What the Yankees Should Do With CC Sabathia

By -
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you most likely know that CC Sabathia is not having the best of years. In fact, at this rate, CC Sabathia’s ERA will be a career high this year and nowhere near his career ERA of 3.69. Through 17 starts Sabathia has a 4-8 record to go along with a miserable 5.47 ERA in 100.1 innings pitched. What’s even more startling is that Sabathia has already given up 19 home runs, 2nd in the American League to the former Yankee favorite Phil Hughes. Sabathia has also had trouble putting hitters away as hitters are 12-40 (.300) on counts ending in 0-2.  

Although this will likely never happen due to the fact that Sabathia’s contract is too large and his leadership is larger, Sabathia would most likely be the most effective out of the bullpen. Although overall Sabathia’s numbers have been far from even mediocre, his RHB/LHB splits have been ridiculously different. Sabathia has been an entirely different pitcher verses left-handed batters as he’s held them to a .191 batting average and one home run over 91 plate appearances. On the other hand, right-handed batters are hitting an All-Star like .331 with 18 home runs in 344 plate appearances against the ineffective Sabathia.

Also as a reliever Sabathia would most likely not have to go through the batting order multiple times since batters are only hitting .270 in their first plate appearance, .309 in their second and .333 in their third. If Sabathia was to be slotted into the bullpen, his most effective role would be a LOOGY type (Lefty One-Out GuY), but that would make Sabathia by far the highest paid LOOGY, let alone reliever.

Even though moving Sabathia to the bullpen and into a lefty specialist role would benefit the Yankees and help the club win, we all know that’s too far-fetched. Not only that Sabathia is too expensive for such a move, it will be a crushing blow to Sabathia’s confidence so Girardi and company have their backs against the wall. The Yankees really only have one choice at this point and that is to hope Sabathia can turn it around in the second half of the season and be effective enough to not be a complete sunk cost.

Article by: Julian Bussells
Follow me on twitter @JuneYank6

Follow the blog on twitter @BronxBomberBlog

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introducing Bronx Bomber Bets: BBBets 9/23

By -
Image
Welcome to our new gambling column at BBB, Bronx Bomber Bets. Here we will be giving out some of our favorite picks of the day and sharing them with our readers. Today, we are giving out 10 picks for all of you, so please enjoy, and bet responsibly. Now, we know that not all of our readers are big gamblers, if they are gamblers at all, so for the first week or so that we give out picks we will be explaining the odds and gambling terminology for anyone out there who is looking to learn about sports betting. Here are our picks:
Read more

Trade Market the Perfect Storm for Yankees to Acquire Starter

By -
Image
 UPDATE D 11/18/15 We’ve all heard it: The Yankees aren’t likely to be big spenders this offseason. Hearing this makes me chuckle as the Yankees have the dollars to field a $500 million pay roll if they wanted to, but their dedication to winning just hasn’t been there since the passing of good ole’ George. Sure little rumors have serviced here or there about them maybe pursuing Zach Greinke who has recently opted out of his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but that move reeks of the move CC Sabathia pulled in opting out of his contract with the Yankees a few years back to simply restructure his contract and make a better payday.   However, instances like CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka are why I believe the Yankees aren’t going to shell out big money and a long term contract for a big name starter this year. There are simply too many factors that could explode in the Pinstripes’ face when giving a long contract to a starter as evidenced by Sabathia’s fall from g...
Read more

Pride, Passion and Pinstripes: The greatest Yankees to ever touch the field

By -
Image
No team in baseball history has a story quite like the Yankees. 27 times they’ve found baseball Nirvana which is 16 more than the next closest team (Cardinals). 40 times have the Yankees won the American League, and that is also a major league record. The franchise won four straight championships from 1936-1939 and five straight from 1949-1953, a task no other team has ever accomplished. With all this sustained success, the team has seen some of the greatest players in league history proudly call the Bronx home. Together the Yankees could field multiple All-Star teams with their collective legends, but in this article, I’m going to try and put together a team of legends that I think would be absolutely unbeatable.   Photo Credit: Creative Commons
Read more