Here was the state of the Yankee pitching staff as the free agent market opened up. Their most consistent pitcher, Chien Ming Wang doesn’t deliver come playoff time and had arm trouble last season. Their best pitcher last year, Mike Mussina, decide to forgo a shot at 300 wins and just retire. That should tell you something right there. Moving on, Andy Petitte simply isn’t what he was in Houston. Joba belongs in the pen. And their other heralded youngsters either got hurt or simply weren’t ready in ‘08.
With all that as the background, upgraded pitching clearly needed to be a goal in this off season. Upgrade-wise, they don’t come any bigger than C.C. Sabathia. Despite my natural bias against the Yankees, clearly I have to be praising this signing.
And yet, I’m not. Here’s why:
T
he Ed Whitson Effect – Whitson was no CC but back in his days he was a very effective pitcher. Just not in NY. Both before and after his Bronx stint, he pitched capably in the Major Leagues, but he just couldn’t handle NY. Over the years, baseball watchers have seen numerous other cases of big contract players wilting under the big city lights of New York.
Will CC be another victim? Consider this. He had to be talked into coming East despite the Yankees having an offer that blew away the competition on the table for weeks. Apparently, Reggie Jackson had some words with the boy. But, remember that CC’s wife really wanted be closer to home. How will they like New York the first time they make the back page for some trivial thing? New York’s not Milwaukee or Cleveland is all I’m saying.
The A-Rod Effect- Fair or not, Alex Rodriguez has a reputation for choking come playoff time despite being perhaps the game’s best position player during the regular season. Hmmmm. Have you taken a look at CC’s playoff numbers? They’re none too pretty. Will he come to New York only to become A-Rod’s bookend? Will he dominate during the first 162 and get beaten up in the post-season? As they say “fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice…” You know the rest.
The Long Term Pitching Contracts Are Jinxed Effect- Very few big money pitching contracts end up playing out well for the team shelling out all that money. Don’t believe me? Do the names Mike Hampton, Barry Zito and Kevin Brown mean anything to you? No? Then what about Carl Pavano?
The AL Effect- The American League is just way tougher for pitchers to pitch in than the NL. You only need to look at CC’s time in Cleveland last season versus his time with the NL’s Brewers to see the difference. Even if CC has a great year, it won’t be the burst of dominance we saw down the stretch in Milwaukee.
The Innings Matter Effect – CC is coming off of two of the busiest years of his career. All those innings logged two years ago when he almost pitched the Indians to the World Series may have accounted for his collapse that post season against the Sox. It also may have accounted for the way he started this past season. In case you missed it, his year started off really badly in Cleveland before he turned it around so dramatically.
Still, the innings last season may have led to his inability to be an ace come playoff time. After all down the stretch he was pitching every three days and going deep into games. Count on CC starting out a bit roughly again this season Yankee fans.
The Rest of The Team Effect – Yes, the Yankees have tons of money. But, after signing CC, they’ve vowed to continue their pursuit of more pitching help. That will cost them. Will they have the money to upgrade the day to day lineup? If not, keep in mind that the Yankees’ starting first baseman is current ly Nick Swisher. In addition, the team is getting older not better. Only two Yankee starters were under 32 last year. Those two, Robinson Cano & Milky Cabrera, had bad years. Then there’s the defense. The Yankees up the middle are made up of Cano, Derek Jeter and as of now Johnny Damon. That threesome isn’t making any pitchers life easier. Welcome to New York CC and hey, sorry we didn’t turn that double play…
The bottom line is that CC is a fine pitcher, but he’s no savior or even a sure thing. The Yankees need way more than pitching to keep up with the Rays and a Red Sox team that may add Mark Teixeira.
After all, Teixeira plays everyday.
2 Comments
December 11, 2008 at 1:36 pm
The potential for success and disaster are both huge – C.C. Sabathia huge!
December 12, 2008 at 4:04 am
And that’s pretty big!
Thanks for checking out my blog, Shane!