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CC Sabathia to end career with Yankees, agrees to one-year deal

New York Yankees General Manager, Brian Cashman, has not been shy in stating the organization will look to upgrade its starting rotation this offseason. Cashman began to implement his plan on Tuesday as the Yankees and veteran lefty CC Sabathia agreed to a one-year, $8M contract.

The deal will assure Sabathia ends his career in pinstripes. The left-hander confirmed on a podcast with Brandon Steiner that he plans for 2019 to be his final season.

Sabathia will fit in the Yankees starting rotation behind Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka, giving the team three quality arms.

In 2018, Sabathia finished with a 3.65 ERA through 29 starts. He threw 153 innings and struck out 8.3 batters while walking three per nine innings. Despite being on the higher end of age range for starting pitchers, Sabathia continues to make batters miss. His swing and miss rates in 2018 were his highest since 2012.

The ideal scenario would be to have Sabathia as the fifth starter. In order for that to take place, Cashman will need to add more quality arms. In addition to his performance on the field, Sabathia has always been a great member of the clubhouse. That’s not to be overlooked when keeping a young team in line.

The Yankees have been tied to multiple names in their search for starting pitching. J.A. Happ joined the Yankees near the trade deadline and proved to be one of their most consistent starters. He is now a free agent and Cashman has said he hopes to re-sign him. There will however be some competition, mainly from the Toronto Blue Jays, the team that traded him to New York.

Fellow free agent lefties, Patrick Corbin and Dallas Keuchel have been mentioned by many as potential targets. On the trade front, the Cleveland Indians Corey Kluber and Seattle Mariners James Paxton may be available for the right price.

Current internal options for the Yankees rotation include top prospect Justus Sheffield, Chance Adams, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Domingo German.

 

 

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