After several weeks of speculation, months after Hank Steinbrenner guaranteed it would happen; CC Sabathia is a New York Yankee.

But that's not the story.  The story is, simply put: Seven Years, One-Hundred and Sixty-One Million Dollars.

It's the highest deal ever given to a pitcher, and the Yankees third player with a +100 million contract (the others being A Rod and Derek Jeter).  To be fair, it's reasonable to say that at this point in Sabathia's career that he's the one of the best free agent pitchers ever available, and the Yankees needed an ace.  They need one.  It's fact.  So, signing Sabathia was a no-brainer.

Now, I'm not saying that 7 and 161 was necessary, but if Buster Olney's report is true, the Yanks had to pay a 'New York surcharge', which was presumably another year and 20 million.

And... the opt-out clause.

You can look at this deal one of three ways.  1, it's 7 and 161.  2, it's 3 and about 70, or 3, it's something more than 7 and 161, assuming CC opts out and the Yankees re-sign him. 

The only part of this deal I dislike is the opt-out clause.  It basically means if Sabathia sucks or is injured in Year 2 or 3 of the deal he'll stay a Yank; if he's successful (a very high likelihood) he'll opt-out and become a Free Agent all over again.

But, let's ignore all of that (depressing, for a Yank fan) stuff.  Let's look at what the Yankees are getting in CC.

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Simply put a durable, dependable and dominant pitcher.  CC has had, for the last three years, a K/9 or at least 8 and a BB/9 never higher than 2.5.  Those two peripherals mean the world.  Essentially, CC gets several outs a game by himself, via the strikeout, and he rarely allows batters to reach base via the walk.  You really can't ask for more than that.

Oh, and he throws a ton of innings, something the Yankees could really use.  His last three years he's thrown at least 192 innings, which is obviously quite a bit. 

One complaint about CC is that he falls apart in the playoffs.  He has been off in his last two postseason appearances, mostly because his teams those years, the Indians and Brewers, worked him like a stray dog and never let him rest.  Remember in 2007 how good Josh Beckett was during the postseason?  Yeah, Boston gave him September off and he barely broke 200 innings on the year.  Sabathia threw 241 innings that year, which was more than 45 innings above his previous year's total.

There's absolutely no evidence that says CC sucks in the postseason.  It's just lame-ass writers needing something to write about.

His performance ought to last at least through the 3 years he's guaranteed to be there.

To sum it up, the Yankees paid a wicked-high price, but they got their ace.  CC will be excellent in pinstripes.

 

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