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CC Sabathia will pitch next season, but will it be for the Yankees?

ByRucker Haringey|
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 21: CC Sabathia #52 of the New York Yankees looks on prior to the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on September 21, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles 10-8. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 21: CC Sabathia #52 of the New York Yankees looks on prior to the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on September 21, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles 10-8. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

CC Sabathia wants to pitch one more season in the majors, but there’s no guarantee he’ll be suiting up for the Yankees in 2019.

The fact that CC Sabathia has announced to the world that he wants to pitch for one more season puts the Yankees in a tricky situation. The organization now has to consider whether or not they want to let him spend his last season in pinstripes.

It’s not going to be an easy decision for Brian Cashman and company. If you look at Sabathia’s numbers for the entire season, it seems obvious the team should bring him back. The veteran lefty is 8-7 with a very solid ERA of 3.77 in 28 starts on the season. Those sort of numbers allow him to slot comfortably into the middle of the team’s rotation.

Sabathia has achieved that level of success by reinventing himself as a pitcher. He no longer blows hitters away with a powerful fastball. Instead, he nibbles at the corners with off speed stuff to lure hitters into making soft contact. He’s not running the ball up there in the mid-90s any longer.

That drastically lowers his ceiling as a starter. The best case scenario for Sabathia is that he’ll repeat his 2018 performance in 2019. If the Yankees thought that was a certainty, they’d sign him for one more season right now. Unfortunately, the way he’s pitched during the second half of the campaign gives the organization real cause for concern.

His ERA has steadily increased as the season has gone along. His ERA is up to 4.67 in his last seven starts and 4.21 over his last 15 outings. Those aren’t terrible numbers, but they paint a picture of a pitcher who is getting steadily worse. It’s reasonable for the Yankees to consider the question of whether Sabathia’s performance might really fall off next season.

In the end, expect Cashman to slot Sabathia into his list of potential free agent targets next year. He’ll get a slight uptick due to his past service for the club, but the Yankees aren’t going to massively outbid the market for his services. They know exactly what Sabathia is, and subsequently have  great concept of what he’ll be worth this offseason.

Add it all up and Sabathia has a decent shot of finishing his career in the Bronx. This year’s crop of free agent pitching simply isn’t all that inspiring. As much as Cashman and the organization would like to hand the rotation to younger, cheaper options, there are too many questions for next season to dismiss the idea of bringing Sabathia back out of hand. Don’t be surprised to see him return on a pretty lucrative one-year contract this winter.

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