CC Sabathia's Arm Is Going To Fall Off Just In Time For Free Agency, Thanks To The Brewers | MLB

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9/25/08

CC Sabathia's Arm Is Going To Fall Off Just In Time For Free Agency, Thanks To The Brewers

The Brewers Might Be Able To Retain CC Sabathia, If They Keep Pitching Him Into The Ground

MLB, Rumors, Milwaukee Brewers, CC Sabathia, C.C. Sabathia, Fantasy, Team News / Analysis, Player News / Analysis, Scores

Pat

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At the end of the season, CC Sabathia is set to be one of the most coveted free agents in recent memory. That is, he WAS. It seems like the Brewers are doing everything possible to lower his stock.

Last night was his second straight appearance on 3 days rest. He has already thrown a career high 244 innings after throwing 7 innings on Wednesday night, and it's almost certain that he'll throw in their season finale on Sunday if it has playoff implications.

While the ultimate goal is to make the playoffs be any means necessary, there's also a measure of reason that has to be considered. Last year, Sabathia pitched a then-career high 237 innings, and looked obviously gassed once the Indians made the ALCS. Sabathia lasted a total of 10 1/3 innings in 2 starts against the Red Sox, and allowed 12 earned runs.

If history is any indication, this year shouldn't be much different. Since his first start in Milwaukee, all other Brewers pitchers have a combined record of 27-29. If Sabathia isn't able to bring his best stuff in the playoffs, then do the Brewers even have a chance?

Gearhead wrote about this a few weeks ago, but it looks like Ned Yost's firing didn't really change much. If anything, Dale Sveum has exhibited... well... more of the Sveum, pardon the pun.

If the Brewers even make the playoffs at all, will Sabathia even be of any use to them? They have a very good young nucleus, but it's going to take a heroic effort from the Brewers' other pitchers, especially if Ben Sheets isn't 100% healthy.

It's clear that Dale Sveum's job is to get this team into the playoffs. If he does, and then they fall flat in the playoffs, should that be considered a success? Right now, the Brewers are tied with the Mets, and the Mets have a slightly more favorable schedule, since the Brewers have a series with the Cubs to look forward to. The one thing that the Brewers have going for them is that if they DO make the playoffs, they will face either the Phillies or the Mets, both of whom will likely go through similar pitching strains in the last few days of the season.

It's hard to say what the right decision is, here, especially when the wild card could be decided by the one extra game that Sabathia pitches. Only time will tell.

Either way, CC Sabathia might not be the biggest free agent on the market, once the Brewers are done with him.

Will The Brew Crew Screw CC? [UmpBump]

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9/25/08

uwgb44

What makes me mad is that if any other Big Market team would have gotten CC would be pitching him the same way the brewers are if were going for a playoff spot , and no one would say a word about it. But since they are a small market team people think that we are ruining his arm. If you wanted CC you should have got him at the trade deadline. But as long as the brewers are paying him they can play him as they see fit

9/30/08

Mrniceguy19

Are you saying Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle any of the all time greats sucked if so you need your head examined. As hitters have evolved so have pitchers, it's just the progression of the sport and that's what needs to be looked at. C.C. can get away with what he has been doing because he is someone who can handle it, no one says a word about halladay and he pitches tons of innings and complete games every year.

9/30/08

zkleiman

Pat,

Thank you for your passionate post on the issue of CC Sabathia's overuse. As you can see in my comment (scroll to bottom, posted as zkleiman on 9/30/08) on Tom Haudricourt's Brewers Blog for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I too find that the way the Brewers have handled the situation borders on unethical. You lay out a strong argument that even if the Brewers do make the playoffs (which they since have), they will have nothing left after pushing Sabathia to the limit. As baseball is increasingly being thought of as a business, I find it worthwhile to think about the situation in terms of economic ethical principles. What the Brewers are doing is focusing on the bottom line; in essence, they are "maximizing profits." Yet, just as it would be wrong for a corporation to best maximize profits by dumping toxic waste in a cost-effective manner in a park across town, it should be wrong for the Brewers to overuse a rented player that they have no intention of resigning. The Brewers are simply concerned with themselves in this instance and not about the potential negative externality (ruining Sabathia's career) of their decision. You open up an interesting topic for discussion with the final line of your blog entry, "CC Sabathia might not be the biggest free agent on the market, once the Brewers are done with him." To determine the validity of this assessment, I decided to look into past cases of high-innings pitchers on the free agent market. Johan Santana, the highest paid pitcher in baseball, received his contract after throwing successive seasons of 231.2, 233.2 and 219 innings (2005-2007) while Carlos Zambrano, the second highest paid pitcher in baseball, similarly received his contract after throwing successive seasons of 209.2, 223.1 and 214.0 innings. While it can be argued that Sabathia's recent 240+ inning efforts are in a slightly different category, I find it hard to believe that he will not be able to receive a similar contract this offseason than that of Santana and Zambrano (in the $18-23 million range). The fact remains that in a league functioning without a true salary cap, teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will have no problem throwing hoards of money at Sabathia. Luckily for Sabathia, this is not the NFL where veterans can be cut at any point without a guarantee of being paid. The bulky lefthander will get a long, guaranteed contract regardless of whether his arm falls off a year from now. Sounds like some nice job security to me.

If you would like, please check out and feel free to comment on my blog at zacharykleiman.blogspot.com.

Thanks.

9/30/08

Pat

Hi Zach, thanks for the comment. Love your blog, by the way. It's definitely one of the more intelligent and reasonable ones that I have seen, and the Childress post was also very good.

The one thing that I might disagree with you about is that it seems like the Yankees are trying to slow down on the spending, and develop more players, especially pitchers, within their organization. While it wouldn't shock me at all if they threw a ton of money at Sabathia, I have a feeling they might not. They didn't make a strong play for Santana, either. Some would say (myself included) that it was a mistake, and they should have tried to sign him, but that's a different issue.

But basically, I think that the Yankees' front office is going to cut payroll a lot this year, and they will be able to do so, with a lot of money scheduled to come off of their roster, in the form of Carl Pavano and others.

The Red Sox don't really have the money or even a spot for Sabathia, as they have arguably 3 aces already, in Beckett, Matsuzaka and Lester. So if the Yankees don't push to get Sabathia, then that doesn't leave many big market teams to go after him. In the end, he might end up getting a contract significantly smaller than Santana's.

10/9/08

Mrniceguy19

Overall hitters were not terrible, todays baseball is dilluted with the number of teams that exist....back in the day there were only a select number of teams and if you batted under .300 you were considered not good enough to play in the majors and found yourself in the minors. You need to understand that CC is a freak of nature in todays game. He pitches a lot of innnings and is effective in them. If you want to talk negatively of those who started this game maybe you should look a little harder at how good those past player were. You can say whatever you want about old time players, but overall the hitters in the past were way better than the hitters nowadays. Once again i say overall....there are alot of good players current days....but overall the hitters in the past were way better if you talk overall because the player pool was so much smalller.