‘I suck,’ CC Sabathia says
New York can be a tough town when it comes to getting reviews, and right now the reviews are discouraging for Yankees 33-year-old left-hander CC Sabathia. Especially the ones he does for himself. Sabathia spoke bluntly Sunday might about the results he has been getting lately, and they're not like CC's old results, to be sure. Sabathia allowed a season-worst seven earned runs in an 8-7 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Perhaps most galling to Sabathia was his own inability to hold a three-run lead. Via the New York Daily News, he said:
“I suck,” Sabathia said afterward. “I wish I had an excuse or something.” He added, “It sucks. It’s embarrassing. But you have to try to work through it, figure something out and start trying to help this team instead of hurting it.”
That it all happened against the rivalrous Red Sox at historic Fenway Park on national TV didn't help Sabathia's depressed mood, probably. The Yankees could have used a better performance from him. But overall, he is as troubled about himself as any fan is about him. His ERA rose to 4.37 for the season, and would be the worst of his career by far — in relation to the rest of the league — were the season over. He leads the league in hits and home runs allowed. His strikeout rate is down, as is his average velocity. For $25 million a year, Sabathia's results do "suck."
But not all is lost. His xFIP, which measures what Sabathia's ERA should be, is 3.57, which is lower than it was in 2009 and 2010. So he's been a unlucky and his real ERA should drop from here, as long as Sabathia is heathy.
At some point, however, the excuses (not that Sabathia is making them) need to be set aside, and a question needs to be answered: What have you done, CC? He's doing the work of a No. 4 starter for an average team, which is not what the Yankees are looking for.
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