Sabathia ponders 2018 and beyond
Now sober, pitcher says he’ll play for ‘as long as I’m healthy.’
TA M PA — I t a m u s e s C C Sabathia to hear he’s running out the clock on his career, just taking up roster space and $25 million the Yankees are itching to spend elsewhere. Make no mistake: The Yankees love the big man, but everyone around the game assumes the countdown has begun.
This is news to Sabathia, 36, who has no intention of retiring after 2017. His contract is expiring, but he says “as long as I’m healthy” he’ll be pitching next year, even if it’s not for the Bombers.
“I realize this is a business, man, whatever happens, happens,” is what Sabathia was saying one morning recently. There’s no defiance in his voice, no hint of a take-thator-I’ll-show-you vibe. The lefthander just disagrees with the unspoken belief that it’ll soon be time to move on.
There are three reasons why.
His right knee: Sabathia says it couldn’t be better. He’s running on the treadmill, participating in pitchers’ drills and working offff the mound without pain. That’s practically a miracle considering he has no cartilage left. Sabathia’s joints are in bone-on-bone crisis but are holding up.
His fastball: It’s diminished but still highly effffffffffffective now that it’s been coupled with a cutter and change-up. Few pitchers have made the transition from pure power to finesse as seamlessly as Sabathia.
His lifestyle: Sabathia has battled alcoholism to a standoffffffffffff, staying sober 24 hours at a time. He is rarely alone in spring training or on the road anymore — that’s when he’d surrender to the urge to drink. Sabathia’s was an inverted disease, since for many alcohol abuse starts with buddies in a bar and goes nuclear from there.
Today the veteran spends his free hours with family or friends, “just hanging out, watching sports or playing video games,” he said.
One look at Sabathia sugge s t s a l i f e t h a t ’s i n d e e d cleaner and more honest than it was in 2015. Those were the dark days; he told the Yankees he couldn’t pitch in the wild-card shootout against the Astros because booze had swallowed up his life.
Sabathia was sick of being drunk, sick of being hung over, sick of lying about the never-ending cycle. Instead of helping the Yankees get to the division series, he retreated to rehab. The decision made no sense to anyone who knew Sabathia the warrior. But it was the only logical path for Sabathia the alcoholic.
He returned to the Yankees last spring completely sober for the fifirst time since 2012. That’s all the Bombers wanted for that big bear: happiness. Whatever happened on the fifield would be a bonus. Much to their surprise, Sabathia delivered, pitching to a respectable 3.91 ERA last year. His 1.319 WHIP, while not great, was the lowest it’d been since 2012.
Sabathia has succeeded because he’s traded in his ego for outs. He’s lost a full 10 mph from prime-era fastball, enough to depress any former power pitcher. It’s a not so subtle reminder to Sabathia that he’s aging (37 in July) and that almost 3,300 career innings have taken their revenge on his arm.
For pitchers with elite fastballs, velocity becomes your identity; the radar gun is your friend. Sabathia used to be one of those monsters. Now he’s replaced brute force with a soft, subtle touch and isn’t ashamed of the transformation. The question is whether the Yankees value Sabathia’s maturity enough to consider keeping him around.