Hello!

Contract

Yanks will spread the C-notes for CC at roughly $23 mill/year with an opt-out clause which kicks in after 2011.

Ozzie Guillen - "Wow!..For $161 million I could put two teams on the field. I just want to be his agent. Heck, I just want to be his wife.''

Damon, Jeter and Reggie Jackson (in the Bay Area) were an integral part of his recruitment process. The Yankees knew last year that they were going to hit him up. They obviously win out from the standpoint that they only give up money here (versus with Santana/Twins). Santana's numbers with the Mets were nothing spectacular so in retrospect the way it turned out sounds better on many levels

Performance in '09.

There is already a lot of speculation. Many who have been part of his big league career cannot say enough good stuff. One executive said "Miserable. He's a happy, nice guy who is comfortable in a small-town environment. He's not going to like those expectations. Look what he's done in the playoffs. It is true enough that Sabathia's hesitation about New York is a yellow flag.."
Truth is we won't know for a while if we overpaid. In the Bronx Zoo anything can happen. There's the adjustment period and in the end some hit their groove while others do not. Roger Clemen's 1st year was difficult but he adjusted. Randy Johnson never hit his groove in New York. The obvious plus here is that he's still in the under 30 group.

Some of the concerns coming in
1) He has a 1-4 record and 8.61 ERA at Yankee Stadium and the new park looks to have very similar dimensions
2) Sabathia's postseason record in five starts: 1-3, 7.92 ERA, 22 walks and 24 strikeouts in 25 innings pitched
3) He had a 7.76 ERA in his first 5 starts last year. Something obviously clicked thereafter when he had phenomenal numbers the rest of the way but still the bump in the road brings a lot of questions. Was most of his fix disguised largely by the NL ERA deflation?
4) Will all those 3-day rest games catch up with him?

In 2008, with the Indians and Brewers, Sabathia's record was 17-10 with a 2.70 ERA - Over his eight year MLB career, he has averaged 14.6 wins/year.



My prediction for '09:

18-10 3.65 ERA 225 IP. He goes deep enough to games to get a lot of decisions and his ERA will go up facing the AL East bats and DH (versus the National League). If everyone else on the rotation averages 14 and CC gets 18 then the starting squad could reel in 74 decisions collectively.

Thanks for stopping!

60 days to go until Spring Training and interestingly the new stadium's regular season home opener will be against the Indians, the team which CC played for since he was 17 (93% of his career starts). "And now ladies and gentleman pitching for your New York Yankees number 52 CC Sabathia Number 52"

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to email me or leave a comment

Here's the press conference for those missed it