hopbitters–Come on. Sabathia is very good. And might be even better on the Yankees.

I’m not a big fan of trading Cano. But outside of Joba, I would let Cleveland have look at anyone else in our “inventory.”

And btw, one of those “out of context” starts included an 8 IP, one run perf. agst your NYYankees.

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Right, he beats up on teams that aren’t hitting well. And that’s what a good pitcher should do, but it’s not the same as being a dominant pitcher.

He had a good season last year, but it wasn’t extraordinary. He racked up 41 RSAA, tied with Carmona, one behind Lackey. And he won an award based on random and essentially unregulated voting practices. I don’t consider that significant of anything. When he strings several comparable seasons in a row or has a 50+ RSAA year, I’ll consider him as something more than a good pitcher. Right now, he’s just another in a very long line of guys who had a bunch of average seasons and a couple good ones. It’s not a good gamble for the money/players I suspect they’d have to give up.

“He’s a good pitcher, but hasn’t shown he can consistently perform as an elite pitcher and he shouldn’t be paid like one.”

He won the Cy Young last year! How much more elite can you get? The fact is we just lost our ace for pretty much the rest of the season. We can take a flier on our kids, go out and get some retread, hope that Freddy Garcia has something left or go out and get a top starter who comes close to matching Wang’s quality. Sabathia is the only one out there that fits the bill.

And btw, one of those “out of context” starts included an 8 IP, one run perf. agst your NYYankees.

Sprained foot + partially torn tendon. Minimum six weeks on crutches with protective boot. That takes you to the end of July, and you’re looking at a month, perhaps more, to get the arm back in shape. So best case scenario is a September return, and if the time in the boot goes longer, than you are talking later in September to missing the whole thing.

So there you go – they need to decide who to call up in the short-term, see what they get from the youngsters, and go from there.

Sabathia’s recent numbers look nice out of context, but he was awful to start the season and even the last month or so is a little deceptive. Yes, the two shutouts were excellent outings and he had other good starts, but in between, he got smacked around by KC and Texas. 3 runs in 8 IP last outing sounds nice, but it was against San Diego. He’s a good pitcher, but hasn’t shown he can consistently perform as an elite pitcher and he shouldn’t be paid like one.

David Wells is an option…yeah I know he’s old but it’s only money. Sabathia? The Indians are in the playoff mix so I don’t see him going. IF he does go, the Cubs and Phillies are flush with prospects to part with to get a pitcher whereas Cashman is more reluctant. Oswalt,does he even want to come to the Yankees? AJ Burnett, the Jays are still in the mix and Ricciardi would make the NYY pay a king’s ransom for him.

The Lidle/Abreu trade was a salary dump as the Yanks gave up relatively nothing for those two. But I don’t see that happening this year with the Cubs and Phils looking for the same thing. Teams will ask for more from the Yanks, but that goes with the territory when their payroll is $209 million(before being pro rated and the money spent on draft bonuses),so they are in a sticky situation.

Actually, Sabathia makes some sense as a rental only: He signs elsewhere, his team gets two first round draft picks.

That will be part of the calculation for the Indians if they decide to make him available: is the package being offered better than the draft compensation if we play out the season with him? If a team offers major league ready or near-ready decent talent, there’s less uncertainty going with that than taking the draft picks. And the team that gets him knows that they can replenish through the draft if they don’t sign him to a long-term deal.

Well obviously you don’t trade for Sabathia without signing him to a long-term deal. This is not exactly rocket science nor is it unprecendented. If you guys want to go through the rest of the season with Dan Geise or Ian Kennedy as Wang’s replacment go right ahead. The rest of us are expecting the Yankees to compete for a pennant.

Sabathia is a FA after the season. Trading more than a bag-o-donuts for him is silly. Thankfully, cooler heads are likely to prevail.

“If you’re not going to trade those guys for Santana (a better pitcher by all measures) then why make a panic trade for Sabathia?”

B/C circumstances have changed, that’s why. And I would not label it a “panic trade”. I would term it a very reasonable trade of an, established front-line starter who is only 27 and has never made fewer than 28 starts a season. We can likely get him for prospects w/out trading Cano but he shouldn’t be off the table.

“I don’t think Sabathia is the answer to anyone’s problems and he’s not pitching all that well right now anyway.”

Sabathia’s ERA in May: 2.44 with 2 CG’s. Sabathia’s ERA in June: 2.40 with 1 CG and last night’s 10 K performance. Is this your definition of not pitching well? I wish all our starters pitched this poorly!