YANKS WON'T MOVE SABATHIA TO PEN OUT OF RESPECT

Look, until it's absolutely necessary, the Yankees are not gonna move CC Sabathia to the bullpen.  The reason is simple. It's out of respect. You don't take a guy who's clearly working through his issues and succeeding at times, and just throw him in the pen to now re-adjust again.  And so, for at least alittle longer, Sabathia will be a starter this season... maybe even the whole season. Get over yourself.
 

Many asked me if Sabathia should move to the pen, instead of say Adam Warren, who we just wrote about in ADAM WARREN IS MOVING TO A NEW ROLE. My answer is simple; I love the big lug, but I too would do what the Yankees are doing.  Eventually though, and I'm being honest here, to help the team, to help CC's confidence, he should move to the pen.  It could be an incredible new life for CC after a successful career as a starter.  Nothing wrong with reinventing himself at this point in his career.

Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk has a piece out titled: CC Sabathia looks like a reliever. In it, he writes,

"...Are there any solutions to this problem? If you’re Joe Girardi and the Yankees your solution is just to say that he looked pretty good out there compared to how he’s been lately, say he’s your horse and that he’ll come around. Which makes sense given who Sabathia is and that he makes $23 million a year to start games. 

But if you look at his numbers and divorce them from his paycheck and reputation, you realize that the big lefty in the Yankees uniform is basically a relief pitcher at this point. Check out his splits per number of pitches in a game:

• Pitches 1-15: .234/.294/.404
• Pitches 16-30: .317/.339/.426
• Pitches 31-45: .318/.333/.523
• Pitches 46-60: .333/.357/.718

Put differently, once Sabathia gets past 45 pitches, everyone he faces turns into Lou Gehrig who gets on base a bit less but hits for more power than the Iron Horse did."

Craig nails it.

It's really something to think about.

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