THE YANKS DON'T HAVE MEAN, LEAN PITCHING MACHINES IN THE ROTATION

I have prided myself on keeping trim and lean through a very committed, dedicated running regiment and in doing so I have seen excellent results.  Besides a healthier lifestyle and smaller waistline, I am running faster and feeling great.  As biblical lore states, “your body is your temple.”  And in being your temple, you have to take care of your body, nurture it, soothe it and keep it healthy.

A couple of years ago I was listening to a report on ESPN regarding pitchers and velocity and keeping trim and lean in the midsection.  The reporters brought up CC Sabathia and although he is young, the additional weight he is carrying is not just weighing him down but it is also aging him more quickly.

According to a ESPN New York report following the 2011 season (HERE), “Sabathia, a nice man by all accounts, can bloviate all he wants about how "there's no reason to think I can't" be an ace over that period of time, as he told reporters following the Yankees' Game 5 loss on Thursday night. But the fact remains, his midsection rivals that of the Fat Bastard character in all those Austin Powers movies.”

If you asked me, CC Sabathia is his own worst enemy because you are frankly, what you eat.  He is a fat man and as far as I have seen the fat men in the public eye are all doing something about it- case it point New York Jet Head Coach Rex Ryan and the Governor of the Great State of New Jersey, Chris Christie, who by his looks prior to his stomach bypass surgery this winter, looked like he swallowed all of New Jersey.

I love CC and we can call him a big teddy bear all we want, but I don’t want a teddy bear, I want a lean mean pitching machine.  CC needs help.  It is not an injury per say, it is obesity and he has a case of it.

Joba Chamberlain is too heavy. Phil Hughes is on the pudgy side.  Vidal Nuno is a little hefty.  It is a trend with our starters and it is not good.  Now of course not all of our pitchers are fat.

Andy Pettitte has taken good care of himself.  He looks fit and trim and for an almost 41-year-old, he is in great shape.  The only thing hurting Andy is frankly, his age.  When you get older, things don’t work as they did when you were younger.  According to an ESPN report (HERE) on Thursday night, “Pettitte played catch for the first time since going on the 15-day disabled list last Friday because of a strained left trapezius muscle in his upper back.”  That trapezius muscle injury is very common for older athletes and people over the age of 50.  The injury occurs because of constant repetition, the formation of bone spurs and over use.  Andy may just be too old to pitch injury-free anymore.  I hope not, because I love him, but it is what it is.

Not far in age from Pettitte is Hiroki Kuroda who left the game Wednesday night “when he said he couldn't push off like he normally does, that's a concern of mine,'' Girardi said, adding there were no tests planned for the foot,” according to an article in Newsday.

So are our starters too fat and too old to pitch competitively? Maybe, maybe not, but it gets me thinking about a trimmer, more youthful starting rotation for us in the future in order to be the lean mean pitching machine we are meant to be.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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