C.C. in Pinstripes

Where to start?

When it became apparent that the Yankees had their eyes fixated on C.C. Sabathia (I know. Sorry. Not a pretty picture.) it was all over. When the Yankees find something they desperately want, its just a matter of time and how much money... kinda like Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life". In this case, money to the tune of $161 Million over 7 years. One of my Yankee-fan friends called to gloat the other day. I didn't wanna laugh at him, but I found the whole thing comical. "You should always be wary of career-year contract-year guys - Sabathia is no exception", I told him. I ended that conversation by simply saying the name "Carl Pavano". He hung up on me.

Seriously, how many red flags are on this guy?? He's wildly out of shape (pushing 3 bills), has 500+ innings on his arm in the past 2 seasons (including the postseason), he's been awful in the postseason (he has the 2nd highest career postseason ERA for those with greater than 25 innings), and his career numbers at the old Yankee Stadium are laughable. The New Yankee stadium sports indentical dimensions to the old one - a hitter's park by very definition. In my musings, I wondered things like: what's the over/under on "C.C. gets knocked around by a right-hand heavy lineup on C.C. bobble-head night, Yankee fans boo C.C. mercilessly after Girardi yanks him, and a drunken Yankee fan shouts profanities and whips his bobble-head directly at C.C.'s enormous melon." In case you were wondering, my guess is late-May. The chance that he'll still be productive in year 5 of the deal approximates zero. Year 7? fuhgetaboutit. This is a match made in heaven. This is the Yankee way. New York will eat him alive...

The Yanks are far from done. They just signed A.J. Burnett for 5 years and $82.5 Million. In short, they just added $40 million per year on two shiny new starters. Beautiful. Every indication is that they will add yet another starter via free agency. I think this might mark the first year ever that a MLB team subscribed 3/5 of their starters in the same year... If they do in fact sign one more, that will mean $50 Million annually allocated to only 3 new starters. Wow. Granted, that's nearly the same that they're paying the left side of their infield, but that's neither here nor there...

The silver lining in the whole situation: this effectively removes the Yankees from the Teixiera-running. Mark Teixiera will get a similarly enormous deal (probably from the Sox). A switch-hitting, ultra-durable, middle-of-the order bat with Gold Glove defense... Not the most economical choice, and one that would entail shipping Lowell or Youkilis out of town; but the offense needs some serious bolstering and options are very limited. The Nationals just made him a 8 year, 160 Million offer. The Angels just offered him 8 years as well. Expect the Sox to trump both offers shortly.