Yankees Land Their First BIG Fish!

Well, the New York Yankees made the first big splash at the Winter Meetings. CC Sabathia has been dragged kicking and screaming into the Bronx for what looks like a 7 year, 161 Million Dollar deal, with an opt out clause after 3 years. Those 3 years would be worth approximately 70 million and the total contract would make him MLB’s highest paid pitcher. Doug Melvin, Milwaukee Brewers GM, confirms that the Brewers tried and failed to give CC everything he wanted.

What does this mean for the Bronx Bombers, quite a bit! This move solidifies a starting rotation filled with injuries last year. This is basically a 2 for 1 deal, as Chien-Ming Wang will be returning from injury. Throw Joba Chamberlain in the 3rd spot, and the Yankees immediately have a 1-2-3 punch unequaled by many in the American League. Throw in the rookies who have another year, albeit a year of misfortune, under their belts and the Yanks have a solid pitching rotation once again.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, their division rivals, the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays (yep they are rivals now folks) are 2 teams that may be able to equal the Yanks starting pitcher for starting pitcher. For Boston, assuming Josh Beckett returns to his 2007, uninjured and slimmed down form, Dice K and Jon Lester combine to absolutely provide the solid outings to match the Yankee rotation. As for the Rays, there is no doubt James Shields, Matt Garza and Scott Kasmir have all learned from their World Series run, and will most likely step their game up another notch in 2009.

Let’s remember one thing, the Yankees are likely not done with their rotation. All reports have them closing in on either AJ Burnett or Derek Lowe, either of which would make them a very deep rotation. Does this make them early favorites to take the AL East and contend for the World Series? Maybe. There are far too many chips to fall at this point. Will, as rumored, the Yankees pursue Manny? Will the loss of Giambi and possibly Abreau hurt the offense too much. Will Cano stay put or will they trade him away? Far, far too many questions to be answered to make a solid judgement on where this team stands right now.

Make no doubt about it Red Sox fans, the Yankees have fired the 1st big shot and it has made them better. Will the Red Sox counter, or will they stay the course and hope that the system,choc full of prospects, will be enough to keep them ahead of Yanks for another year? We will see. Stay tuned!

The MLB Pendulum Swings

Bob Uecker hasn’t been this excited since “Major League”

CC Sabathia is a Milwaukee Brewer. If you had told me in February I would be typing that sentence in an unsarcastic way I would have lost money, pride, or both in some ridiculous wager. For years many of baseball’s fans, front offices and such have cried “How do we compete with the Red Sox and Yankees? It’s not fair!!!!” followed by embarrassing tantrums, pants-wetting, and door slams (come on admit it). I never found this to be true, as although the Red Sox have won 2 World Series this decade, the other champions(Arizona, Anaheim, Florida, the White Sox, St Louis) weren’t necessarily the highest spenders. In fact, the Cardinals have become world reknown for their ability to pick up scrap heap pitchers and do well with them (see Weaver, Jeff and Lohse, Kyle for examples). In fact, if you subtract the Red Sox from the equation, none of the other 5 teams and payrolls in the top 5 of baseball in the seasons in which they won the World Series. Even with that, the small market fans whined “But you still get all the impact players at the deadline!” However, in a season in which the Tampa Rays are 5 games ahead of the Red Sox and 9 ahead of the Yankees on the day of my 30th birthday (cheap plug), the “rebuilding”Oakland A’s are 6 games above .500 in an offseason in which they traded both their best pitcher and hitter in Dan Haren and Nick Swisher, respectively, and the Minnesota Twins are 1 game out of first after trading Johan Santana, the small market fans and media aren’t talking much. Perhaps it’s the roast crow they are eating right now that has them quiet. In a season in which a Brewers/Rays World Series is possible, where the Cubs are a leading contender to win the World Series, it was fitting that the crown jewel of trading deadline is now in the land of sausage races, Bernie Brewer and Harvey’s Wallbangers. It remains to be seen how this season will play out, if Brewers ace Ben Sheets stays healthy, if Solomon Torres can be a decent closer, if Eric Gagne can rebound, even if Prince Fielder will finally eat a cheeseburger, but this I can say right now, the Brewers showed more guts in making this deal than they they have in the last 26 years, which is coincidentally the last time they made the playoffs. Here’s hoping it pays off for them, unless they end up playing the Phillies in the playoffs….

In podcast related news yesterday’s episode of “The Sports Vortex” was simulcast live on WJZF, Lakes Region Community Radio. The Sports Vortex can be found on WJZF every Sunday from 4-6pm, if you miss it, the archives will always be here for you.