Report: CC Sabathia to sign with Yankees

[rincewind]

I'll give you Paul O'Neil cause he was really good. Let's remember though that all-star balloting is done by fans. These guys were great for the yankees, but not great players. Just to name a few.

Tino Martinez

Batting average .271

Home runs 339

Runs batted in 1,271

Scott Brosuis

Batting average .257

Home runs 141

Runs batted in 531

Joe Giradi

Batting average .267

Hits 1,100

Run batted in 422

Don't forget Aaron ****ing Boone.

[Hersh]

Do you see what a hypocrite you are?

In one breath.... you're saying that the Yankees won World Series based on undrafted and late round picks.... not because of free agents. While acknowledging that every team.... has the opportunity to draft.... particularly late round picks.

In the next breath, you're saying the it's unfair that the Yankees can sign free agents to win. And yet, don't give the Yankees free agents any credit when they led to them to their WS rings.

You see how funny you look?

The main reason the Yankees won in 1996(NOT THE ONLY REASON) is because of their own homegrown players. That is my opinion. It is your opinion that they won, not because of Jeter, Williams, Posada, Pettite, but because of the free agents. We will simply disagree forever.

THAT is completely seperate from the conversation about the ability for weathly teams to win consistently via free agency. EVERYONE KNOWS that all teams are a mix of drafted players and free agents. Its just that Yankees can win via the draft, but can also spend HUGE amounts of money on free agents. SO what I am saying is that the Yankees have mutliple ways to win and poor teams do not. Do you really not get that?

[pjfootballer]

Remember, it's not always about winning the WS either. The Yankees and Red Sox have been contenders in the playoffs for 15 years now. Have the Phillies, Diamondbacks, Marlins or White Sox been contenders every year? I think that's the point, that the Yankees and Red Sox can remain contenders year in and year out with their money whereas other clubs can't, but other clubs will win a WS here and there with a good year. Were the Phillies really the best team in the NL this year? The Marlins the two years they won it? No, they just won when it counted. I would bet that the Rays run will last through this season, then they'll falter again. I think the only team in the NL that has been contenders year in and year out are the Cardinals. The Angels get a pass in the weak ass AL West.

[Kilmer17]

Awesome. I can now simply change the name from "Mike Mussina" to CC Sabathia when I write my letter at the end of every year.

Dear CC

BWHAHAHAHA!

**** YOU!

How does the ring fit?

Still more of the same from Baseball. No wonder the sport is becoming less relevant every year.

[Die Hard]

Its just that Yankees can win via the draft, but can also spend HUGE amounts of money on free agents. SO what I am saying is that the Yankees have mutliple ways to win and poor teams do not. Do you really not get that?

No, teams that don't get an opportunity to draft high -- teams with good records -- don't typically get the kind of players that allow you to win championships. So, in order for them to acquire good talent... they have to trade for or acquire them during free agency.

People like pointing out the late round steals..... to show that you don't need high draft picks to acquire good players. But the reality is.... for every 20th round draft pick that makes it.... there are 100 that don't.

And why you think it doesn't seem to matter is..... you take the 1/100 of those players that succeeds... and you put them in the same pool with 10 other players who beat the same odds... and have the Yankees sign any of those 10 players to large contracts (because they produced and beat the odds)... and then make an argument that late rounds picks DO succeed and you can build a winning organization by doing that.

You want to cite a guy like Pettite as a franchise player.... but he's a guy who only won 20 games 2x.... and has a career ERA of 4.53. Similar to David Cone... who actually had a better ERA than Pettite.... but you downplay a guy like Cone.

And look at Jeter's numbers.... he's a guy who hit more than 20 home runs only 3 times in his career... never more than 24... and has only had over 100 RBI's once in his career... while his average is more in the 70's.

But hey, were would the Yankees be without a pitcher who wins 18 games with a 4.53 ERA..... and a guy who doesn't produce a lot of offense (ie. Jeter). And Posada was never a big contributor either. Williams, OTOH, was a very good ballplayer.

[TheDoyler23]

That's a lot of money to give a fat guy.

[TheDoyler23]

No, teams that don't get an opportunity to draft high -- teams with good records -- don't typically get the kind of players that allow you to win championships. So, in order for them to acquire good talent... they have to trade for or acquire them during free agency.

While a big budget team like the Yankees will not have a chance at the first few picks in the draft, they do have the cash to draft and sign guys who otherwise wouldn't sign. Just look at how Rick Porcello ended up a Tiger two years ago.

Many top talent players will name a signing bonus that they want and the other teams will pass on that guy due to "signability" concerns.

Teams like the Yankees also have the cash flow to buy whatever "International free agents" they want. Those players are like lotto tickets. Sometimes they end up nobodies. Sometimes they end up as Rivera.

