Yankees Finally Land Stuborn Sabathia

After weeks of much pushing and pleading the Yankees have finally gotten their man, albeit at his price.

C.C. Sabathia, the Santa Claus bellied, left hander, who helped get the Milwaukee Brewers into the 2008 playoffs, will pitch for the Yankees in 2009 after signing an odd seven year $161 million contract. The reason the contract is strange has to do with the fact that Sabathia has an option to opt out of the contract after three years, if he hates it there.

In other words, Sabathia does not want to be in New York and is only there because the Yankees were more willing than the Dodgers, Giants or Brewers to give him a ridiculous amount of money in bad economic times.

"Sabathia appreciated the clause because it satisfied concerns he had about living in New York and the impact it might have on his wife and three children.
He will make his opt-out decision after the 2011 season with four years and $92 million remaining on the deal, at which time he could renegotiate, leave or stay" (Brown and Edes).

This leaves the question for Sabathia that he will have to answer when he meets the N.Y. media at a press confernce later this week and throughout Spring Training in March: Why are you here if you really don't want to be here? If you knew your family does not want to live in New York and you don't want to live there either, why did you allow yourself to sign with the Yankees?

Chances are he will say that he "always wanted to pitch for the Yankees" and blah, blah, blah as every free agent says at this time of the year, but the fact remains that Sabathia has welcomed himself to the Yankees the way Randy Johnson did a few years ago. Remember when Johnson signed with New York he pushed a photographer away from him in Manahattan on his first day and brewed and stirred for two mediocore years in New York before running back to Arizona.

Will Sabathia do the same? Time will tell, but this contract is not a good start. It makes it look like he will pirate the Bombers out of $69 million for the next three seasons and then will run out of New York faster than burglars out of a bank with loads of cash.

Sabathia better win 18 to 20 games this year if he is to make New York forget about the clause in his deal, because, if doesn't, this marriage will be over before it even started.

In the meantime, the Yankees will continue to explore other options. Rumors have it that the Bombers are interested in former Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe and another former Brewer, the oft-injured Ben Sheets. If the Yankees can get one of those two, their rotation will likely be complete with Sabathia, Chien-Ming Wang, and Phil Hughes already set to go in 2009.