As you likely know by now, thanks to reports in Tuesday morning’s New York Daily News and New York Post, CC Sabathia currently holds a GIGANTIC hammer—by way of his end-of-season opt-out clause—over the heads of the entire New York Yankees organization.
What’s most interesting about this…oops…I’m sorry. Did I say interesting?
I meant what’s most damning about this whole thing is that general manager Brian Cashman is not only the one who basically forced Sabathia to hold the hammer, but also the one responsible for making it so ginormous.
When asked about Sabathia’s opt-out clause on Monday, Cashman again admitted that the whole thing was his idea. He just "threw in" the opt-out clause, he says, as a way of making sure Sabathia was "comfortable" with New York.
And remember, after Sabathia signed his deal, he said was "100% committed to New York" and that he neither asked for or even needed an opt-out clause.
It was all Cashman’s brilliant idea.
Now, sources from those previously mentioned reports say Sabathia will indeed use that opt-out clause, but not because he doesn’t like New York.
He will use it because, quite frankly, he’d have to be a moron if he didn't use it.
At the end of this season, Sabathia will be 31 years old and have four years and a total of $94 million remaining on his current deal. Consider that Cliff Lee, who is 32, just signed a five-year, $120 million contract with the Phillies and many believe he left at least some money on the table.
So, what does Sabathia get, assuming reasonable health, when he opts out of his current deal? A conservative guess would be at least six years and $140 million. That’s a minimum of two extra years (at ages 36 and 37) and another $56 million worth of risk the Yankees will be forced assume thanks to Cashman’s opt-out idea.
And here’s the real kicker: Thanks to Cashman’s inability to provide the Yankees with any real options over the last two-plus years since Sabathia signed his deal, New York’s ace has the team completely over a barrel.
In this story from Tuesday’s Journal News, the Yankees’ current rotation was referred to as “remarkably thin.”
So short of something really dramatic, the Bombers are going to be forced to give Sabathia basically whatever he wants or go ace-less.
What we are really dealing with here is multiple levels of incompetence on the part of Cashman compounding themselves into a real problem for the Yankees.
First, Cashman gave Sabathia the hammer by volunteering the opt-out clause, then he turned it into a sledgehammer by failing to provide any other options for the franchise that provides Cashman with never-before-seen resources with which to do his job.
There is a sliver of good news for the Yankees in all of this. At almost exactly the same time Sabathia figures to be wielding his GM-provided and enhanced weapon, Cashman’s current contract will expire.
Here’s hoping Hal Steinbrenner has been paying attention to just how much Cashman’s incompetence has cost and damaged his late father’s most-prized possession. After all, not only is Cashman the one who gave Sabathia his giant hammer, he’s also the one who turned the Yankees into a $200 million underdog.
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