Yankees Must Find A Way To Keep CC Sabathia

Added by Elizabeth DiPietro on October 28, 2011.

2011 is in the history books for the New York Yankees.  Now, in the arduous journey that is the off-season, there are many tasks to be completed.  First up: make sure that CC Sabathia returns in his extra large pinstripes next season. 

The 31-year-old hefty lefty has the opportunity to opt out of the remaining four years of his contract with the Yanks, one that stands to earn him $92 million more.  All reports seem to indicate that Sabathia and his family love New York and would like to stay, but that doesn’t mean he won’t use the opt-out clause to his advantage. 

The Yankees are strategizing to offer Sabathia a contract that is “very fair to both sides” before he has the chance to opt out, according to baseball officials.  If the Yankees do not do this, in all likelihood Sabathia will opt out, even if his intentions are to stay. 

This off-season, the supply and demand of quality pitchers leans heavily in favor of the free agents, and not the teams seeking them.  The only logical thing for the Yanks to do is lock CC down, whatever it takes.  Only a few names of decent free agent starting pitchers have been batted around, including C.J. Wilson of the Rangers and Roy Oswalt, who just finished his contract with the Phillies. 

Yankee fans will have a hard time accepting either one as their number one starter.  Wilson got knocked around this postseason—the last thing Yankee fans want is another guy who can’t come through in the playoffs—and Oswalt is coming off a sub-.500 season. 

Speaking of not coming through in the playoffs, some critics are insisting that Sabathia doesn’t deserve more money given his lackluster performance in the ALDS this year.  Those critics should remember that the Yankees wouldn’t have even made the playoffs without Sabathia, and if you take his 19 wins and 200-plus innings pitched out of the equation, you’re leaving a glaring gap in the Yankees’ season. 

The Yankees should give Sabathia more money, not necessarily because I think he deserves it—or because any human deserves more than $92 million—but because they have no other option.  He is probably going to want more years on his contract too.  Some reports suggest he wants seven years.  That issue, however, is less clear-cut than the money.  How effective is an overweight, 38-year-old who has been a workhorse his whole career going to be?  By that time the Yankees could be paying for dead weight (no pun intended). 

So what’s the solution?  Offer him five years, with some ridiculous sum of money that the rest of us wouldn’t see in twelve lifetimes.  Or factor in an incentive that involves him continuing to pitch over 200 innings a season.  This may encourage him to stay in shape and be more effective as he gets older. 

To me, keeping CC is a no-brainer.  I’d also like to see them go out and possibly add Wilson as a number three starter.  Otherwise, they’re facing the same pitching problems they had in 2011.  Sabathia, Nova, and…?  And let’s not forget that Nova was a rookie this year.  Heaven forbid he falls victim to the sophomore jinx—then what? 

With the announcement this week that Red Sox starter John Lackey will likely miss the entire 2012 season due to Tommy John surgery, the wealthy Sox will no doubt be looking to fortify their rotation. 

I can’t think of anything worse than seeing our beloved CC in a Sox uniform.

Keep the big guy in the Big Apple.