CC Sabathia is a great pitcher. He really is. There is not a single pitcher in all of baseball right now who has such a great combination of the desire and ability to win as he does. Not only has he been the best pitcher in baseball for the past 2 years, he also showed last season with the Brewers that he would gladly do whatever it took to win. If his team needed him to pitch on 3 days rest, 5 starts in a row, he'd do it. And he would pitch as well as anyone else.Another thing that may have been revealed by Sabathia's willingness to tax his arm is his naive stupidity. Allowing the Brewers to run him into the ground in a contract year was probably the most idiotic thing Sabathia possibly could have done.
Thanks to the Yankees' deep pockets and willingness to pay him more than any other pitcher in the history of baseball, he didn't suffer any consequences of overworking his arm. Yet. But the latest sign that Sabathia might not be the brightest bulb on the tree was seen in his recent press conference, where he said that one of the reasons he chose the Yankees was the fact that they wouldn't have the same expectations that they have for him in Milwaukee, after his incredible second half there.
"That was definitely a factor in my decision, and something I thought about, too, you know, if I went somewhere else, they would expect me to do what I did in the last, second half in Milwaukee, and that's kind of unrealistic. I feel like I'm going to pitch great, I'm going to pitch well, but I'm not going to be able to match stats like that."
Ahem, excuse me? If you are concerned about expectations, then New York is the very last place you would ever want to play. The New York fans and media are notoriously unrealistic in their expectations of their players. And with the biggest contract ever for a pitcher, expectations for CC will be astronomical. If ARod got booed during an MVP season, then what will happen when Sabathia had a rough outing and gives up 4 runs to the Red Sox? He's 2-4 in his career against the Red Sox, and if he continues that in the Bronx, the fans won't tolerate it for long.
This is a great sign for Yankee haters, since it looks like the concerns about CC's mental makeup and his ability to pitch in a big city like NY might actually have some serious grounds. We'll see how long he lasts before the boo birds get in his head.
CC Sabathia Press Conference [Bob's Blitz]
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