CC Sabathia, Yankees Agree to Reported 1-Year, $8M Contract

The New York Yankees announced Wednesday they have agreed on a one-year contract worth a reported $8 million with starting pitcher CC Sabathia.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported the terms of the deal Tuesday.

Sabathia, 38, was solid for the Yankees in 2018, finishing 9-7 with a 3.65 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 140 strikeouts in 153 innings.

Sabathia's return isn't a surprise, as Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Monday.

"He's been a great Yankee, and he has time on the clock still," he said, per Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. "I think he'd like to stay, and I think we'd like to keep him."

Sabathia also reportedly wasn't interested in leaving New York, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com:

His signing comes just hours after Jon Heyman of Fancred reported the team would be exploring trades for veteran pitchers like Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and James Paxton and would consider signing Patrick Corbin in free agency and re-signing Sabathia and J.A. Happ.

After the 2018 season, only Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino seemed like locks to return to the rotation. Yankees managing partner Hal Steinbrenner said on The Michael Kay Show in October that he wasn't thrilled with the team's starters following a disappointing postseason.

"Our starting pitchers, except for Tanaka, they were not good," Steinbrenner said (h/t MLB.com). "All of a sudden, your hitters are down three, four, five, six runs in inning three or four, and it really puts the pressure on them and changes the dynamics somewhat of the whole process. Their pitchers get emboldened, so that just makes it makes it more difficult."

Sabathia's return means he'll hold down a spot in the back end of the team's rotation in 2019, barring a major regression. Sabathia may no longer be the top-end ace who was a six-time All-Star and won the AL Cy Young in 2007, but he remains a nice veteran option for the Yankees who can still provide quality innings.