CC Sabathia Stays With The New York Yankess For 1 More Year At $8 Million

By Jordan Long

The New York Yankees finished the season with a 100-62 record, making the postseason as the top Wild Card team in the American League.  They defeated the Oakland Athletics 7-2 in the Wild Card Game before falling in the Division Series to the Boston Red Sox 3-1.  They were looking for areas to improve, but decided to bring back pitcher CC Sabathia on a 1-year, $8 million contract.

                Sabathia was New York’s 4^th starting pitcher in the pitching rotation.  He was 9-7, not a great record but at least he was above .500 when he pitched.  Sabathia didn’t allow much traffic on the base paths when he was in the game with 51 walks.  He picked his spots and batters wouldn’t be able to catch up to his pitches, equaling 140 strikeouts.  Sabathia rarely left the ball up in the zone for home runs giving up 19.

                Those stats helped the Yankees reach the postseason.  In the playoffs Sabathia wasn’t the same pitcher appearing in game 4 of the Division Series.  He tried to keep the Yankees season alive.  Unfortunately, Sabathia was unable to.  He lasted 3 innings, giving up 5 hits and 3 runs.  The Yankees’ season ended in that game with a 4-3 loss.

                New York knows what kind of pitcher Sabathia is.  They know when he pitches in the regular season, they have a chance to win every game.  He is a veteran and that leadership is hard to find.  The Yankees knew they wanted him to stay.

                With this move, the Yankees kept part of their rotation from last year.  Joining Sabathia is Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka.  These 3 pitchers are hard to beat.  They all can throw strikes and rarely give up home runs.  It should help New York make another run to the postseason.  

                The only free agent starting pitcher remaining for New York is J.A. Happ.  General Manager Brian Cashman is hoping to bring him back.  Happ is the ace of the staff.  The difficulty is they will be competing with other teams for his services and he might demand a large contract.  Even if they don’t sign Happ, the rotation of Tanaka, Severino, and Sabathia might be enough for New York to win 90 games next season.