Sabathia's Delay Spells Trouble for Yanks

C.C. Sabathia was expected to announce where he was going to sign shortly after Thanksgiving.  However, I believe he is still waiting for a good offer from a West Coast team before he makes his decision.  The longer he waits the worse it gets for the Yankees.  A.J. Burnett will not sign before Sabathia does but the Yankees refusal to give him a 5th year ends that courtship.  This means the Yankees, with a rotation now of only Chien Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain, are putting their eggs all in one basket.  If Sabathia were truly going to accept the money over heart would he not have done so already?  Why would he wait?  Does he think the Yankees are going to increase their offer?  Does he believe the Brewers will up their $100 million offer?  Does he think the Angels will come in with the best offer?  The longer Sabathia waits the less chance the Yankees have to sign him.  

Andy Pettitte is another person who is sick of waiting on Sabathia.  Pettitte, like in the 2003-04 offseason is feeling shunned by the Yankees and has begun to backtrack on his claim that it is the Yankees or nobody in 2009.  He has openly talked to the Dodgers about the possibility of joining Joe Torre's rotation.  Although Pettitte didn't have a great year last year thanks to his second half meltdown, he still represent 14 wins from a rotation that has already lost 20 game winner Mike Mussina and doesn't have much in the way of proven starters.  Last season the Yankees were devastated by injuries and ineffectiveness and had to rely on Darrell Rasner to make 20 starts, third highest on the team, and Sidney Ponson who started 15 games.  If they lose out on Sabathia they might be forced to overpay for Burnett, or Derek Lowe.  However, the Yankees obsession with Sabathia might cost them Sabathia, Pettitte, Burnett, and Lowe and leave them with oft injured Ben Sheets, Jon Garland, Tom Glavine, Freddy Garcia, Pedro Martinez,   Oliver Perez, or Brad Penny.  Some of them might be decent choices but not for the money or years the Yankees would have to pay out in order to entice these pitchers to come to New York.  

The Yankees backup plan if they miss out on pitching might be to overload an offense that slacked off a bit last season.  That might mean adding Mark Teixiera and Manny Ramirez.  However, if one thing the past Yankees teams have proven is that you need pitching to win championships.  Brian Cashman had better apply the full court press to Pettitte and Sabathia and start thinking backup plans.  If he thinks Phil Hughes is ready to come into the rotation after a decent Arizona Fall League season he might be going down the same road as last season.  Hughes still has a big upside but is still 22 years old and has an injury history that is concerning.  Ian Kennedy proved last season he was either not ready or will never be ready.  Alfredo Aceves made 4 starts last season and looked like he might be a viable future option but as we have seen with Kennedy a short stint in September doesn't mean future success.  The fact is the Yankees put themselves out on a limb this offseason.  The Sabathia basket is not exactly the most stable basket for all of your eggs but the Yankees feel this is where they should go.  We shall see if the Yankees get lucky this offseason or if their luck has run out.