CC Sabathia, Prepare To Watch Your Innings Pitched Drop

CC Sabathia is reportedly heading to New York, and as a Yankee fan, I'm very pleased.  But I'm also curtailing some of my excitement because I know we're not going to see the CC who threw 253 innings, including 10 complete games and five shutouts, with the Indians and Brewers last year. Nor are we going to see the 2006-2007 Sabathia who racked up 10 more CGs in two seasons with Cleveland.

Because complete games don't exist in the Bronx.

Over the past two years, Yankee pitchers have thrown just two of them—the lowest total in Major League Baseball over that span. 

But this is nothing new; New York has been babying its starters for years. Some may say it's because the team has Mariano Rivera to pitch the ninth, but other organizations have competent relievers as well. Francisco Rodriguez compiled a record 62 saves in 2008, and yet the Angels still managed to have seven starts go the distance.

The bottom line is that when starters come to the Yankees, they consistently see their innings pitched drop.

In 1997, Roger Clemens tossed 264 innings for the Toronto Blue Jays. The following year, he tallied 234.2. But when the Rocket came to the Bronx in 1999, he saw that total decrease to 187.2. In fact, he never threw more than 220.2 innings with the Yanks.

David Wells pitched 224 innings for the Baltimore Orioles in 1996, but just 218 with New York the year after.  In '98 that dropped even further to 214.1, but when Boomer left for Toronto in '99, his IP returned to 231.2.

Javier Vazquez gutted out 230.2 innings with Montreal in 2003, but only 198 with the Yankees in '04—the lowest full season total in his career. But with Arizona in '05, Vazquez was back up to 215.2.

Jaret Wright, Randy Johnson, and Mike Mussina also saw their innings drop in their first years with the Pinstripes, and it's something that needs to stop.

Sabathia is capable of throwing 230 innings with a few complete games in 2009, and if the Yankees want to return to the playoffs, they'll let him do it.

Jordan Schwartz is Bleacher Report's New York Yankees Community Leader. His book "Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man" is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and authorhouse.com.

Jordan can be reached at [e-mail]