Sabathia Or Bust

The Yankees are still very much cursed in my mind-- but if there's an off-chance that all this recent losing in heartbreaking fashion is mere coincidence, then its imperative-- ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE-- that the team signs ace pitcher C.C. Sabathia in the offseason, no matter the cost.

Cut him a blank check, and let him dictate his own net worth. Invite him to pitch Opening Day in baseball's Mecca and a state-of-the-art stadium, equipped with a clubhouse and lockerroom larger than a football field. Offer him access to TWELVE luxury boxes for all of his California family and buddies to cohabit-- Hank Steinbrenner himself will gladly serve them pigs-in-a-planket from a silver platter (It'd be the first time he'd be making himself useful). Just do it. Whatever he wants. He'll want a championship caliber team-- and this Murphy's Law-type 2008 season notwithstanding, the Yankees offer just that.

If that's not enough, tell him that on the occasional days where he doesn't have enough juice to go the distance, that it won't be Joe Borowski or Salomon Torres closing out his games and preserving his wins-- it'll be Mariano Rivera. Only the best for C.C. Sabathia.

Everyday, I comb the blogs, newspapers, and websites (I might do an entry solely based on listing what I look at and guide my sports life by-- perhaps it'd influence a few diehards fanatics like me) and read about the preliminary thoughts of what the Yankee ethos will be this winter as they try to regain their playoff-caliber form. I know the postseason has just begun, and free agency won't really begin until November, but nonetheless, I like to see what all the local and national beat guys are saying as the offseason approaches.

Mark Feinsand-- of whom I am a great admirer -- had this to write today in the New York Daily News about Sabathia:

"He has a big frame (6-foot-7 and about 260 lbs) which certainly seems to be able to handle the workload, having never had any major arm injuries while throwing at least 180 innings in each of his eight big-league seasons.

He’ll be 28 years old on Opening Day, entering what should be the prime years of his career. Let’s assume for a minute that he wants the same deal that Santana got (6 years/$137.5 million) from the Mets. Would it be worth it?

Sabathia would be 33 years old in the last year of that deal - hardly a candidate for retirement. In fact, he might wind up getting another long-term deal when that contract is up.

There are plenty of people who feel his size will eventually catch up with him. But why? If the arm is sound, there’s no reason to think he’ll break down. Look at the last hefty lefty to have a successful career: David Wells."

Although I'm fairly certain that Sabathia will get either seven years and an option or a guaranteed eight-year deal based on his heroics this year-- and he was easily the best pitcher in baseball this year and deserves MVP and Cy Young consideration-- I think Feinsand hit the nail right on the head. I absolutely LOVE that David Wells parallel.

Boomer may have walked fewer batters year in and year out, but he never could throw the ball 97 with great movement like Carsten Charles can, a consumate power pitcher. Both guys were/are known for having rubber arms, being underrated as athletes (Wells was one of the better fielding pitchers of his days, believe it or not, and could get to first base on infield grounders with an agility that defied physics and all logic), and above all else... they're team guys who want the ball when the season is on the line. Four straight starts on three days rest to carry the Brewers into the postseason is evidence enough that this is the ace stopper you'd want pitching in a Game 7.

Feinsand continues:

"Wells came to the Yankees in 1997 at the age of 33, having thrown 427 innings over the previous two seasons and at least 187 in three of the five seasons before that. Wells went on to throw 218 and 214 1/3 in his two seasons with the Yankees, then 231 2/3 and 229 2/3 in the two seasons after that with the Blue Jays. Injuries limited him to 100 innings in 2001 with the White Sox, but Wells came back to throw 206 1/3 and 213 in 2002 and ‘03 with the Yankees at the age of 38 and 39.

Why can’t Sabathia be the same workhorse he’s been over the next five or six years? Other than natural pessimism, there’s no reason to think he can’t."

Wells's was more an anomaly of a pitcher's life and its expectancy, so to say Sabathia will be this freak of nature as he ages into his mid-thirties onward may be foolhardy. But that's not what the Yankees would be signing up for-- they're getting the best pitcher in baseball (save, arguably, for Johan Santana, who would have cost them either a package centered around Phil Hughes or Chien-Ming Wang and Ian Kennedy-- Sabathia costs them draft picks, which they'll get some back if Damaso Marte/Bobby Abreu/Ivan Rodriguez/Jason Giambi decline arbitration and sign elsewhere. At least one, and probably two, of those players will.) in his prime, WITHOUT a history of injury trouble, let alone arm trouble.

Since he came into the league at age 20 in 2001, C.C. Sabathia has never pitched less than 180 innings.

If you're the Yankees, you can finally have it both ways: You keep Joba, you keep Hughes, you keep Wang... and you get back to baseball in October with Sabathia at the forefront.

Just don't leave anything on the table.

Great Football Is About Great Players Playing Great Football...

In light of how Oakland Raiders' owner, the mercurial Al Davis, fired head coach Lane Kiffin in a scene that could have come straight out of the film "Conspiracy Theory," (starring the also-mercurial Mel Gibson) let's have some fun with an out-there hypothetical that-- given Davis's whacked-out, fragile mental state-- could actually be feasible:

You know that guy, Frank Caliendo? Of course you do, at least if you're a baseball fan. He's been on TBS once every 14.3 seconds during the playoffs now for the past two years. You'd know him as a football fan, too-- he's John Madden. A dead-ringer, right down to the guffaws, to the nonsensical, generic pigskin yammering, to the ongoing man-crush with Brett Favre: "Here's what I know about FieldTurf: you see, half the field is real, and half the field is fake-- but, but Brett Favre... is all real."

What if Frank Caliendo-- er, John Madden, who a hall-of-fame coach who once upon a time worked for Davis-- showed up in Oaktown and Network Associates Coliseum (or whatever they're calling that stadium now), and marched into Davis's office on a bombastic, booming roll? I think Big Al would have stars in his eyes, reliving the days of Jim Plunkett, Jack Tatum, and Kenny Stabler-- it would be the glory days of the 1970's all over again, with Madden at the helm... only, it would be a guy in a bad wig and fake orange eyebrows spouting out these pearls of wisdom:

"The way we get to the Super Bowl is if we tackle well... we block well... we run the ball well, we pass the ball well, we kick the ball well... and we snap the ball well. If we do all those things well... that's when the Oakland Raiders will do well."

"JaMarcus Russell, here's a guy as a quarterback who when he throws the ball deep, big gains are going to happen. He's got all kinds of talent, and before all is said and done, he'll have more hardware than Ace-Is-The-Place..."

"Y'know, BOOM! Our linemen have to stuff those holes fast-- and, and with authority... like I do when at Thanksgiving, stuff a chicken into the cavity of a duck... and then stuff that into the cavity of a turkey... and make the delicious Madden meal now known the world over as 'Turducken.'"

"We've got the talent to be a talented team, and if we make the playoffs, that'll prove that we're a playoff caliber team in this AFC West... and to play in the AFC West with the Broncos, the Chargers, and, and Kansas City, you've, uh... you've got to be a talented team."

Hey Al, if you can hire and fire Art Shell twice, we're not ruling out a second reign of Madden on the sidelines... even if the guy doesn't REALLY know a post pattern from a post office.