Monday, July 27, 2015

Girardi denies Sabathia only in rotation due to contract

It might be a common belief amongst Yankees fans, but struggling pitcher CC Sabathia isn't only in the team's rotation due to his salary.

At least that's what manager Joe Girardi told NJ.com on Sunday, voicing the unpopular opinion that Sabathia is most contributive in his current role.

"No it doesn't," Girardi told Ryan Hatch. "We talk about our team all the time, and we feel he best serves as a starter."

Sabathia is set to make $23 million this season, easily the highest income on the Yankees. His 5.38 ERA, however, is second-worst on the staff to Chris Capuano -- prompting many to believe Sabathia belongs in the bullpen.

Yet the Yankees have no plans for such a move in their future, even after again watching the veteran labor on Saturday.

"It's frustrating, yeah," Sabathia said following his rough outing against the Twins, in which he allowed five earned runs in just 5 2/3 innings.

If the Yankees were to turn Sabathia into a reliever, it's likely Adam Warren or a trade acquisition would replace him. Warren was a reliable starter throughout May and June, and someone like the Marlins' Mat Latos could be obtained at a reasonable cost.

But Sabathia remains convinced he's on the path to improvement, despite his inconsistency over the first 97 games.

"Earlier in the season I would just get pissed off and kind of throw the ball wherever I wanted," Sabathia said. "And [Saturday], I just tried to make pitches and be a pitcher."

5 comments:

  1. The one thing that really bothers me about these things is this...

    OF COURSE GIRARDI OR CASHMAN ARE GOING TO SAY THAT! It's not like they're going to talk bad about the guy, or make him worry about losing his job. As a manager or boss you encourage your team/workers as much as you can until a change is to be made.

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  2. That bothers me too, but what bothers me more is Sabathia admitting that early in the year he would give up. What's that about? That's not the attitude a player like him should have. If it is, send his ass packing! If he seriously wants to fix this for the sake of the team, he should willingly accept an assignment to the minors and pitch in games that don't mean as much. If he won't, then he's just being selfish.

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    1. Do you have a link to that Jeff? I'm not calling you a liar by any means I just don't remember reading that or I feel like I would have harped on that. I genuinly want to read that.

      It would surprise me because CC is generally thought of as a great clubhouse guy and teammate.

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    2. That's my interpretation of the comment in Jack's article. "Earlier in the year I'd get pissed off and throw the ball wherever I wanted." That's something an immature child would do because things weren't going his way. Am I interpreting that quote wrong?

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    3. I honestly didn't read it, whoops. Whether he was giving up or throwing the ball wherever he wanted (going against what McCann called) is unclear but I could see it interpreted the way you did.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)