The Yankees could have a great problem with too many players for the roster and not enough spots. It’s still a problem.
I feel bad for Miguel Andujar. He successfully dodged trade rumors in both 2017 and 2018 and then went on to bat .297/.328/.527 with 27 home runs and 92 RBIs as a 23-year-old rookie, finishing second to in Rookie of the Year voting to an unprecedented freak who’s both dangerous at the plate and dominant on the mound. His defense was more than questionable at times with his cannon-like arm unable to make up for his sloppy footwork and poor positioning. His inconsistent and untrustworthy defense forced him to the bench in the late innings as the season progressed and out of the lineup completely in the final game of the 2018 Yankees season.
With Manny Machado no longer a long-term option for the Yankees, Andujar was going to be the guy in 2019 and beyond, and he spent the offseason working to prove he could handle the hot corner. Both he and the Yankees desperately want his future to be at the hot corner and not at first base or in left field or simply as a designated hitter. Three games into thus season, he dove back to third base (why he was leading so far off third base with two outs to begin with is a story another day) and tore the labrum in his right shoulder. The initial diagnosis was possible season-ending and career-altering surgery, and just like that, all of his hard work in the offseason would possibly be erased.
Andujar and the Yankees went the rehab route, and 34 days after he tore his labrum, he was back in the lineup, playing third base and batting fourth. He beat Aaron Hicks (hurt his back on a 35-minute bus ride on February 27), Giancarlo Stanton (bicep strain on March 31) and Troy Tulowitzki (calf strain on April 3) back to the team despite having what one would think is a much more severe injury.
During Andujar’s 34-game absence, the Yankees called up Gio Urshela, the former Cleveland and Toronto defense-first infielder. Now 27, Urshela is no longer a prospect, and after batting .225/.274/.315 in 167 major league games had been type-casted as a utility infielder or late-game defensive replacement. Urshela claimed he fixed his approach and mechanics at the plate over the offseason to make himself a more well-rounded player, but how many other hundreds or thousands of baseball players have claimed the same only to maintain the numbers on the back of their baseball card?
Whatever Urshela actually did in the offseason worked. While Andujar was getting healthy, Urshela batted .338/.405/.492 and played Gold Glove defense at third base. Since Andujar’s activation from the injured list, Urshela hasn’t slowed down, going 5 for 10 with a double , a home run and 2 RBIs. That home run, of course, being the ninth-inning, game-tying, two-run home run to Monument Park on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Andujar has looked like a player who missed more than a month at the plate (2 for 15) and a pair of errors in his only start at third since his return.
Now, the same way a lot of Yankees fans turned on Gary Sanchez last year, calling for Austin Romine to be the team’s starting catcher (a group of people I refer to the as the Romines), there is the same call for Urshela to be the Yankees’ starting third baseman, even when the entire roster is back at full strength, if that ever happens.
For now, injuries make it possible for both players to play with Andujar DHing and Urshela starting at third most of the time. But if the Yankees do ever get 100 percent healthy, there will come a time when there are too many players and not enough spots in the lineup and on the roster. I realize that’s a great problem to have, and we might never be presented with it with the way the injuries have piled up and keep piling up this season and the way the Yankees slowly bring back their players.
If the 2019 Yankees were 100 percent healthy, here is who would be the candidates for a spot on the 25-man roster.
Gary Sanchez Luke Voit Gleyber Torres Miguel Andujar Didi Gregorius DJ LeMahieu Gio Urshela Troy Tulowitzki Aaron Judge Aaron Hicks Giancarlo Stanton Brett Gardner Clint Frazier Cameron Maybin Austin Romine
Luis Severino Masahiro Tanaka James Paxton J.A. Happ CC Sabathia Domingo German Jonathan Loaisiga Aroldis Chapman Dellin Betances Adam Ottavino Zack Britton Tommy Kahnle Jonathan Holder Luis Cessa
That’s 15 position players and 14 pitchers for 29 total players, which means four players would have to go.
Despite my love for Johnny Lasagna, he would go back to Triple-A and remain a starting option.
Unfortunately, even though I have always been a Cameron Maybin fan and feel he’s a better player than Brett Gardner in 2019, he would also lose a roster spot.
