Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 17, 2008
C.C. Status

The Indians say there's nothing physically wrong with C.C. Sabathia:

The stat freaks point to his career-high 256 1/3 innings last season, 45 more than he's ever pitched. He also was sixth in all of baseball in pitches thrown during the regular season.

Wear and tear on the arm would be their diagnosis.


After the game, Manager Eric Wedge and Sabathia both spoke in hushed tones, both insisted the lefty was fine physically. The radar gun readings on his fastball were 93-96 mph, his normal range.

The amateur psychologists in the bleachers and in front of their TVs say it's the pressure of the playoffs, the pressure of being a free agent at the end of the season.

Let's be real: Sabathia is being paid $11 million this year. He can walk into Mark Shapiro's office today and the general manager would probably still present him with that $80 million extension he turned down a few months ago.

Pressure is a rising mortgage and gas prices, a sick family member, a job that may soon be downsized.

"It's not that," Sabathia said. "It's not mechanical. My velocity is fine. I just can't command both sides of the plate."

So it's a job for the pitching coach? Roy Oswalt straightened himself out last night. Cleveland fans need to hope C.C. can find the corners again.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:23 AM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

A lot of pitchers have an off year after being heavily used the previous season, and it's not necessarily because of a specific injury. Going into the season, I thought the Indians might be in for a down year because of the 2007 workloads of Sabathia and Carmona. Odds are, at least one of them will have a tough 2008. I would have guessed Carmona, if it was going to be just one, but you never know.

Posted by: jvwalt at April 17, 2008 10:54 AM

I think a lot of teams watched Boston sit there with their bats on their shoulders and it worked. He needs to adjust.

Posted by: Bandit at April 17, 2008 11:34 AM
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