officer27
Bench Warmer
"Around here, it only takes one backhand slap of a TV camera for some wealthy ballplayer to get off on the wrong foot. Just ask Randy Johnson. Brian Cashman, or some other Yankee suit, should explain that to the latest member of the Bombers Blank Check Club.
When the young man finally arrives here and gets a load of the brigade of notebooks, lenses and sports-talk brainiacs - when he's exposed to the bright lights and baloney - will it quickly become a game of Hide-And-Go-CC?
Or will Mr. Sabathia just take it all in, deal with the attention and inquiries, answering each and every one thoughtfully with patience and aplomb?
CC Sabathia has not even hit town, hasn't even posed for that soon-to-be-snapped picture of Joe Girardi helping him into the pinstriped jersey, and already there's controversy, albeit, not of the pitcher's making. How shocking. No one, not even a bulky workhorse such as Sabathia, catches a break in this city. That's what crazy cash (no, not the GM) can do.
Questions abound. Like did the Yankees, bidding against themselves, overpay ($161 mil over seven years) for a pitcher whose reluctance to come to the Bronx has been well-documented? As time passes (unless he goes Eddie Lee Whitson) that question could fade. Now, it's a major issue.
The bigger hit, with a melody bound to linger on, will be a constant comparison between Sabathia and Johan Santana. It has already started. Cashman prepared the recipe for this media stew when he decided Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy looked better in Yankee uniforms than the two-time unanimous Cy Young Award winner who eventually wound up with the Mets.
Not only can Sabathia look forward to having each start - win or lose - over-analyzed by the media, he will hear about Santana, too. Al Yankzeera is likely preparing to alert the free world to the TV ratings Sabathia generates each and every time he pitches, but only if they are better than the numbers generated by Santana when he hurls on SNY.
The CC to-do checklist, please: Collect major moolah; participate in a prefabricated pitching "rivalry"; juice Al Yank ratings. Help fill expensive seats at the new Yankee Stadium. Be a significant force in taking the Bombers deep into October."
Source: December 12 New York Daily News columnist Bob Raissman
When the young man finally arrives here and gets a load of the brigade of notebooks, lenses and sports-talk brainiacs - when he's exposed to the bright lights and baloney - will it quickly become a game of Hide-And-Go-CC?
Or will Mr. Sabathia just take it all in, deal with the attention and inquiries, answering each and every one thoughtfully with patience and aplomb?
CC Sabathia has not even hit town, hasn't even posed for that soon-to-be-snapped picture of Joe Girardi helping him into the pinstriped jersey, and already there's controversy, albeit, not of the pitcher's making. How shocking. No one, not even a bulky workhorse such as Sabathia, catches a break in this city. That's what crazy cash (no, not the GM) can do.
Questions abound. Like did the Yankees, bidding against themselves, overpay ($161 mil over seven years) for a pitcher whose reluctance to come to the Bronx has been well-documented? As time passes (unless he goes Eddie Lee Whitson) that question could fade. Now, it's a major issue.
The bigger hit, with a melody bound to linger on, will be a constant comparison between Sabathia and Johan Santana. It has already started. Cashman prepared the recipe for this media stew when he decided Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy looked better in Yankee uniforms than the two-time unanimous Cy Young Award winner who eventually wound up with the Mets.
Not only can Sabathia look forward to having each start - win or lose - over-analyzed by the media, he will hear about Santana, too. Al Yankzeera is likely preparing to alert the free world to the TV ratings Sabathia generates each and every time he pitches, but only if they are better than the numbers generated by Santana when he hurls on SNY.
The CC to-do checklist, please: Collect major moolah; participate in a prefabricated pitching "rivalry"; juice Al Yank ratings. Help fill expensive seats at the new Yankee Stadium. Be a significant force in taking the Bombers deep into October."
Source: December 12 New York Daily News columnist Bob Raissman
