C.C. Sabathia Shoots Down New York Rumors….For Now
While we Indians fans have had to slowly prepare ourselves for the departure of Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia that feels more and more bound to happen, one prevailing school of thought has been that surely the Yankees would pony up the dough to make Sabathia an offer that the Indians wouldn’t be able to dream of matching. But what if it’s not that simple?
I know, I know….the season hasn’t even started yet and already we’re speculating on where Sabathia may or may not be next year. So my apologies up front, but bear with me because I stumbled upon this quote and I felt it was worth sharing.
Anthony Castrovince, who writes for MLB.com on the Indians’ official site wrote an interesting piece on Sabathia facing off the Yanks for the last time in Spring Training. In particular, he discusses an interesting exchange between the Big Fella and the NY media,
“Linking Sabathia to the Yankees, after all, isn’t that far-fetched, considering he’ll be a free agent after the ’08 season and they’ve got deeper pockets than anybody in baseball. So forgive the New York media for essentially asking Sabathia after this outing if New York might be in his future.
The response was about what you would expect.
“I’m focused on this year right now,” said Sabathia, who has already vowed not to discuss his contract status this season. “I’m playing in Cleveland and [trying] to win.”
Does Sabathia like New York?
“It’s all right,” he said.
Still, he’d prefer to remain with the Indians, right? That has, after all, been his public stance throughout this contract saga.
“In a perfect world, of course,” said Sabathia, who allowed three runs on five hits, walking three and striking out three in four innings against the Yanks. “I’ve been here since I was 17.””
Well, ok, so it’s not exactly a complete rebuttal of New York or a ringing endorsement for Cleveland, but hey, it’s a start. I’m not going to go on and on about where I think Sabathia will be after this year, because I really don’t know and I think the odds of him coming back are no better or worse than 50-50 at this point. I merely found this quote and thought it was worth passing on. So take it for what it’s worth.
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