Everyone in Your Fantasy Baseball League Now Wants Sabathia
It wasn’t that long ago when the Giants threw a thoroughly regrettable amount of money and number of years at Barry Zito. It’s been a bit longer since the Rockies made Mike Hampton the highest paid pitcher ever. It’s been longer still since the Dodgers made too big an investment on Kevin Brown, and then mortgaged the last few years to the Yankees.
Despite any warnings that might be deprived from those situations, the Yankees have reportedly agreed to pay lefty starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia nearly $23 million for the next seven years.
Sabathia is just 28, won the 2007 American League Cy Young Award, ranked fifth in National League Cy voting last year despite spending just half the season in the N.L. and has posted earned-run averages of 3.22 or better in each of the past three seasons. He’s looking like one of the top three starters to come off the board in most mixed leagues in 2009. So what is the early reaction to his signing?
Steve Schwarz of The Sports Network gets into the numbers on how Sabathia has fared in New York and against his new divisional foes and thinks the additional run support will boost the pitcher’s value.
Sporting News‘ George Winkler doesn’t expect much to change with Sabathia’s projections as a result of his move to the Yankees, because Sabathia was already good and proved himself in the American League.
ESPN’s Tristan Cockcroft joins the Yankee-boost crowd but cautions against some risk factors such as Sabathia’s weight and workload late in 2008. He also predicts a backlash later in Sabathia’s Yankees stint.
With less than four months to go before the first pitch, it’s never too early to get figure out where Sabathia belongs in your own rankings.
Tags: baseball, c.c. sabathia, cy young award, espn, fantasy baseball, fantasy sports, fantasy sports business, fantasy sports industry, george winkler, mlb, new york yankees, sporting news, sports network, steve schwarz, tristan cockcroft