I think the Yankees would cut ties with Troy Tulowitzki, considering he’s on a one-year deal at the league minimum and is barely hanging on to a career.
Since the Yankees seem so set on having a 13-man pitching staff (though I have no idea what would happen with their rotation since you can’t demote German to the bullpen or minors with the season he’s had, so I guess they would go to a six-man rotation, which might be helpful given the fragility of their rotation), then the last roster spot would get taken from a position player, and I have no idea who that player would be.
Even deeper than that, how would you fill out a lineup card? How do you not play LeMahieu? Who plays third? How do you keep Frazier out of the lineup? Who becomes the DH?
The Yankees could potentially have a great problem with too many players worthy of a 25-man roster spot, and not enough spots for everyone. Thankfully, this decision doesn’t have to be made today, and it most likely will never have to be made. If it does have to be made, I hope the roster and lineup decisions are based on performance and not history, money owed or seniority.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!
Tommy Kahnle made the Opening Day roster because he had one chance left to succeed with the Yankees. He has used that chance to pitch like it’s 2017.
Tommy Kahnle made the Yankees’ Opening Day roster because he was out of options. That’s it. Not because he was worthy of a spot on the 25-man roster, but because he had one chance left with the Yankees to figure it out and they were going to give him that chance rather than designate him for assignment and possibly watch him figure it out with another organization.
In Kahnle’s first appearance of the season, he walked three in an inning of work, while also striking out two, showing the two extremes of his abilities and a continued lack of consistency. After a pair of scoreless appearances, on April 10 in Houston, he got knocked around by the same Astros team which sent his career into a downward spiral. Two earned runs on four hits, including a home run, in an eventual 8-6 loss and Kahnle’s early-season line looked like the 2017 version of Kahnle was gone and never coming back: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 4.50 ERA, 2.000 WHIP.
Where was the guy who struck out 96 in 62 2/3 innings in 2017? Where was the guy who became Joe Girardi’s go-to high-leverage guy during the 2017 postseason with Dellin Betances struggling, jumping both Chad Green and David Robertson in the pecking order? Where was the guy who pitched 11 scoreless innings and allowed only four baserunners in the 2017 playoffs before his ALCS Game 7 meltdown?
The last time we had seen the dominant Kahnle was in Game 5 of the 2017 ALCS, three nights before he would allow three insurance runs to the Astros in 1 1/3 innings as the Yankees’ season ended. It was that Game 7 appearance against the Astros which seemingly ruined Kahnle.
After allowing an opposite field home run to Jose Altuve, he allowed back-to-back singles to Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel. He was tired and ineffective, but Girardi kept him in the game and still didn’t have anyone warming up in the bullpen. One would think in Game 7, someone should always be warming as the next man up, never wanting the game to get too far out of reach. But not Girardi. Evan Gattis struck out and Girardi decided to double down on his decision to stick with Kahnle in what was yet another critical second-guess situation.
The Yankees were paying Brian McCann to play against them in the ALCS, so when he lined a two-run double down the right-field line to score Correa and Gurriel and give the Astros a 4-0 lead, the Yankees were paying for their own demise. Kahnle, who has the ability to throw 97, had inexplicably thrown 25 changeups in 27 pitches and gave up three runs, and Girardi either didn’t notice or failed to think it was a telling sign that the overworked Kahnle couldn’t trust his fastball. After the double, Girardi finally took Kahnle out.
Following that game, Kahnle pitched himself off the 2018 Yankees in mid-April with a 6.14 ERA. He came back at the end of May and put four men on in 2/3 of an inning, allowing two earned runs and two days later he was gone again. He rejoined the Yankees for one appearance in the disastrous four-game sweep in Boston, but became a mainstay in the bullpen from August 16 through the end of the regular season, despite pitching to a 6.75 ERA and 1.650 WHIP in 15 appearances over the last two months of the season. He was unsurprisingly left off the postseason roster.