[Hersh]

No, teams that don't get an opportunity to draft high -- teams with good records -- don't typically get the kind of players that allow you to win championships. So, in order for them to acquire good talent... they have to trade for or acquire them during free agency.

People like pointing out the late round steals..... to show that you don't need high draft picks to acquire good players. But the reality is.... for every 20th round draft pick that makes it.... there are 100 that don't.

Um, only a yankees fan would believe this because the Yankees could spend so much more money then everyone else, that they don't need to draft well. Just so you understand how baseball works: For every player that actually makes it no matter what round they are drafted in, there are probably 200 that don't. There are a ton of 1st rounders that sucked. It's not how high your draft pick is, it's how well you draft in every other round.

Also, in baseball, there are a lot more players to choose from when drafting which increase your odds of finding great players in the 2nd- 5th round.

All the teams with less money have to do well in the other rounds in order to have a chance to compete. The league is littered with guys not drafted high that help win Championships. Some guys named Youkilis (7th round) and Papelbon (18th round) are two that I hate but help their team win.

[jbooma]

Everyone knew this was coming. The only thing I am worried about for the yanks is how is CC going to do in that environment? He has been a good pitcher but only in small towns where the spotlight was not on him. This should be interesting and could end of being more of a Randy Johnson and Arod situation then a Clemens one. That is a lot of money for a kid that has not performed in the posteason.

If the sox get Tex then they are cleary the team to beat in the AL next year. With the possiblity of getting another pitcher and perhaps John Smoltz they are sitting pretty right now.

[jbooma]

No, teams that don't get an opportunity to draft high -- teams with good records -- don't typically get the kind of players that allow you to win championships. So, in order for them to acquire good talent... they have to trade for or acquire them during free agency.

What are you talking about this is baseball not the NFL. The sox seemed to have been able to draft pretty well getting an MVP and ace pitcher in the draft when they were a winning team

Look at the angels they have one of the best farm systems in all of baseball yet win every year.

[StillUnknown]

That's a lot of money to give a fat guy.

fat guys can succeed at baseball

[Die Hard]

What are you talking about this is baseball not the NFL. The sox seemed to have been able to draft pretty well getting an MVP and ace pitcher in the draft when they were a winning team

Look at the angels they have one of the best farm systems in all of baseball yet win every year.

Jon Lester? You consider him an "ace"? Really? The Sox have 1 ace on their staff..... and that's Beckett. You could make an argument for Matsuzaka... but I still wouldn't buy it.

The Red Sox have a good pitching staff... 3 of which were picked up via free agency (Matsuzaka, Beckett and Wakefield).

And when the Red Sox won their WS.... they won it with Pedro Martinez (trade from the Expos) and Curt Shilling... so it's been a LONG while since the Red Sox drafted a pitcher that was worth a damn.

And the Angels finally started winning after their draft picks starting developing..... because they were crappy for a long while. The only turned it around a few years ago.... and again, it coincided with their players developing.

[NavyDave]

I dunno... Burnett can be dominant when he's healthy. But an injury-plauged player can be frustrating.

Personally, I think they'll sign Sheets. And he has the same rap-sheet.

And I hope the Braves get Burnett... tired of him burning the Yanks in matchups.

I'm hoping they sign sheets and sign an excellant first baseman if the local teams are too cheap to pony up.

Baseball is like the real world with haves and have nots, workers with low pay during their first employment and when they achieve beyond expectations can flash their resume and move to a better market and better pay.

I hate salary caps and revenue sharing mainly because its basically socialism. There are plenty of billionaires and multimillionaires throughout the country and in a lot of cases teams have cheapskate owners, that pocket moneyfrom revenue sharing for profit and not putting into the team.

These types of owners would have to be dragged kicking and screaming if there was a salary basement a mandatory minimum salary higher than what the Marlins and the Nationals try to get away with.

[Hersh]

Jon Lester? You consider him an "ace"? Really? The Sox have 1 ace on their staff..... and that's Beckett. You could make an argument for Matsuzaka... but I still wouldn't buy it.

The Red Sox have a good pitching staff... 3 of which were picked up via free agency (Matsuzaka, Beckett and Wakefield).

And when the Red Sox won their WS.... they won it with Pedro Martinez (trade from the Expos) and Curt Shilling... so it's been a LONG while since the Red Sox drafted a pitcher that was worth a damn.

And the Angels finally started winning after their draft picks starting developing..... because they were crappy for a long while. The only turned it around a few years ago.... and again, it coincided with their players developing.

You are right. Lester is awful and so is Papelbon. Why would any team ever draft those two guys.

[Hersh]

I hate salary caps and revenue sharing mainly because its basically socialism. There are plenty of billionaires and multimillionaires throughout the country and in a lot of cases teams have cheapskate owners, that pocket moneyfrom revenue sharing for profit and not putting into the team.

