2018 Pinstripe Preview: CC Sabathia
While there is a lot of hype surrounding the Yankees going
into the season, not much has been said about the return of the wily vet CC
Sabathia. Sabathia returned to the Yankees on a club friendly deal because he
saw the potential in this young group of guys, being quoted as saying, “I want
to see this thing through, I want to come back here and finish things off”. He
was crucial in the Yankees' success last year, becoming the stopper, going 9-0
when following a loss with a 1.71 ERA. Without this effort from the big man, the
Yankees likely have a much tougher time getting into the playoffs last year.
Photo Credit: Paul J. Bereswill
In year 17 of his career, CC came into the year with minimal
expectations. There were questions about how he would come back from some
subpar seasons, going 18-26 with a 4.42 ERA from 2014-2016, as well as how his
body (mainly knee) would hold up and how healthy he could stay over the course
of a season. While he did land himself of the DL with knee issues, he still
managed to grind out the regular season to a tune of a 14-5 record with a 3.69
ERA. A big part of his success was that he changed his pitching style to accommodate
for his aging velocity. He made himself more of a finesse pitcher rather than an
overpowering pitcher like years past. He also added a cutter to his arsenal which
was arguably his best pitch last year, and shined in the postseason. All in
all, 2017 was about as good of a year you could ask for out of a 36-year-old
arm that’s been around almost two decades.
2018 Preview
In what is likely his swan song, CC comes into 2018 as the
Yankees' third starter. Hopefully his role doesn’t have to be one of a stopper
once again, with Tanaka finding his form for a full year and Sonny Gray feeling
more comfortable in the Bronx, but if he must go out there and fill that role,
he certainly can. It will be interesting to see this year how Aaron Boone
handles CC. With his injury past and age, it will be critical to try and limit CC’s
innings some, but not completely handcuff him. I think that if Boone can find a
sweet spot of preserving innings over the course of a season, while still
letting him do his thing, we will see comparable results as last year. It would
be an amazing sendoff to give the big guy one more ring, as it is well
deserved.
Article by: AJ Welch
Follow @AJerzy
Follow @BronxBomberBall
Article by: AJ Welch
Comments
Post a Comment