Kahnle finished the 2018 season with 24 appearances for the Yankees, a 6.56 ERA, 1.629 WHIP, and .811 OPS against him with eight of his 12 inherited runners scored. His velocity had diminished and his fastball-changeup combination was no longer unhittable without the necessary velocity separation. Shoulder tendinitis and an abundance of Red Bull was the diagnosis, though I couldn’t help but think he had been ruined in the 2017 postseason, pitching in seven of the team’s 13 games, with five of those seven appearances for multiple innings. Kahnle had faced 39 batters and thrown 147 pitches in the highest of leverage situations over 18 days, and his decision to not throw his fastball in Game 7 of the ALCS was a clear sign something was wrong and that sign lingered through all of 2018.
I wasn’t happy, to put it kindly, when Aaron Boone started this season by using Kahnle as if it were still 2017, completely disregarding the way he had pitched since Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS. I understood the idea of seeing what he has to know if he will last as a Yankee, but with nearly the entire team injured and the threat of two other teams in the division this season, letting Kahnle sink or swim in non mop-up situations and in winnable games didn’t seem like the best idea. But this is Boone we’re talking about, and the best ideas are rarely utilized.
Kahnle was shaky to begin the season and even in April, he was testing my health. For nearly a month now, he has rewarded Boone’s faith in him, looking more like his 2017 self, with 11 straight scoreless appearances and nine straight no-hit innings. With Green experiencing a similar fall from success and being sent to Triple-A, Zack Britton walking the park and Betances hurt, Kahnle has worked his way back up the bullpen picking order, sitting aside Adam Ottavino as the only two non-closer trustworthy options this season.
It’s good to have Tommy Kahnle — the 2017 version — back. I missed him and the Yankees’ bullpen missed him.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!
Aaron Boone’s managing, CC Sabathia reaching 3,000 strikeouts, Aaron Hicks continuing to be out and the Yankees’ expected May record in this week’s Monday Mail.
The Yankees answered their two-game sweep to the Diamondbacks by returning home and taking two out of three from the first-place Twins. Not only did they win the series and beat Michael Pineda, but they got Miguel Andujar back, Clint Frazier is due back tonight and Aaron Hicks isn’t far away either. Things are looking up for the injured Yankees.
This week’s questions and comments are about Aaron Boone’s managing (as always), CC Sabathia reaching 3,000 strikeouts, Aaron Hicks continuing to be out and the Yankees’ expected record in May.
Email your questions to KeefeToTheCity@gmail.com or engage on the Keefe To The City Facebook page or on Twitter to be included in the next Monday Mail.
Analytics don’t make Boone’s lineups, nor his off days, nor his substitutions. He is utterly unqualified to be a minor league manager, much less manager of the Yankees. If it was analytics setting the lineup, it would leave feature Gardy in leadoff, just as the most glaringly obviously analytics. – Andrew
I love Andrew’s fire and feelings toward Boone. I’m really not sure who creates the Yankees’ lineup, manages the bullpen, schedules off days and makes the in-game decisions. I’m really not. If it’s Boone, well he’s an idiot. If it’s the analytics team, then it might be time to get some new members on the analytics team. I have a feeling it’s more the front office than Boone since he’s managing the team exactly the same way Joe Girardi did (just a little worse).
Boone isn’t qualified to be the manager of the Yankees when you consider he has no coaching experience at any level, let alone managerial experience. But in today’s baseball, he’s qualified because anyone is. Anyone can be a nice guy, friend of the players, kind to the media and then serve as a puppet in the dugout.
I get on Boone nearly every day and that’s because his title is manager of the New York Yankees, when in reality, I should most likely be getting on the front office and analytics department. Unless Boone writes a tell-all book once his Yankees manager tenure is over, we’ll never know who really “manages” the Yankees. And I don’t think he would do that because it would be embarrassing for him to admit he had no say in managing the team if it is true.
Why does a professional athlete need days off one month into the season and he was doing it two weeks into the season. What are you saving them for? What to get hurt in September instead of May? I don’t get. They say athletes today are bigger, stronger and in better condition, but they are babied like never before in history and this is in all sports. – Dave
Dave is right that Boone and the Yankees are out of control with days off and extra rest. But it wasn’t happening even earlier than two weeks into the season. I wrote on Yankees Overdoing Off Days for Position Players on April 3! The season started on March 28!
