Via George King –
Though [CC] Sabathia’s wife, Amber, would like her husband to pitch for the Giants, and though the Angels have the money, neither club has shown a strong interest in the 28-year-old lefty, who went 17-11 with a 2.70 for the Indians and Brewers last year.
Sabathia – who reportedly was offered a fiveyear, $100 million deal to remain in Milwaukee and offered arbitration Monday by the Brewers – is from the Bay Area.
According to several sources, the Giants have money to invest in Sabathia, but can’t come close to the Yankees’ deal.
A week ago it was reported the Angels were preparing an offer for Sabathia, but that seems to have cooled.
That leaves the Yankees as the only horse in the race. And since the offer has been out there for more than two weeks, it makes you wonder why Sabathia hasn’t inhaled it.
Good question.
28 Responses to “Waiting On Sabathia Like Looking For Mr. Godot?”
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Why would it be so unreasonable for Sabathia to wait before signing this contract? Whether or not Sabathia wants to pitch in New York is irrelevant. The point that is being missed by many here is that waiting as long as possible before signing will potentially make the Yankees a desperate suitor and could induce them to toss in extra money on top of the $140M.
Sabathia is being prudent to wait and no one should read too much into his patience. He could certainly decide that the Yanks aren’t his destination of choice but it wouldn’t mean that not accepting the deal right now was an indication of that. Negotiations don’t proceed in straight-line, intuitive format. Let’s all remember that.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Once again George King is speaking out of his ass and projecting something that’s not true, much like his claim that the Yankees were ready to offer A.J. Burnett a giant contract when that wasn’t the case. Google it; nowhere does it say that Amber Sabathia wants her husband to play for the Giants, nor does it say anywhere from C.C., his wife or his agent that he, she, or anyone in the family prefers to play for the Giants, Dodgers or Angels. George King can say it, an “unidentified source” can say it, but the real and direct sources have never said it. George needs to attract readers so I don’t blame him for publishing nonsense, but everyone in the media and in New York is taking C.C.’s patience as a personal shot to the organization and that he doesn’t want to be here. It’s tough to remain patient in the offseason but we need to be…the guy has never said he prefers the West Coast or that he doesn’t want to play for the Yankees. We’ll see his decision some time, hopefully soon of course.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I don’t know if anyone noticed, but it’s not like free agents are signing left and right already. Things have been pretty quiet for all the big name players.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
the guy has never said he prefers the West Coast or that he doesn’t want to play for the Yankees.
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Exactly. I understand that Steve has recent become obsessed with anything that suggests CC is taking too much time to sign with the Yankees. I mean, Steve, this is George King. Come on. It’s ALL conjecture.
Again, no one close to CC, his wife, agent, father, brother, sister, or any other important relation has said he doesn’t want to play for the Yankees or has a strong desire to play on the WC. A few days ago everyone had CC connected to the Angels, something that was completely false. STEVE. BE PATIENT.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
~~~I don’t know if anyone noticed, but it’s not like free agents are signing left and right already. Things have been pretty quiet for all the big name players.~~~
How many of them, like CC, have confirmed offers in hand for a contract worth $140 million, or thereabouts? I believe that would be zero….that’s why he’s in a case by himself right now.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
this is turning into the same convo every day…i wish something, anything would happen
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:25 pm
ah yes… here we go, again. feels like groundhog day.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I cannot believe I’m the only one who reads this stuff and comes away seeing that it’s not CC’s dream to play for the Yankees.
After all, if it was your dream to play for the Yanks, and they offered you $140 million, and no one else was willing to offer you anything close to that, what’s to think about or wait on?
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
“After all, if it was your dream to play for the Yanks, and they offered you $140 million, and no one else was willing to offer you anything close to that, what’s to think about or wait on?”
Who ever said it has to be your dream to play for the Yankees for you to play in New York? He’s not allowed to test the market, wait it out a bit to see if he gets a higher contract offer then weigh his options to see where he wants to play? I’m sorry Steve but not every big player grows up wanting to be a New York Yankee.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Mike Mussina didn’t grow up with a dream of playing for the Yankees. He took the highest offer and wound up loving it in New York and being a pretty damn productive pitcher. Of course, he didn’t wait this long to sign but he had a number of offers from the Yanks, Sox and Orioles to consider. CC essentially has two offer so it’s not his fault that he wants to wait it out and see if any other interest comes up.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Maybe he’s getting bad advice from his agent that other teams are going to offer similar deals?
Anyway my point about other free agents not signing is that the Yankees aren’t missing out on anyone because things have been slow with all the big name players. I’d be more worried if everyone else was already signed and the Yankees were still waiting on Sabathia.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I cannot believe I’m the only one who reads this stuff and comes away seeing that it’s not CC’s dream to play for the Yankees.
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I don’t think you’re misreading anything here. Although it’s never been 100% confirmed by Sabathia, I think most people accept that he might prefer California or the NL to the Yankees.
But having said that, who cares? The fact that he hasn’t signed a contract doesn’t mean that he WON’T pitch for the Yankees, it only means that he hasn’t signed his contract. As I said before, if he knows the Yankees are desperate and it’s possible that they throw in an extra $5-15M, why would he want to give up that leverage?
