CC Sabathia to NYC: Baseball’s biggest domino reportedy falls
LAS VEGAS — The Baseball Winter Meetings woke up this morning to its final full day of activity with — well actual activity.
At midnight Las Vegas time, The New York Post reported that CC Sabathia, the biggest name and biggest pitcher on this free-agent market, agreed to terms with the New York Yankees. Joel Sherman, the writer who broke the Khalil Greene trade, broke the news at the Post’s Web site – “CC SABATHIA PICKS YANKEES” — and other reports have followed, pegging the deal at seven years, $160 million. The question now posed to the rest of baseball is does Sabathia’s decision trigger the market, do things pick up in a final-day, whirlwind spring here in Vegas.
“It’s an unusually slow developing winter meetings, and I assume some of that has to do with the economy,” Washington Nationals president Stan Kasten told me yesterday. “Or it may be just be the pace that the top free agents are taking. I don’t know which. … I don’t know why it is that everything sort of waits for the big names, the Sabathia or Mark Teixeira deals. It’s not like the second-tier or third-tier free agents are really going to have their prices set by those deals. I’ve never thought so. But that’s how it goes.”
The Yankees reportedly remain in the market for more pitching, having also pursued A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe. Sabathia’s signing could now intensify the courtship of those other players, just as the New York Mets pending-physical deal with Francisco Rodriguez is expected to loosen up the closer market. (The Cardinals, much like the late-season wishes of manager Tony La Russa, did put in a bid for Rodriguez, according to colleague Joe Strauss in this morning’s paper.)
Geography was supposed to play a large part in Sabathia’s decision, as the California native reportedly waited for San Francisco and the Los Angeles Dodgers to enter into the mix.
There were three face-to-face meetings with Yankees brass before he reportedly agreed.
“It’s a big decision for CC and his family and where they are going to go, and you kind of expect it to take time,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Tuesday. “I think when you’re on the management side you want it to be happening as quick as possible. But going through it as a player, I took my time because it was a big decision.
“You know you think sometimes once one guy goes things start to fall into place and maybe when one guy goes, they don thave the offers from that team any more and it starts to take shape,” Girardi continued. “I’m not sure who is going to be the first big name to go, but I think once someone goes, you’ll see it maybe pick up a little bit.”
-30-
(6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
Loading ...
Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
The Yankees might have bitten off more than the can chew on this one. CC isn’t in the best of shape for his size, he’s moving back to the AL where they have the dh and pitchers with long contracts have a habit of getting hurt, especially if they are with the Yankees. More money down the drain for the Bronx bombers.
160 MILLION OVER 7 YEARS?!!! Perhaps CC could help bail us out of this recession.
I’m just glad he is out of the NL Central.
Before anyone jumps on me about being a socialist, I’m not, captialist all the way but this just seems sinful to me. 160 MILLION, maybe CC could find it in his heart to give a fraction of that back so the employees who were fired at MLB offices can get there jobs back, WRONG, that would require him not to be selfish.
This is exactly why I have not bought a ticket to a baseball game in over 10 years and I refuse to until they get a salary cap like the NFL.
I hope this blows up in the Yankees face.
While I would happily take the first couple years of Sabathia, I’m certainly glad its the yankees eating the 160M for the next seven years not the Cardinals. Sure makes you wonder if the MLB really needs a salary cap.
At some point, this will come to a boil and there will be another strike. Guaranteed contracts and lack of salary cap make no sense at all. A level playing field, like with the other major sports, is the only way to go.
I’m sure the hard-working American public would love to guaranteed money and years at their place of employment. In a day and age where it is becoming prudent to be fiscally smart, I refuse to pay ball park costs to support greed. It’s bad enough that I turn on the TV to watch them.
I have had it with being a sports fan, its gone to far. Greed is ruining everything, and we are the sheep that buy the tickets and the sports gear.
I think there are some fairly legitimate concerns regarding Sabathia’s size. The guy is 250 pounds, and in the final years of his contract he is going to be 34, 35 years of age. I would have to think there is a high injury risk there.
Good riddance…I’m glad he’s out of the Central. CC is good (I saw him pitch in Milwaukee this year, and he had good control and good hitting skills for a former AL pitcher), but I don’t think he’s $160 million good, but the Yankees always want the biggest names, which willl just end up hurting them. At some point, you need to develop your team from the inside.
Even though a salary cap would be nice, teams who regularly overspend in the last 5-10 years haven’t made it to the world series. For example, the Mets keep collasping, the Yankees missed the post-season for the first time in a decade, the Angles bowed out in the first round, Detroit was not good, and the list goes on and on. Teams with small payrolls, i.e. the Rays, Twins, Marlins, (who may not win the division but still competitive year in an year out on a shoestring budget), and the Brewers can win with less than $75 mln on the payroll. So the lesson is this, let the big teams spend money while letting their farm systems rot, while smart teams build durable farm systems and have talent to truly build from.
All in all, the Yankees just wasted $160 mln dollars.
I feel sorry for the people who lose their interest in a sport because of the money the players are making. It’s life. I don’t/won’t worry about it till it keeps me from watching or following the team. Most of my enjoyment from pro sports is from following the teams on a daily basis- not from how frugal or obscene the owners are with their money. Watch the game, enjoy their expertise, and root for the home team. I don’t go to a movie and obsess about how much the start made- I just enjoy the movie. Untill they make me pay for the box scores and highlights, I’m good.