C.C's Coming to New York

I was surprised and frankly a little disappointed by the news that free agent ace C.C. Sabathia has agreed in principle to a 7 year / $160 million contract with the Yankees.

Don't get me wrong - Sabathia's a great pitcher and while I'm not sure anyone can reasonably live up to a contract of that size, my guess is that he'll do well, average between 15 and 20 wins a season and be in the Cy Young race for years to come.

What bothers me is that it's abundantly clear that he doesn't want to be a Yankee. Or better put, he'd much rather be a Dodger or a Giant. It's evident that he'd prefer to pitch in the National League where he can hit, and it's even more evident that he much preferred to go to back home to the Bay area, or to SoCal, where he's building a house. There were reports that he expressed misgivings about raising his three young children in this area.

I have no doubt that Sabathia will be a bulldog of a competitor, but at the end of the day, you'd like someone who is pitching for a team and a city that he's passionate about, as opposed to the team that simply offered him overwhelmingly more money than any other team.

On the other hand, you have a guy like K-Rod, who I have the sense is relishing the chance to be in the spotlight to close games for the Mets. If you're a Mets fan, you have to like this signing for two reason. First, it's a relative bargain for the single-season saves record holder who at one point was looking for a 5 year / $75 million deal. Second, you no longer need to go through the pain of watching Luis Ayala and Aaron Heilman try to close games.

But welcome anyway, C.C. Get us another World Series title and both you and the fans will be quite happy that you chose to don the pinstripes.