The Yankees do “baby” their players and it’s proven to be unsuccessful. The most recent example happened just this weekend when Miguel Andujar returned to the Yankees on Friday, but wasn’t in the lineup until Saturday. He really needed another day off before being activated? Unfortunately, that’s commonplace with the Yankees.
The Yankees have put more than half of their expected 25-man roster on the injured list this season, and yet, they continue to operate the same way. If they’re not willing to change and admit they can’t prevent injuries after what’s gone on this season, they’ll never change.
CC is as classy a Yankee as anyone. To reinvent himself from a hard-throwing ace to a finesse pitcher relying on off speed pitches working the front of the strike zone takes incredible courage and swallowing your pride a bit. He’s unselfish and puts team first. CC deserves to go to the postseason once more and be a major part of the Yankees winning World Series championship number 28 in 2019. – Mark
No matter what happens for the rest of CC Sabathia’s final season, I will remember his career in three parts. (Well, three parts as of now.) Part I being 2009-2012 when he went 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA, made 13 postseason starts and one postseason relief appearance and helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series. Part II being 2013-2015 when he went 23-27 with a 4.81 ERA and made $69 million for 69 starts. Part III being 2016 until the end of this year when he made the transformation from power pitcher to finesse pitcher and saved his career. (Let’s hope there isn’t a Part IV where he becomes the 2013-15 pitcher again).
I get that after 20 years and pitching on an aching knee, Sabathia wants to retire and give his body a rest and spend time with his family. But if he wanted to keep pitching, I’m sure the Yankees would keep giving him one-year deals for as long as he wanted because this version of Sabathia can seemingly pitch forever.
Check to see if Aaron Hicks is playing any golf. He loves golf. – Vincent
This made me laugh. Today is 68 days (February 27) since Aaron Hicks hurt his back on a 35-minute bus ride from Tampa to Lakeland in spring training. Andujar tore the labrum in his throwing shoulder on March 31 and has already returned and played two games for the Yankees.
Hicks is set to play in his first rehab game tonight and could join the team within the next two weeks, which is good because enough is enough with him.
If some of the injured list players are back sooner, I’ll say 20-9. – Michael
Back when the Yankees were 5-8, I wrote that I thought a 16-13 record at the end of April was doable. After losing Tuesday’s game, they finished April at 17-12, one game better than the goal I set for them. Looking ahead to May, they have 29 games this month, and outside of seven games against the Orioles (anything less than 5-2 against the Orioles will be considered a disaster), their schedule is full of games against potential postseason teams, including six against the Rays and two against the Red Sox.
Since my Yankees record goal magic worked so well in April, I’m going to say they should go at least 17-12 in May.
Here’s how I came to 17-12: – They lost to the Diamondbacks, so that was already 0-1 in May before I wrote it – Go 4-3 against Twins and Mariners – Go 3-3 against the Rays – Go 5-2 against the Orioles – Go 2-1 against the Royals – Go 3-2 against the Padres and Red Sox
That would get them to 17-12. I certainly think they could do better, especially as their regular everyday players return, but I think they should at least go 17-12.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!
The Yankees’ May schedule will be challenging and they are going to need some of their regular everyday players to return to the lineup to get through it.
The Yankees’ first of two West Coast trips this season is over. The next time the Yankees play a late game won’t be until August 20 when they play the A’s, Dodgers and Mariners to end summer. I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m happy Yankees baseball is back to being played at a normal hour.
There are only two off days in May with this being one of them, which means a lot of Yankees baseball and only one other Off Day Dreaming blog. Starting tomorrow, the Yankees will play 30 games in 31 days through June 2.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees on their second off day in the last four days.
1. If you have ever received a gift or news in life leading to a euphoric high then you know exactly how Aaron Boone feels today. Starting tomorrow, the Yankees will play 30 games in 31 games through June 2 and that means scheduled off days for everyday players, extra rest for the pitching staff and even more days off for players returning from the injured list even if they just missed weeks or months.
There’s only one thing Boone loves more than scheduling off days for his regulars weeks in advance regardless of their current play and that is bringing in mediocre relievers into game-changing situations.