Irrespective of where he’d rather be, the fact remains that he still may end up in New York. Remember, you don’t need Sabathia to WANT to be a Yankee, you only need him to pitch like he wants to be a Yankee. As someone else pointed out, Mussina worked out pretty well in New York and most knew that it may not have been his first choice either.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:46 pm
~~~Mike Mussina didn’t grow up with a dream of playing for the Yankees. ~~~
IIRC, in Living on the Black, it said that Mussina grew up as a Yankees fan. Or, at the least, the Yankees were one of his few favorite teams as a youth.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
~~Irrespective of where he’d rather be, the fact remains that he still may end up in New York~~
Sure, for the money. And, the money alone. And, we know how well those types of relationships work out – sooner or later, there are issues.
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
We can all argue about CC all day, but a more important question is….if George King was actually a reputable source, how do you think he would have squeezed this bit of information out of C.C.’s wife without anybody else knowing??
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Sure, for the money. And, the money alone. And, we know how well those types of relationships work out – sooner or later, there are issues.
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There’s just no evidence of that. Plenty of players who sign for money have succeeded and plenty of players who sign for reasons other than pure financial reward have failed.
You’re far more sophisticated a fan than this. I’m surprised you’d see it in such a way.
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Sure, for the money. And, the money alone. And, we know how well those types of relationships work out – sooner or later, there are issues.
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There’s just no evidence of that. Plenty of players who sign for money have succeeded and plenty of players who sign for reasons other than pure financial reward have failed.
You’re far more sophisticated a fan than this. I’m surprised you’d see it in such a way.
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I would also add that Sabathia has never been a problem in the past and as far as we know is a good teammate. I’m not worried about him being a problem or not giving his all if he ends up in a Yankees’ uniform.
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Sure, for the money. And, the money alone. And, we know how well those types of relationships work out – sooner or later, there are issues.
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There’s just no evidence of that. Plenty of players who sign for money have succeeded and plenty of players who sign for reasons other than pure financial reward have failed.
You’re far more sophisticated a fan than this. I’m surprised you’d see it in such a way.
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I agree, but I don’t blame Steve or any fan that agrees with his argument. It’s a slow and frustrating time of the year and as Yankee fans we become impatient and want the big ticket signing. It’s very hard to stay calm and not jump to conclusions.
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
“After all, if it was your dream to play for the Yanks, and they offered you $140 million, and no one else was willing to offer you anything close to that, what’s to think about or wait on?”
This is Scott Boras’ modus operandi. He waits as long as possible, and lets the pajama bloggers and newspapermen upset themselves.
Why are you acting surprised?
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Sanair, you’re right about Boras but he doesn’t represent C.C. I’d definitely be a little more annoyed if CC was a client of Boras.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Sure, for the money. And, the money alone. And, we know how well those types of relationships work out – sooner or later, there are issues
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Isn’t this how most players decide where they are going to play?
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I’m in the “CC doesn’t want to play in New York” camp. He said he’d make his decision after Thanksgiving? Well, even the turkey leftovers are gone. What’s he waiting for? And yes, some players do grow up wanting to play for the Yankees.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
And yes, some players do grow up wanting to play for the Yankees.
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And yes, many more players grow up not caring if they play for the Yankees or not. If Cashman were to limit himself to “Only players who grew up wanting to play for the Yankees,” we would overlook many, many good players.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Jane, he’s waiting for another offer to come out. He’s the biggest free agent pitcher on the market so he’s trying to maximize his earning power. The longer he waits to sign the more A) The Yankees become desperate, B) The Angels get impatient with Tex and try to move on to Sabathia, C) The Dodgers get impatient with Manny and try to move on to Sabathia, D) Other teams like the Giants, Mets etc. feel they can make an offer if they wanted to (no truth to that part, pure speculation on my part). He figures that, right now, worst case scenario he has a $140 million offer from the Yanks on the table and best case scenario, he waits and more teams get involved to boost his price tag up.
This in no way means he doesn’t want to play in New York, seeing as he’s never said where he wants or prefers to play. All that’s clear now is he’s a free agent and, with not jumping on the Brewer or Yankee offer right away, he wants to make a large chunk of money.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
And yes, some players do grow up wanting to play for the Yankees.
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That’s true, I grew up wanting to play for the Yankees badly. Lots of people grow up wanting to play for the Yankees, and honestly, lots of players get to free agency, have a family and want to cash in on as much money and security as possible to support that same family. I imagine if you were in C.C.’s situation, and were hitting free agency for the one and only time within your prime years, you’d want to explore exactly how much money you could make as well. Give the big guy a break.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Steve, maybe you could do a post on the other big free agents the Yankees signed over the past 8 years and see when they signed as opposed to when they offered a contract.
That would give good perspective on the correlation a free agent receives a contract and when he signs and how that compares to if he wants to play for the Yankees.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:38 pm
@ YankCrank — you’re right, he’s not represented by Boras. My bad.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
He has never said he hates NY or hes desperate to pitch in Cali.
When he says it I’ll buy it.