I don’t know how it happens, but it seems that every year I end up drafting a guy to my fantasy baseball team who should be good, but proceeds to tank awfully. This year, C.C. Sabathia is killing me.
In three starts — including a 13-2 loss to the underachieving Tigers last night — Sabathia is 0-3 with an ERA of 13.50 and a WHIP of over 2.50. He’s struck out 14 batters while also walking 14. Do those sound like the numbers of a contender’s ace?
How a pitcher coming off of a Cy Young award winning season goes into the gutter so quickly and sharply is a mystery to the universe. It’s not like he’s battling injuries either, no such concerns have risen on that front.
Even worse, his value was highly inflated because he’s in a contract year! This is the season where he was supposed to be at his best and earn a nine-figure deal from (most likely) New York. They probably had a pin-striped No. 52 already made up for him.
C.C. should give fellow hefty pitcher / former A.L. Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon a call and ask him how his story went along. Colon, who’s now a minor leaguer for the Red Sox is hoping he can crack Boston’s rotation one day. His best chance may be through injury troubles though. Sabathia had better get back on track fast or it may not just be fantasy teams that are passing him over.