CC Sabathia Needs to Step It Up

CC Sabathia was pitching beautifully for six innings today againt the Angels, but then ran out of gas in the seventh and blew the game.  Here’s the box if you want to know the ugly details.

I know last season Sabathia had a bad start, and then after that he was dominant.  Well to be exact, it was his first four starts that were horrendous - all against teams with not-so-great offenses either.  Today was his sixth start and it marked the fourth time he has allowed four or more runs.  His only two good starts came against the weak-hitting Royals and his old team, the Indians.

I am not as angry about his pitching troubles because of his outrageous contract like some people are.  Ihate using money as a reason to think somebody should play better because although $161 million over seven years (Sabathia’s deal) is an absurd amount, so would anything $100 million less than that number. 

The contracts have been so high recently because agents are always going to be comparing their clients to someone with the biggest contract at their position.  So in CC’s case, his agent probably compared him to Barry Zito because he makes around $18 million per season.

Anyways, CC needs to return to last season form quickly, or the Yankees will be in trouble.  He was supposed to be the Yankees’ first legitimate ace of their staff in the past 5-10 years.  Also, it’s not like every season he starts out really bad, and then is really good later on.  In 2007, his ERA was 2.25 after his first four starts.

I was so excited to have him in the front of the Yanks’ staff in spring training, but now I’m starting to lose interest.