The only problem is that the bigger the city, the more revenue that team makes. So teams in smaller cities don't have as much money. I completely agree though with the cheapskate owners. They shouldn't be allowed to pocket that money. I am for a hard cap and a hard floor. I'd put the cap at $130 million and the floor at $85 million.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I love this deal so much.

Seriously, Sabathia was in the hotel lobby begging the Dodgers he wanted to go with them. He wanted to live in SoCal and stay in the NL and play on the west coast.

He never wanted to be a Yankee but they just beat him down and gave him so much money he couldn't refuse. There's no way he can live up to that contract and everyone knows that he doesn't really want to be there.

Sabathia would have served himself well by sticking around in the NL. He's a good pitcher, don't get me wrong, but he's not Pedro circa '99 or Johann Santana.

He dominated in the NL and he won't be as good in the AL. He is a Tommy John surgery waiting to happen and while I'll never wish injury on anyone, I'll laugh my ass off when he goes down in July and the Yankees are left in the wind with this massive contract. That arm already has a lot of miles on it.

This is such an awful deal for so many reasons and I can't wait until it comes back to bite them in the ass. They're returning to how they were in the 80's and it's gonna be great.

[praise_gibbs]

It looks like they have Burnett as well. Also, traded Melky Cabrera for Mike Cameron to try and sure up center field.

[Hersh]

They wouldn't be the Yankees if they weren't spending over $10 Million at every position.

[The Evil Genius]

The only problem is that the bigger the city, the more revenue that team makes. So teams in smaller cities don't have as much money. I completely agree though with the cheapskate owners. They shouldn't be allowed to pocket that money. I am for a hard cap and a hard floor. I'd put the cap at $130 million and the floor at $85 million.

Which is fine if ALL the teams passed the buck on to the taxpayers to build them a stadium.

I can think of one team who took the debt on themselves to build a new park and has to pay off that loan each year. So perhaps they cannot always afford the bottom line (although they usually have a payroll around that 85 mil number).

[jbooma]

Jon Lester? You consider him an "ace"? Really? The Sox have 1 ace on their staff..... and that's Beckett. You could make an argument for Matsuzaka... but I still wouldn't buy it.

Lester was our ace last year since Beckett was out. I think Lester is going to end up having a better carreer then Beckett when it is all said and done. He is still young and improving every year. They rode him big time last year.

I love how Yankee fans are drooling over Sabathia since you just paid 161 mill to a guy that is basically going to replace Mussina he also has an out clause after 3 years.

[jbooma]

It looks like they have Burnett as well. Also, traded Melky Cabrera for Mike Cameron to try and sure up center field.

exactly how have the yanks done recently with fielding and all star team

they are giving up on their youth, big mistake

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I can't wait until 2011 when a 311 lb Sabathia has a 4.98 ERA and is being relentlessly booed by the Yankee faithful who know they have to watch him expand for four more years.

[pjfootballer]

I'm hoping they sign sheets and sign an excellant first baseman if the local teams are too cheap to pony up.

Baseball is like the real world with haves and have nots, workers with low pay during their first employment and when they achieve beyond expectations can flash their resume and move to a better market and better pay.

I hate salary caps and revenue sharing mainly because its basically socialism. There are plenty of billionaires and multimillionaires throughout the country and in a lot of cases teams have cheapskate owners, that pocket moneyfrom revenue sharing for profit and not putting into the team.

These types of owners would have to be dragged kicking and screaming if there was a salary basement a mandatory minimum salary higher than what the Marlins and the Nationals try to get away with.

In baseball, the clubs make money off of local/regional TV/radio/internet. You can't tell me that the Royals owner makes as much money as the Yankees do. It's alot different then the NFL and NBA where the teams get money from national TV deals. And why would some millionaires want to risk their fortune on the Royals or Marlins? I do agree that some of the lower level teams seems to be going "too cheap" and there should be a minimum. I think A-Rod makes more money a year than the whole Marlins 40 man roster.

[Kilmer17]

The difference Dave is that my business does not rely on other Ins Agencies to survive. In fact, Id be happy if all of the other agents quit.

The Yankees (add other big mkt teams as well) NEED the have nots to survive.

Ive said for years that teams like the Royals should simply forfeit games at NY and save money on travel, while screwing Steinbrenner out of revenue.

Teams like the Yanks/Sox etc will ALWAYS be contenders. Teams like the Rays will have runs from time to time, but wont ALWAYS be there. And the reverse is that the Yanks will NEVER be in the cellar.

It's a joke.

[jbooma]

It's a joke.

I think the next labor agreement will include a salary cap. MLB is going to put itself out of business if they allow teams to spend 10X what others do.