Yankees Pitcher C.C. Sabathia to Miss Post-Season to Enter Alcohol Rehab - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Yankees Pitcher C.C. Sabathia to Miss Post-Season to Enter Alcohol Rehab
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I was saddened to read that New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia would be entering alcohol rehab and miss the post-season.

Obviously both Sabathia and the club must have determined that his condition was serious enough to warrant missing the playoffs. The Yankees don’t have a very deep starting rotation. After Masahiro Tanaka (who will start tomorrow night’s AL Wild Card game against the Astros) you’ve got Michael Pineda, Ivan Nova, Adam Warren and rookie Luis Severino. You never know what you’re going to get with any of them. I suppose you could put Nathan Eovaldi into the mix, but he’s been having elbow problems and hasn’t pitched in a month. The Yankees do have an outstanding bullpen with Dellin Bettances and Andrew Miller, but it does help if your starting pitching can go deep. (Although the same could be said of the Kansas City Royals as well).

Sabathia has been one of MLB’s best pitchers for nearly 15 years since he broke in with the Cleveland Indians in 2001. The 6,7 lefty won the AL Cy Young with the Tribe in 2007 and led the Milwaukee Brewers to their first post-season appearance in over a quarter century during the 2008 season. Sabathia signed an 8-year, $182 million contract with the Yankees prior to the 2009 season. That year, he won 19 games and was a key figure in the Yankees’ World Series title. He won a career high 21 games in 2010 earning him an AL All-Star Team selection which he would also get in 2011 and 2012. Sabathia’s 214 victories are tied with Mark Buehrle of the Toronto Blue Jays for second most among active pitchers. Only the ageless Bartolo Colon of the New York Mets has more with 218. Earlier this season, he recorded his 2,500th career strikeout.

But since 2013, Sabathia has been less than stellar going 23-27 over the past three seasons. He missed most of the 2014 season due an injury to his right knee which required surgery. In 2015, Sabathia went 6-10 with a 4.73 ERA in 29 starts. He did pitch better during September lowering his ERA by nearly half a run. While Sabathia isn’t the pitcher he once was, given his vast post-season experience, the Yankees would have likely named him their Game 1 starter for the ALDS against the Royals (assuming, of course, they get past the Astros tomorrow night).

Sabathia, who is 35, extended his contract with the Yankees in 2011. He is due to be paid $25 million in 2016 and has a vesting option for 2017. Hopefully rehab will do him good and he will back in form both on and off the pitching mound next season.

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