CC hoping to be back in pinstripes
CC Sabathia has 246 regular-season wins and another 10 in October. His 2,986 strikeouts are 17th on the alltime list. When he retires, he will attract serious Hall of Fame attention. So he knows what his is looking at when watching others pitch.
And what the 38-year-old saw when watching the 27year-old Sonny Gray is a pitcher who can bounce back from a rough 2018 season.
“He has a lot of baseball left, for sure,’’ Sabathia told The Post on Wednesday of Gray, who general manager Brian Cashman said last week he will try to trade this offseason. “He can be one of the best pitchers in baseball. When he came to the Yankees he was one of the best in the game.’’
Sabathia’s and Gray’s lockers in the Yankees’ clubhouse bracketed Dellin Betances’ and Sabathia and Gray grew close since the right-hander arrived from the A’s on July 31, 2017.
In the aftermath of the Yankees’ season-ending loss to the Red Sox in Game 4 of the ALDS, Sabathia signed a pair of cleats for Gray and they committed to keep in touch during the offseason that started with uncertainty for each.
Gray is on the trading block and Sabathia, who had knee surgery Friday, will be a free agent following the World Series.
So, what happened to Gray this past season when he was dropped from the Yankees’ rotation after getting spanked by the Orioles for seven runs and eight hits in 2 2/3 innings on Aug. 1? He was replaced in the rotation by Lance Lynn. He appeared in nine games the rest of the season; seven in relief.
“The stuff was there, it was just a bad year and took a step back,’’ Sabathia said of Gray, who finished with an 11-9 record and a 4.90 ERA in 30 games (23 starts) and wasn’t on the roster for the AL wildcard game against the A’s or the ALDS. “Hopefully he will be back as a top-of-the-rotation guy.’’
Despite his ugly ERA, Gray will have teams interested him. Just because it didn’t work out with the Yankees, with whom he has gone 15-16 over parts of two seasons, doesn’t mean Gray won’t rediscover the formula that made him attractive to them originally. He is 59-52 with a 3.66 ERA in 155 big-league games (146 starts).
Remember when A.J. Burnett flamed out in The Bronx in 2011? He went to the Pirates and rebounded to go 26-21 with a 3.41 ERA in 2012-13. Ivan Nova was moved to the Pirates at the trade deadline in 2016 and pitched well enough to get a three-year deal worth $26 million that expires following next season.
As for Sabathia, the same day Cashman said he was looking to deal Gray, the veteran lefty underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. He has ditched the crutches, rehabbing the hinge and looking forward to an offseason tradition of throwing a football with his oldest son, Carsten Charles III, who is known as “Little C.’’ He said he would begin throwing a baseball in late December or early January.
Sabathia told The Post late in the regular season he will pitch in 2019 and retire. He would prefer it to be with the Yankees but it could be elsewhere, although it sounded Wednesday that he would like to remain in The Bronx and win a second World Series as a Yankee.
“The way it ended was tough. There were so many expectations, to end like that was tough,’’ said Sabathia, who gave up three runs and five hits in three innings of Game 4 against the Red Sox. “It’s a young team and we needed to go through that experience to make it a better team and get over the hump and win a championship. And it will happen.’’ With him? “Who knows, but I still feel good and can help this team for sure,’’ said Sabathia, who was 9-7 with a 3.65 ERA in 29 starts and worked 153 innings this season.