Monday, October 6, 2008

Sabathia: "I'll play anywhere"

From Jon Heyman (hat tip to Scott Proctor's Arm):
Sabathia, 28, had only positive words for Milwaukee. "I'd be lying if I didn't say it was one of the better times in my life and my career,'' he said. "I enjoyed my time here and we accomplished a lot.'' He also complimented interim manager Dale Sveum, pitching coach Mike Maddux and many of his Brewers teammates.

But Sabathia also said, "I'll play anywhere,'' and kept the Yankees in play, saying of New York, "I enjoy that city. They've got a brand new stadium. We'll have to see what happens.''

"'Coming to a new city showed me it's pretty much the same anywhere,'' he said.
Sabathia took a swipe at the conventional wisdom that says he much preferred to go home to California to play. "All those who say I only want to go back to California to play, that's not true,'' Sabathia said.

He said he loved batting but wouldn't go so far as to say that that preference would eliminate American League teams.

"I'll play anywhere,'' he said.
Wow, I guess all that talk about CC not wanting to come to the east coast and the AL weren't true. I'm very surprised by this, pleasantly surprised.

Heyman also said in the article the the Brewers were going to make a run at CC and that "the Brewers will be in, unless the money gets crazy,'' according to a person familiar with the Brewers thinking.

But that's exactly what the Yankees can do - make the money get crazy, and if they do it seems from these comments that CC might be as good as ours.

14 Comments:

Anonymous said...

MAKE THE MONEY CRAZY

Anonymous said...

Either that or he's just trying to keep the Yankees in the bidding so he can get more money where he really does want to play.

Greg Cohen said...

That's definitely a possibility Wags.

One good thing is this is the first time we've really heard anything from CC himself, everything about not wanting to play on the east coast or the AL were rumors.

We'll see what happens, as I've said before, this is going to be a very interesting and crazy off-season.

Mike B. said...

Well, well, well. This sure might put a different spin on things, no? Looks like we might have the perfect excuse to make a serious move for CC. At this point I will refrain from the remarks you expect me to make right about here....

All we can do is sit back and see happens. But if we don't get him, I'll still rest easy. After all, Ian Kennedy will be here to help us retain our true glory.

There's one thing on which I think we all agree: it will be a really interesting off-season. Go Yanks!

Mike

Greg Cohen said...

Mike,

If the Yankees can get CC and for some reason Cashman decides to go in another direction I will join you in the Cashman hate club.

I know there are risks with Sabathia; he's thrown a ton of innings over the last two seasons, he's fat, and he's never been a good postseason pitcher. But with that said, if he's willing to come here he should be here.

Mike B. said...

Yes indeed, we agree. What an off-season it will be!

Mike

Anonymous said...

We have to get him. If we could get him and Tex that would be awesome. We might want to think about signing Manny too. Our whole team could change instantly. We could definitely use another pitcher besides CC. But, I would be happy with CC and Tex. I would not have any problem trading Cano and someone for Peavy either. Hopefully, Cashman has learned that we need pitchers. CC, Peavy (or someone close) will change everything. Then sign Hudson to play 2b and we are set.

Anonymous said...

anon:cc and peavy! now were talkin. cc, peavy, wang, joba and moose. ok, we would win 115+ games and a world series. why not try? hudson is a very very good player, great defense and good situational hitting. so it would be a trade of hughes and cano for peavy and hudson, along with possibly cc, tex and manny. hopefully we can a combination of two of those. we cant get 'em all.

Anonymous said...

Ken Rosenthal has the Yankees at 5-2 favorites to land CC.

Anonymous said...

So you make a note of Peavy struggling in the postseason but you want CC to get "crazy money" Have you checked out CC's postseason stats?

Greg Cohen said...

Anon,

Peavy is a NL pitcher who has been helped out by spending his whole career in pitcher's parks. His ERA is almost two runs higher on the road than it is at home. He would also cost the Yankees Cano, Hughes, and probably another prospect. I don't think that's worth it.

Sabathia has already won a Cy Young in the AL, and will only cost the Yankees money, so the risk isn't as great.

If Peavy was a free agent I would have no problem with the Yankees giving him a big contract.

Anonymous said...

I hear that the Red Sox are making a run for CC!

Anonymous said...

I don't think this story shows anything, other than the fact that his agent coached him very well on what to say when asked about it.

Anonymous said...

I think what CC said was,"I'll play anywhere but the red sox.