C.C. Sabathia To Sign Record Deal With Yankees
Seven Year, $161 Million Pact Has Opt-Out Clause After 3 Seasons
Dec 10, 2008
The New York Yankees announced today that they have reached an agreement in principle with free agent pitcher C.C. Sabathia. The deal is said to be worth $161 million over seven years, with an opt-out clause that permits Sabathia to declare himself a free agent after only three seasons. The pact, once signed, will be the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher, topping the six-year, $137.5 million deal that Johan Santana inked last year with the Mets.
The move to New York reportedly took some prodding. According to sources at this week’s general manager meetings in Las Vegas, Yankees GM Brian Cashman met three times with Sabathia in the span of a few days before the two reached an agreement on the material terms of the deal late Tuesday night. In signing Sabathia, New York gets a 28-year old genuine ace who has won 36 games in the last two seasons and pitched the Milwaukee Brewers into the playoffs last September with a series of dramatic big game wins. In his seventeen starts with Milwaukee, C.C. was 11-2 with an ERA of 1.65.
The move makes the Yankees immediately stronger in a department that was a nightmare for them last season: starting pitching. Despite a surprisingly brilliant swan song from Mike Mussina -- who won 20 games and then promptly announced his retirement -- the Yankees starting pitching was brutal in 2008. Their two young hopefuls, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes, won zero (yes, zero) games between them and posted a joint ERA somewhere near 9.00. Joba Chamberlain, the third member of last year’s pitching youth movement, was inconsistent as a starter, and is clearly better suited for the bullpen. Two-time 19-game winner Chien-Ming Wang also had a tough year, breaking his ankle while running the bases in an interleague game in June, causing him to miss the last four months of the season.
But now Wang is healthy, and he will probably take the second slot in the rotation behind Sabathia. The Yankees are also said to be pursuing A.J. Burnett, Ben Sheets, Derek Lowe and Andy Pettitte. Don’t be surprised if they sign one (or even two) of those four pitchers before the year is out. Remember, Sabathia is a big, big man. He’s six-feet seven-inches tall and weighs over 300 pounds. But the Yankees are also hoping that he's a big enough presence to convince a few other celestial free agents to come to the Big Apple. After all, if the Yankees are good enough for Carsten Charles Sabathia, they may also be good enough for the likes of Lowe, Sheets and maybe even Manny. (Oh wouldn’t that be a story worth writing about.)