2. Can Aaron Boone please stop bringing Jonathan Holder into game-changing situations? Please. I wrote last week how untrustworthy Holder has been as a Yankee, yet Boone keeps going to him in any close game as the first reliever out of the pen to immediately relieve the starter.
I thought Holder allowing both inherited runners to score in a tie game in the only loss in Anaheim might be the final straw for Boone electing to continue to use the mediocre reliever, but on Tuesday in Arizona, Boone went right back to him. Trailing by one run in the sixth with two on and one out, Boone took the ball from CC Sabathia and called on Holder. Holder immediately walked the first batter he faced load the bases and then got gifted a check-swing comebacker to the mound to begin an inning-ending double play. Boone stayed on 16 with the dealer showing a 7, and the dealer flipped over an 8 and pulled a 10 to bust, and Boone thinks he made the right decision based on the result.
Boone’s bullpen management helped send the Yankees to the wild-card game last season and then ruined the ALDS for the team, and he hasn’t shown anything to prove he won’t make more enormous mistakes in big games in 2019 as he continues to manage to the inning rather than the situation.
3. Here is my updated Yankees Bullpen Level of Trust (1-10 Scale)
Dellin Betances 9.1 Aroldis Chapman 8.4 Adam Ottavino 8.2 Zack Britton 7.1 Tommy Kahnle 5.2 Jonathan Holder 3.4 Luis Cessa 3.1 Joseph Harvey 2.8 Stephen Tarpley 1.9
4. Boone was ejected from Wednesday’s game and looked foolish in the process. He was upset about a challenge not going in his favor, even though the umpires don’t have control over the result of challenges, and then he was upset the umpires didn’t award Tyler Wade first base when he claimed to be hit a by a pitch on the foot, even though replay showed he didn’t get hit by the pitch.
If I was home plate umpire Paul Emmel, as soon as I turned around and Boone was standing in my face, the first thing I would say is, “Look, Aaron, I didn’t sit DJ LeMahieu even though he’s able to play and I didn’t bat Mike Tauchman fifth in the lineup and I didn’t start Tyler Wade.” I have a hard time believing Boone would have anything to say after that.
5. I understand the Yankees are as short as can be on available players, but can Tauchman not bat fifth anymore? I don’t care that he’s a left-handed bat against a right-handed starter. Tauchman isn’t the left-handed Luke Voit, and he’s not a diamond in the rough to make the Yankees front office look good for acquiring. If he has to play for the time being, fine, bat him at the bottom of the order and put Gio Urshela or Cameron Maybin or someone more deserving of being higher in the order in his spot for now.
6. As for Wade, I’m well past the point of being done with and over Wade. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t watch him go to the plate and roll over another weak ground ball to the right side. I can’t.
I saw a tweet on Wednesday that Wade has “barreled” one ball in his major league career. To be “barreled”, a batted ball requires an exit velocity of at least 98 mph. Wade has had 189 career plate appearances and has seen 738 pitches and only one of those 738 pitches has been classified as “barreled”. I’m not even sure how that’s possible. One out of 738. If you want to use only strikes then he’s “barreled” one pitch out of 468, which is still ridiculous. Apparently, whatever training Albert Pujols gave him in the offseason hasn’t stuck.
Wade is really fast and defensively can play all over the field, but his offensive ineptitude should be enough to keep him out of the majors. If the Yankees want him to be the 25th man on the postseason roster to be used a pinch runner, I’m OK with it, but that’s the extent of me being OK with him being a Yankee. The second enough regular everyday players are back, get Wade off the team.
7. For as fun, unexpected, improbable and exciting as this 11-4 run has been with the replacement Yankees, Zack Greinke quickly reminded Yankees fans why having actual everyday major leaguers in a lineup is important. Sure, Greinke is a very good pitcher and can shut down any team when he’s on, but he isn’t the Greinke of even a couple of years ago, and the Yankees had their chances against him and came up short.
