Yankees: Rumors about CC's death are greatly exaggerated

The Yankees are facing a hop on the bandwagon campaign to dump their number two starting pitcher. If they succumb, it would be a big mistake.

The Yankees number two starting pitcher; CC Sabathia pitched five innings of near-perfect baseball last night in a 5-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds that broke the team’s six-game win streak. But he also had one disastrous inning in which he couldn’t get out of his way, surrendering all five of the Reds runs. It happens.

Occasionally this season, It also happens that the Yankees only score three runs in a game and go 1-8 with runners in scoring position, despite two home runs with no one on base by Didi Gregorius and Gary Sanchez. It happens.

Sabathia’s problem last night was that he didn’t throw enough first-pitch strikes (15-28). And when you don’t have that overpowering fastball or an “out pitch” like Masahiro Tanaka‘s split-finger, your chances of success against major league hitters are exponentially reduced.

Sabathia is a work in progress

This is the trouble with all finesse pitchers, as explained in a column by my colleague Kevin Van Amburgh. Sabathia is still a finesse pitcher in the making, and not yet a Jamie Moyer, who pitched well into his 40’s with an 87mph fastball and consistently found ways to make hitters get themselves out.

Moyer accomplished what be did my enticing batters to look for his fastball, knowing they could rake it. Except for one thing which is that Moyer never threw a fastball for a strike. So, hitter after hitter’s eyes would light up when they recognized the pitch, only to be caught lunging out over the plate and rolling an easy out to the shortstop in a vain effort to pull the pitch.

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Sabathia is a work in progress in that respect. He has all kinds of baseball savvy that, eventually, will lead to success for many years to come. But he needs time to master a new craft, the art of pitching.

The clamor building in some quarters calls for Sabathia to be dumped for Chance Adams or Justus Sheffield, both of whom are currently pitching for the Yankees farm team at Double-A Trenton.

Adams, on the surface, is having a stellar season. He’s 4-0 with a 1.03 ERA. But he’s walked fifteen batters in 35 innings pitched, indicating that he too needs to work on his command.

Remember, Cashman has a master plan

The master plan drawn up by Brian Cashman at the beginning of the season called for both pitchers have a full season in the minors. He’s been very stubborn about this with all of the Baby Bombers, including, and most notably, Gleyber Torres.

It’s a good plan, and Cashman needs to, and probably will stick to his guns. If anything, these players will receive a promotion, but it won’t be to the Yankees. Instead, they’re ticketed for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to finish out the season.

Sabathia is not hurting the Yankees. He’s not helping them either at this point, but giving up five runs in an inning that he’ll tell you should not have happened in the first place, is not the end of the world.