The Truth Behind the CC Sabathia Decision

The New York Yankees have decided to move CC Sabathia back from this afternoon's start against the Tampa Bay Rays to Wednesday's start against the Oakland Athletics. The line of reasoning from the Yankees and from manager Joe Girardi  was that CC was working on things with Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild in his bullpen sessions and the team wanted to give him a few extra days to work on things and figure things out. If you believe that line of reasoning after watching Sabathia pitch this season and if you believe that line of reasoning after looking at the upcoming schedule then I really don't know what to say to you. The Yankees fans are the smartest and most passionate in the world in my opinion and I think we all see through that blatant lie.

Sabathia has easily been the Yankees worst starter this season, both statistically and by the eye test, and the team wants to limit the amount of big starts he makes for the remainder of the season. If the Yankees kept to their current pitching lineup before the All-Star break Sabathia would have faced the Rays this afternoon and the Boston Red Sox next week. With the move to Wednesday the Yankees would have Sabathia face off against the Oakland Athletics and would not have another start until after the All-Star break.

New York could then turn the rotation over after the break with Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda making the first two starts after the break against the Seattle Mariners with CC making the third start. Starting CC in the series finale allows the big lefty to miss the Baltimore Orioles while Nathan Eovaldi and Nova start the series with their American League East rivals. The Yankees want CC to miss the better teams in the American League for the rest of this season and that all begins today with him missing the start against the Rays. It's great news and the only chance the Yankees have at making the playoffs.