You might have missed this with all the Fred Wilpon drama yesterday, but Jon Heyman had the first report I’ve seen with quotes directly from CC discussing his plans to use the opt out clause in his contract. Here’s Heyman’s report from SI:
When it was suggested to Sabathia that the Yankees would surely give him another couple years or more, he responded, “I hope so.” To be sure, it was a brief conversation. But it was the clearest direct indication of what has been assumed — that Sabathia will seek a deal with more years.
This really comes as no surprise. Almost every player that has negotiated an opt out clause into their contract has used it to get either an extension with their existing team or to outright become a free agent, and Sabathia would be foolish not to do the same. The Yanks still need CC every bit as desperately as they did back in 2008, and would gladly give him a 2 year extension, possibly a 3rd year as well. At age 30 this year, adding 2 more would take his contract to the 2017 season (the same year A-Rod’s deal expires) when he’d be 37 years old in July of that year. The Yanks just offered a 31 year old Cliff Lee a contract that would have taken him to his age 38 season, and CC’s build and nearly spotless injury history suggest he’d be a safer bet. So it’s hard to imagine them not going at least as far for CC as they would have for Lee.
The Yanks would obviously want him back, and CC has set up roots here in the New York metropolitan area. This is the type of negotiation that I would think would be wrapped up without him ever getting to free agency. But as we saw with Derek Jeter this past offseason and as Brian Cashman often says “there’s no such thing as an easy negotiation”. When you’re talking about this kind of money being thrown around, it shouldn’t be easy. That would mean one side just gave in, didn’t fight for their position hard enough and as a result, probably struck a bad deal. Expect it to get messy, but get done.
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12 Responses to Heyman: CC plans to use opt-out
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TIQ IQ
“The Yanks just offered a 31 year old Cliff Lee a contract that would have taken him to his age 38 season, and CC’s build and nearly spotless injury history suggest he’d be a safer bet.”
WAT
I did say “nearly”. I know he had the knee surgery this offseason, but my understanding was it was a minor cleanup. Other than that, he’s been exceptionally healthy and durable.
My “WAT” is directed to the “build” comment. He’s a behemoth, I think it’s an open question how his body ages. I’d rather have someone built like Lee.
Oh, well in that case Lee is a power pitcher with a slight build, the big guys are thought to be able to generate velocity w/o putting as much strain on their body.
Not really, no.
From what I recall, I believe Steve is partially correct, at least in terms of conventional wisdom. Thicker built guys are generally considered to have the optimal build for power pitching. That said, fat (as opposed to thick legs and muscle) may not be what people are talking about with that bit of conventional wisdom.
And all that said, re; CC and Lee in particular, if I had to pick one of the two to stay healthy going forward, it would be CC.
I would probably be more comfortable with CC over Cliff going forward for the next 3-4 years, but honestly I think both become a pretty decent health risk past that point.
Cliff has less mileage on his arm but he started with less velocity so I imagine he will lose his velocity quicker, but with CC’s body already putting stress on his knees in 5 years he may simply break down.
I fully expect the last 2 years of CC’s extension (if he signs a 6 or 7 year deal) to be pretty much paying for what he did up to that point, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he spent a good amount of that time on the DL and rehabbing.
The funny thing is once he gets the extension he is looking for, it will in a sense, make his original contract a 9 or 10 year deal. I doubt that would have been received all that well in one signing.
Yeah, if Stephen wants to call CC “fat” I wouldn’t defend that. But his “build” is preferable for durability for a power pitcher.
But frankly, he didn’t seem all that interested in having a conversation.
I answered every one of your replies, but lol whatevs.
Do you actually have a twitter account or do you just refresh people’s pages?
I really hope it is a 5 year deal for 125 M with a team option for a 6th year and a 10M buyout. Like Cliff Lee’s deal. I think giving him the extra money, to not push it to 6 or even 7 years is very important.
If he gets an option it will be a player option, he has all the leverage in this situation we won’t get the best deal.
Sabathia also said the other day he “hopes the Yankees add 2 or 3 years” to his deal, which mean he probably isn’t looking to opt out just to add one extra year. Any deal he signs will be 6 or 7 years at 24-25 million a year.
The problem is we have no real way to say “don’t opt out or else”, or “here’s a deal take it or leave it”. He knows that the best pitcher after him available this offseason will be Buehrle, and he’s a number 3 starter at best now.
I honestly see no way he doesn’t get whatever he asks for, and I honestly see no way he asks for less than 6 years 144 million.
The other main difference is Cliff was willing to take less money to go to the Phillies, Sabathia would be opting out to garner more money and years from the Yankees. He wouldn’t be looking at the deal Lee signed, he would be looking at the deal the Yankees offered Lee.
The Yankees offered Lee a 5, 6, and 7 year offer, meaning at 32 he was offered a 7 year contract. I imagine CC will be looking for something like the 6 or 7 year deal, because if you are going to go through all the trouble of an opt out and negotiation it has to be worth it to you.
He has to know the fans would be pissed if he was allowed to leave, and he has to know the Yankees would be scrambling just to replace his rotation spot, let alone find an ace caliber pitcher. To ask for a 5 year deal he would have to take pity on our situation, because he can ask for anything he wants and not be turned down in our state. The Yankees have to win every year, if CC leaves and we sign any of the pitchers available we are going into the season with no chance at a playoff birth.