The actual Yankees, batting 1 through 4, of Brett Gardner, Luke Voit, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres went 4 for 15 with the only run scored and RBI, a walk and three strikeouts. The replacement Yankees of Tauchman, Maybin, Thairo Estrada, Wade and Urshela went 1 for 13 with an infield single and four strikeouts. After Sanchez and Torres hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 1 in the fourth inning, Tauchman, Maybin and Estrada left Torres stranded at second in what ended up being the difference in the game until Zack Britton gave up an insurance run for the Diamondbacks. Merrill Kelly, the 30-year-old major league rookie, followed Greinke’s performance with a gem of his own, allowing one earned run over 5 1/3 innings in a 3-2 Yankees loss.
8. I understand the road trip should be considered an overall success as the Yankees won six of nine, but it’s time for the real Yankees to return. The Rays lost both games of a doubleheader to the lowly Royals and the Red Sox swept the A’s, so the Yankees failed to make up ground on the Rays and also lost ground on the Red Sox. Enough is enough with sitting out DJ LeMahieu, despite him being available, and slowly, and I mean as slowly as possible, bringing back the other injured Yankees. We’re 30 games into the season.
9. Masahiro Tanaka has now had three crappy starts in his last four.
April 14 vs. White Sox: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 1 HR April 25 @ Angels: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR May 2 @ Diamondbacks: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR
Tanaka always figures it out and I trust him more than anyone on the team in October (1.50 ERA in five career postseason starts), so I’m not worried about him, I just wish he would be more consistent, especially since the May schedule is going to be way more challenging than the April schedule was.
10. Back when the Yankees were 5-8, I wrote that I thought a 16-13 record at the end of April was doable. After losing Tuesday’s game, they finished April at 17-12, one game better than the goal I set for them. Looking ahead to May, they have 29 games this month, and outside of seven games against the Orioles (anything less than 5-2 against the Orioles will be considered a disaster), their schedule is full of games against potential postseason teams, including six against the Rays and two against the Red Sox.
Since my Yankees record goal magic worked so well in April, I’m going to say they should go at least 17-12 in May.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!
CC Sabathia became the 17th pitcher in history to record 3,000 strikeouts. It’s an accomplishment which seemed improbable three years ago when no one expected him to be in the league in 2017 given his performance and knee issues.
CC Sabathia didn’t want to be a Yankee. As a 28-year-old free agent, he wanted to move home to California to pitch. He initially turned down Brian Cashman’s lucrative six-year, $140 million offer, and after Cashman told Sabathia’s agents he would be willing to travel to California to meet with the left-hander and negotiate, he was on his way to Vallejo. They landed on seven years and $161 million. At the time, it was the biggest contract for a pitcher in history. The deal also included an all-important opt-out clause after three years.
Sabathia was a Yankee because the organization’s offer far exceeded any other teams, not because it was his first choice. But that no longer mattered to the left-hander or Yankees fans when he went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA in the regular season, and then 3-1 with a 1.98 ERA in the postseason, earning himself ALCS MVP honors and helping the Yankees win the World Series for the first time since 2000.
Fearful of that opt-out clause after his third season, the Yankees extended him, adding two years and $50 million to his contract. He continued to pitch like an ace for the first season after the extension, going 15-6 with a 3.38 ERA, and winning Games 1 and 5 in the ALDS over the Orioles. In his first four seasons as a Yankee, Sabathia had gone 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA, being as close to a sure-thing for a win every five days as anyone in baseball, and living up to his $23 million annual salary more than any free-agent pitcher ever had.
In 2013, things took a turn for the worst. Sabathia went 14-13 with a 4.78 ERA and led the league in earned runs allowed as the Yankees missed the playoffs for just the second time since 1993. In 2014, Sabathia made only starts, and pitched to a 5.28 ERA over 46 innings. In 2015, it was much of the same, as he went 6-10 with a 4.73 ERA. Sabathia was no longer the hard-throwing ace of the Yankees, but rather a wasted roster spot making roughly $700,000 per start.
Sabathia had supposedly been best friends with Cliff Lee during their time in Cleveland and it was reported that Sabathia and Andy Pettitte had talked frequently as Sabathia’s velocity diminished. I wondered then if those two stories were true, how could Sabathia not seek out the advice of his two left-handed friends on how to succeed in the league without overpowering hitters? Were Sabathia and Lee no longer friends? Were he and Pettitte just “talking” and not talking about pitching? Was Sabathia too stubborn to reinvent himself, or could he just not do it?
