CC – Are Red Sox A Threat?

The Boston Red Sox announced yesterday that pitcher John Lackey would miss all of 2012 because of Tommy John surgery. My first thought wasn’t whatever he sucks anyways, it was SHIT will they try to steal C.C. Sabathia now. I’m sure most New York Yankees fans thought the same thing. In today’s Daily News, Anthony McCarron addressed the issue, even including a picture of CC in a Red Sox uniform.

He starts off basically with the thinking most of us have. If CC somehow went to Boston it would be a huge blow to the Yankees rotation, a potential disaster. The Yankees would enter the season with their top three being Phil Hughes, AJ Burnett and Ivan Nova, with Nova probably your Opening Day starter. Not a top three you’d expect from a championship contender.

McCarron says the biggest hurdle for the Sox would be payroll, even quoting one baseball executive who says “I don’t know if they have the money for it.” I’d have to agree they made a huge splash last off season and have never been willing to match the Yankees payroll dollar for dollar. Signing Sabathia would almost push them into Yankees payroll territory.

The Red Sox may already have too many big contracts to pursue Sabathia – they are already paying Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett and they have to find dollars for David Ortiz and a closer because Jonathan Papelbon is a free agent. Their payroll has never been higher than the $168 million or so it was on Opening Day 2010, according to the website Cot’s Baseball Contracts. (Anthony McCarron – Daily News)

Anthony also has quotes from general manager Brian Cashman who is playing things as cool as he always does.

“They have a player who went down with an injury, it’s unfortunate,” Cashman said of the Red Sox. “What the ripple effect is, I have no idea.

“I’ve got no idea what the Red Sox business plan will be. They’ll do whatever is in their best interests. We’ll control what we can control. It’s free agency – there are a lot of variables. It’s the undiscovered country. I certainly couldn’t predict.” (Anthony McCarron – Daily News)

Personally, I don’t think Sabathia will head to Boston. I don’t think they’ll ever be serious suitors although they could enter the sweepstakes just to raise the price. What makes me a little nervous though is how serious the Yankees are taking that threat.

They’re not just having their usual off season plan meetings in Tampa but George King III of the NY Post reports that they’re having separate meetings dedicated to the Sabathia situation.

To me, that says there is a threat from teams like the Red Sox but with this much time being dedicated in planning they better get their guy. Two years of losing out on a game-changing ace that was expected to be in pinstripes will be absolutely UNACCEPTABLE!

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Tags: Boston Red Sox, CC Sabathia, MLB, New York Yankees