/old Yankees lefty Andy Pettitte, who enjoyed a successful 50-pitch bullpen session on Tuesday, is scheduled to face hitters on Friday, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

"We just have to watch his legs," Manager Joe Girardi said of Pettitte's aggressive schedule. "[That's] the most important part. He's thrown probably eight or nine bullpens, probably more than a lot of guys had thrown when they got here."

Pettitte had been staying in shape while at home in Texas, which likely has something to do with his ability to adapt quickly. Still, Pettitte's original six-week timeframe remains unchanged for the time being.

In light of reports that Michael Pineda's velocity looked a bit better in his most recent outing on Tuesday, there's perhaps less urgency surrounding Pettitte (anyhow, it's Ivan Nova or Phil Hughes whose rotation spot is likely to be jeopardized). But once Pettitte is both ready and needed, what can be expected from the 39-year-old who hasn't pitched since 2010?

In order to get a handle on this, let's have a quick look at what some notable forecasting systems are saying about Pettitte now that he's out of retirement. To help us, we'll turn to three different projection doo-hickeys: Dan Szymborski's ZiPS, the Marcel system and finally the hive mind of FanGraphs.com readers. Without getting into to how the sausage is made (it usually entails all sorts of dreadful math-y things), here's what comes out of the wash regarding Pettitte's fortunes in 2012:

System Innings ERA W-L
ZiPS 125.1 4.45 8-7
Marcel 73.0 4.07 5-3
FanGraphs Readers 138.0 4.00 12-7

As you can see, even ZiPS, the most pessimistic of the systems, tabs Pettitte for something around a league-average ERA (once you adjust for park effects). In other words, Pettitte, according to these projections, will probably fare better than Freddy Garcia or the non-reliever version of Hughes, so long as Pettitte stays healthy.

We already knew this was a sensible, low-risk addition by the Yankees, and these particular forecasters are inclined to agree.