Sabathia still gets big bonus

Plunking an opponent paid off for CC Sabathia.

The New York Yankees gave Sabathia a $500,000 performance bonus, even though the 38-year-old lefthander was ejected from his final regular season start six outs shy of the 155 innings specified in his contract for the payment.

Sabathia hit Tampa Bay's Jesus Sucre starting the sixth inning on Sept. 27 with his 55th pitch of the night, retaliation for Andrew Kittredge throwing a pitch behind Austin Romine in the top half.

“We thought it was a very nice gesture by the Yankees,” Sabathia's agent, Kyle Thousand of Roc Nation Sports, told The Associated Press on Monday. “CC was very appreciative and is really excited to come back next year and, hopefully, win a championship.”

Neither side announced the decision, which became evident when the $500,000 was included in the Yankees' final luxury tax payroll.

“It was something that we did very private and weren't looking to publicize, and I'll just leave it at that,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.

Sabathia hit Jake Bauers on the knuckles of his right hand with an 88 mph fastball with two outs in the fifth inning. Kittredge threw a 93 mph fastball behind Romine's neck with his initial pitch in the sixth, and plate umpire Vic Carapazza issued a warning to both benches. Sabathia started out of the Yankees dugout and had to be intercepted by manager Aaron Boone.

After New York opened an 11-0 lead, Sabathia hit Sucre the lower left leg with a 93 mph cutter on his first pitch in the bottom half, causing Carapazza to eject the pitcher and Boone.

Lefthander J.A. Happ and the Yankees have finalized a $34 million, two-year contract. Happ gets $17 million in each of the next two seasons, and his deal includes a $17 million option for 2021 that could become guaranteed is he has either 27 or more starts as a pitcher in 2020 or 165 or more innings that year. He is projected to be part of a rotation that includes Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and James Paxton, acquired from Seattle in a trade.

A first-time All-Star, Happ was acquired from Toronto on July 26 as a summer rental and went 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA in 11 starts for New York, leaving him 17-6 with a 3.65 ERA for the season.

Righthander Parker Bridwell was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot Monday.

Jeurys Familia would rather be a setup man for the Mets than a closer for someone else.

Familia had 123 saves for the Mets, who traded him to Oakland in July. He instructed agents Sam and Seth Levinson to pursue any possibility to return to the Mets.

“Honestly, that was my goal, be back with the Mets,” Familia said during a conference call Monday, three days after his $30 million, three-year contract was finalized.

The Mets also called a news conference for Tuesday to introduce catcher Wilson Ramos, who finalized a $19 million, twoyear contract.