CC in the bullpen this morning

CC Sabathia gets on the mound

CC is back in action after some intestinal discomfort yesterday. He threw BP today. With exhibition games starting earlier this season, CC will not be in next week's rotation. The Yankees will hold Sabathia, Burnett, Wang and Pettitte back until late next week.

Posada, was impressed: "What I saw was just a heavy ball...The ball was coming good. I like the hesitation that he's got now in the middle of his windup; I think that helps him a little bit...I'm really excited."

CC threw fastballs, changeups and observers got a glimpse of his slider (which he perfected last season under the tutelage of formers Brewers pitching coach and brother of Greg Maddux, Mike Maddux). CC described the slider in his workout as "pretty good" which is always good for Feb 21st

The big guy can learn a lot from Pettitte and Posada about the winning culture from the teams that went all the way.

Spring photos of "Big Slim" (Joba's handle for the big guy)

CC Sabathia sits down to chat with Hannah Storm of ESPN

Incase anyone missed it...

Sabathia at WWE Raw

While we begin counting the days until pitchers and catchers report for spring training and as we continue to see the media feast out on the A Rod chronicles, CC made an appearance at WWE Raw in Oakland.

http://www.thebuckychannel.com/2009/02/sabathia-is-raw.html

The big guy sure loves live fights. He was also in attendance at the De La Hoya/Pacquiao fight in Vegas during the winter meetings (a battle between 2 guys who collectively weighed in at approximately CC's weight)

Parallels between Obama and Sabathia

Fittingly on inauguration week - Stephen Rose over at Huffington Post, wrote a great piece drawing on the parallels between the President and CC Sabathia.

"It got me thinking about expectations. Sabathia must be the most expected person in baseball. And surely Barack is the most expected person period...Sometimes, when challenges rise, a certain grace emerges, some extra positivity to help achieve a good result...We are all in the same boat. The challenges we face are no less important than theirs when seen... from a distance. And our overcoming is no less momentous".

I really think this is a valid comparison and it'll be interesting to see how both lefties perform on their respective hills!

Yankees state of mind

Sabathia's definitely seems to be getting his mental pinstripes on, just a month before suiting up for Spring Training.

Here's a picture from CC's Christmas party which had a blatant Yankee theme.

Also, I like this quote that he gave the other day about how he is prepared to deal with the craziness and pressure of the Bronx fishbowl:

"If you ask anybody in my family or anybody that knows me, I don't think there's any outside pressure that could be put on me that I don't put on myself...I put an enormous amount of pressure on myself to go out there and perform and expect to win every game, expect to pitch well in every game."