“Amber Alert” Helped Seal the Deal
By Frank Russo ~ December 10th, 2008. Filed under: Frank Russo Rants and Raves.
When I’m wrong, I admit it. I didn’t think there was a chance in hell that the Yankees would sign CC Sabathia. I truly felt that he was playing the Yankees to get a contract with a west coast team. But, I was wrong, and I admit it!
In the end, Brian Cashman was able to get his man because he took an aggressive, proactive approach to his pursuit. A third meeting with Sabathia and his family, most notably his wife, Amber, helped seal the deal. For those of you who don’t know much about her, Amber Sabathia is an attractive, intelligent woman who had huge reservations about living on the east coast, particularly in the New York area. She has been described as someone who, much like her husband, is totally into the laid back, California lifestyle. Besides extolling the virtues of New York and the Yankee franchise, it also helped that Cashman sweetened the pot by raising the contract offer to $160 million. The only thing I hate about the deal is that Cashman had no choice but to include an opt-out clause in the contract that will kick in after 3 years, after which Sabathia will have collected $69 million. But Cashman did a great job here, and should be applauded loudly, especially since convincing Amber Sabathia to live in the New York area was no small feat.
So now the Yankees have their #1 starter and will continue to fill the rest of the rotation, with their cross hairs now fixed on AJ Burnett, Derek Lowe, Ben Sheets and maybe Andy Pettite. There are still major concerns with the lineup and centerfield, but hopefully, these problems will all be taken care of in due time.
Speaking of centerfield, now that CC is a Yankee, can his buddy, Mike Cameron be far behind? As we mentioned in the Baseball show a few weeks ago, Sabathia and Cameron became extremely tight during their time together in Milwaukee. the Yankees actually had a deal worked out with the Brewers, but Milwaukee backed off. Could it be just a matter of time before CC had a reunion with one of his good buddies?
Passing Thoughts
I don’t normally toot my own horn in my columns, but I felt vindicated when I found out that Sabathia had actually agreed to a $160 million deal. I’ve been writing, from the very beginning, that the Yankees would eventually up the ante, and that the final deal would be between $160 and $180 million, and, we were right! Despite the fact that I was blasted by several readers of this site that told me that I did not know what I was talking about, I held firm and stuck with the information that I received from my baseball sources, including my main Yankees source down in Tampa, who was 100% spot on!