Sabathia was going to make $25 million in 2016, the highest single-season salary of his career, after having gone 23-27 with a 4.81 ERA in the previous three seasons. And he was going to make another $25 million in 2017 unless he ended the 2016 season on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or spent more than 45 days on the disabled list in 2016 with a left shoulder injury or didn’t make more than six relief appearances in 2016 because of a left shoulder injury. No Yankees fan wanted Sabathia to get hurt, they just wanted him to pitch better. Any Yankees fan would have signed up for a season of a 4.50 ERA from the once-dominant lefty.
Sabathia turned his career around in 2016. He no longer reared back for a mid-to-high-90s fastball which no longer existed. He scrapped the fastballs right by you for the cutters in on your hands and the offspeed pitches and breaking balls away. The reinvention I had yearned for had occurred and Sabathia made 30 starts and pitched to a 3.91 ERA. It wasn’t worthy of $25 million per year, but it was worthy of a spot in the rotation for 2017.
He got even better as a finesse pitcher in 2017, going 14-5 with a 3.69 ERA. It was his first double-digit win season and his first season over .500 in four years. He was no longer the ace of the staff, but he was no longer an over-the-hill pitcher representing an albatross contract either. In 2018, he pitched to a 3.65 ERA, proving his new-found success was sustainable after three straight years of it.
On Tuesday night in Arizona, Sabathia became the 17th pitcher in history to record 3,000 strikeouts. It’s an accomplishment which seemed improbable three years ago when no one expected him to be in the league in 2017 given his performance and knee issues. But Sabathia has defied the odds since his disastrous 2013-2015 seasons, reinventing himself on the mound, overcoming several disabled and injured list trips and even battling a heart condition this past offseason.
Back on June 26, 2015, I wrote “CC Sabathia Is Done”. At the time he was done. He could no longer throw hard and was seemingly too stubborn to turn into a finesse pitcher for what looked to be the final seasons of his career. Now in his fourth season pitching as CC Sabathia 2.0, let’s look back at what I wrote and see how it’s changed.
Next season, Sabathia’s salary increase to $25 million for the season, and when you consider his 2011 ERA (33 starts) was 3.00, his 2012 ERA (28 starts) was 3.38, his 2013 ERA (32 starts) was 4.78, his 2014 ERA (eight starts) was 5.28 and his 2015 ERA (15 starts) is 5.65, well, where is this going to go? It could go through the 2017 season, as Sabathia has a $25 million vesting option, which will vest if he doesn’t finish the 2016 season on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or if he doesn’t spend more than 45 days in 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or if he doesn’t make more than six relief appearances in 2016 because of a left shoulder injury. (There is a $5 million buyout if any of these things happen, so the Yankees will have to pay him $5 million to not pitch, which is better than $25 million to pitch and not be good). So the only way the Yankees are getting out of paying Sabathia $50 million in 2016 and 2017 is if he injures his left shoulder, and when he’s not even going five innings in starts, that’s not going to happen. The only way to not throw away $25 million in 2017 is for Girardi to start leaving Sabathia on the mound to throw 150-pitch complete games, or hope that he retires and walks away from the money, and that’s not happening. So if you think this season has been bad or 2014 and 2013 were bad, it’s not going to get better.
The biggest problem for Sabathia at the time (aside from not giving the Yankees a chance to win in most of his starts) was the money he was owed. No Yankees fan wanted Sabathia to get hurt, but everyone was hoping the Yankees would instead use the $5 million buyout on him for 2017 to pay him to go away.
Sabathia turned it around in 2016, just in time for the Yankees to decide to not buy him out. And in the span of two years, he went from looking at being bought out and retiring to starting Games 2 and 5 of the ALDS against the Indians and Games 3 and 7 of the ALCS against the Astros. Sabathia’s line in those four postseason starts: 19 IP, 16 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 10 BB, 19 K, 1 HR, 2.37 ERA, 1.368 WHIP. I still can’t believe the same person whose career seemed over when he made only eight starts in 2014 and pitched like his career was over when he did pitch was given the ball to start a game in 2017 with a trip to the World Series on the line.
I have written several times that Sabathia needs to find a way to get outs without overpowering hitters the way his former teammate Andy Pettitte and supposed best friend Cliff Lee were able to do. With the Yankees in Houston, it was made known that Pettitte and Sabathia have talked frequently as Sabathia’s velocity and repertoire has changed, and if this is true, when are the changes going to take place, or are they ever? And do we know Sabathia and Pettitte are even talking about pitching when they talk? They could be talking about anything.
It took three seasons of a 4.81 ERA and leading the league in earned runs allowed in one of those seasons for Sabathia to finally give up on trying to be the pitcher he had been since 2001. He finally went through with the advice of Pettitte, who he now mirrors in his starts, both with his stuff and his performances, and it has revitalized his career. Sabathia is consistently among the league leaders in soft contact, and while he might not be the hard-throwing, seven-plus inning ace anymore, he doesn’t need to be to get productive results.
At this point, I treat every Sabathia start like a trip to the casino. If you plan on spending $500 at the casino then you’re going into it assuming you’re going to lose that $500 and anything you don’t lose or if you happen to end up winning, it’s an unexpected bonus. When Sabathia takes the mound, I assume the Yankees are going to lose, and if they aren’t blown out, he will certainly blow a lead they have given him at some point in the game. If he comes out in a tie game, with the Yankees winning, it’s the unexpected bonus. That’s not how it should work for starting pitcher making $23 million this season, $25 million next season and possibly another $25 million in 2017.
Since 2016, the Yankees are 53-37 in games started by Sabathia, so he’s no longer an expected losing trip to the casino. In today’s market, as a No. 5 starter making $8 million, he’s more than living up to his current contract, and has made up for the money he “earned” from 2013 to 2015.
During the 2011 season, I said “Jorge Posada is like the aging family dog that just wanders around aimlessly and goes to the bathroom all over the place and just lies around and sleeps all day. You try to pretend like the end isn’t near and you try to remember the good times to get through the bad times, and once in a while the dog will do something to remind you of what it used to be, but it’s just momentary tease.” Well, that aging family dog has become Sabathia.
The aging family dog might be 21 now, but it still has a few years left!
The next time Sabathia puts the Yankees in a hole before they even come up to bat for the first time, I will try to remember his first four seasons with the Yankees when he went 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA. The next time, he lets the 7-8-9 hitters get on base to start a rally, I will try to remember his win in Game 1 of the 2009 ALDS, his dominance over the Angels and winning the ALCS MVP in 2009 and his role in beating the Phillies in the 2009 World Series. The next time he can’t get through five innings, forcing the bullpen to be overused, I will try to remember his Game 5 win in the 2010 ALCS against the Rangers to save the season. And the next time he blows a three-run lead the inning following the Yankees taking that lead, I will try to remember his wins in Games 1 and 5 against the Orioles in the 2012 ALDS to get the Yankees out of the first round.
No matter what happens for the rest of Sabathia’s final season, I will remember it in three parts. (Well, three parts as of now.) Part I being 2009-2012 when he went 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA, made 13 postseason starts and one postseason relief appearance and helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series. Part II being 2013-2015 when he went 23-27 with a 4.81 ERA and made $69 million for 69 starts. Part III being 2016 until the end of this year when he made the transformation from power pitcher to finesse pitcher and saved his career. (Let’s hope there isn’t a Part IV where he becomes the 2013-15 pitcher again).
I get that after 20 years and pitching on an aching knee, Sabathia wants to retire and give his body a rest and spend time with his family. But if he wanted to keep pitching, I’m sure the Yankees would keep giving him one-year deals for as long as he wanted because this version of CC Sabathia can seemingly pitch forever.
I will try to remember the good times CC Sabathia once gave us nearly every time he took the ball because they hardly happen anymore and they are only to going to become more rare. I wish there were more good times to come, but there aren’t.
I don’t have to wish anymore because as long as Sabathia avoids the injured list, there’s a few more months of good times to come.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!
