It's funny, we never got to see C.C. talk very much in all those years. He says all the right...

It's funny, we never got to see C.C. talk very much in all those years. He says all the right things here, and you get a small sense of why Shapiro has always raved about Sabathia as a person.

11 months ago Jay Comment 48 comments 1 recs |

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It’s good to see CC get the national media attention he deserves. It’s too bad it took a trade to make it happen.

by Toxicadam on Jul 11, 2008 10:32 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

“I was with you the day Johan Santana was traded to the Mets…”

And this is the girl who texted him and got conformation that he was traded, right?

To the best of my knowledge she’s just a little-utilized baseball reporter for ESPN. Why the connection with CC?

Steel Nick

by nickjs21 on Jul 11, 2008 10:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

no idea. does she have a cleveland connection?

Dear Mr. Sabean, I hear you have a reputation of being stupid. Want to deal Lincecum or Cain? You can pick THREE of these 4 players for either: Borowski, Dellucci, Blake, Byrd.

by westbrook on Jul 11, 2008 2:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I was impressed, too. I thought the fact that I had never heard him speak was due to the fact that I don’t live in Cleveland, but evidently that’s not the case.

by ken from alexandria on Jul 11, 2008 10:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Sorry, total BS. ~~C.C.~~ CC didn’t “have to leave Cleveland.” He’s not looking for a place where he is “comfortable.”

Look, I have no problem with a player trying to max out his income. Just say it. Just say you want more money than the Indians can pay. Period. We can handle it. Just cut the crap about how you couldn’t get by on $18 million a year, how circumstances forced you out.

by SuddenSam on Jul 11, 2008 1:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’m sorry, has there in fact been any of that crap from C.C.?

I think we can take his statements about “comfort’ and “commitment to winning” at face value. He wants to see what the best offer will be, and he wants to see how far the Indians will go, and he wants to see what other team might emerge that is also a very positive all-around situation, at or near the top of the bidding.

by Jay on Jul 11, 2008 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m sorry, has there in fact been any of that crap from C.C.?

From the video:

Q: What was it like for you to have to leave Cleveland?
A: It was tough.

Alternative answer: I didn’t have to leave Cleveland. I was offered $90 million. I just think I can get more than that somewhere else, so I chose not to sign.

The rest of your comment I agree with. He wants more money. He may also look at the lay of the land and, as I do, conclude that the Indians near-term prospects don’t look good. I’d love to hear him say that, if he believes it. But he just goes along with the false narrative that events forced him out.

Oh, and signing a $90 million contract wouldn’t be “tough” for some of us.

by SuddenSam on Jul 11, 2008 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, that’s true. But, if you were had a job offer at $50K a year for three years, and there was a more or less certainty you could get $60K for four, what would you do? Especially if both jobs seemed pretty nice. I don’t like it either, and the numbers are ridiculous, but it’s the same thing. Logic says you go for the best deal.

by peter m on Jul 11, 2008 3:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

but it’s the same thing

No, it’s not.

Resident LGT beer kinda sewer

by mauichuck on Jul 11, 2008 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree. I said up front I have no problem with C.C or CC or whoever getting what he can. I just don’t like him or anyone else spinning this as a sad situation he was forced into. He chose to leave in order to pursue more money. That is the entire story.

by SuddenSam on Jul 11, 2008 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why does it have to be so black and white?

Just because he’s leaving by choice doesn’t mean he likes leaving.

I mean, obviously he prefers it in the sense that he’s choosing it, but no doubt there are parts of it he doesn’t like at all.

by Jay on Jul 11, 2008 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I have this memory of the 1998 ALDS between the Indians and Red Sox, and the constant discussion about how this was Mo Vaughn’s last game in Fenway, how much he loved the Red Sox, how much the fans loved Mo, how he hated to leave.

He had, if I remember correctly, a $9 million per year contract in front of him. That whole thing annoyed me to no end. Not that he wanted more money, but that we were subjected to this hokey story about lovable Mo being ripped away from the team he loved.

Now we are getting the toned-down (non Red Sox) version of the same story. My BS meter is easily tripped by this kind of thing.

by SuddenSam on Jul 11, 2008 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is another reason why I love Albert Belle. Yeah, I’m leaving for more money, so what?

Truth – it’s like kryptonite to most Indian fans.

Resident LGT beer kinda sewer

by mauichuck on Jul 11, 2008 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I am also very fond of Belle

by Roger Dorn on Jul 11, 2008 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He never said he had to leave, he just said it was tough to leave.

by Jay on Jul 11, 2008 4:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

She asked what it was like to “have to leave.” He accepted the premise of the question.

by SuddenSam on Jul 11, 2008 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was a dumb premise. CEO’s feel badly when laying off 1000 employees, but they are running a competitive business. CC is running the CC pitching business with a relatively short shelf life. Whatever he feels about having to maximize his compensation is completely beside the point. A more appropriate question might be: “You paid your dues and now you are eligible for free agency. How good must it feel to provide so handsomely for your family?”

by elsandito on Jul 11, 2008 4:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yay, another real-life analogy!

by Brick. on Jul 11, 2008 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’ve stockpiled Looney Tunes and Deputy Dog parables also.

by elsandito on Jul 11, 2008 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

there is a lot to be learned in life from the Looney Toons. kids these days are missing out.

by Brick. on Jul 11, 2008 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He was traded. He had to leave, like, that day, immediately.

by Jay on Jul 11, 2008 9:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He chose to leave. On 2-14-2008.

I don’t have a problem with that. But that is what happened.

by SuddenSam on Jul 12, 2008 1:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

But that wasn’t what the question was. She’s asking him, the day after he was traded, was it tough having to leave those guys? And she’s not asking, was it tough making that decision five months ago, she’s asking him, was it tough having to leave those guys, yesterday, the day you were traded?

by Jay on Jul 12, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Naaah. It was a snap. I couldn’t stand any of those guys anyway. And, those lame mustard/ketchup/onion races are for the birds. I’m down with the Brewers; hey, I even know a couple, like my boy Guillermo! See ya later, Cleveland.

(just fantasizing about what an “honest” guy would say under the circumstances). Does anyone think that’s how CC actually feels?

by peter m on Jul 12, 2008 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think he’s known a lot of those guys a lot of years, and I think they’ve been through several great triumphs and big disappointments together. I think it’s the only organization he’s ever known. Yes, I think it’s tough for him to leave, but again, I credit him with the maturity to realize that it’s not unimaginable — something Thome didn’t have.

by Jay on Jul 13, 2008 5:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You were married in Cleveland. Both of your children were born there. What’s it like for you to have to leave that city and that organization?

That’s the question. We’re obviously interpreting it differently.

by SuddenSam on Jul 12, 2008 7:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Answer: My family took a vote. We’d rather have the extra $50M.

by elsandito on Jul 12, 2008 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How great would it be to get that answer?

by SuddenSam on Jul 12, 2008 11:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It seems that Bret Farve’s family made the same decision. “Love to have you around Dad, but couldn’t you go back for just a coupla years and make another $39M so I won’t hafta go to a state school?”

Resident LGT beer kinda sewer

by mauichuck on Jul 13, 2008 12:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

More like, “So my unborn great-grandchildren won’t have to go to a state school.”

by odradek on Jul 13, 2008 12:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You’re absolutely right on this. Hasn’t anyone ever had a job they liked and were sorry to leave because they liked the people there. But, they did it anyway because the money was better or for some other “practical” reason? You still feel bad about leaving. But, you do it.

In this particular case, too, CC didn’t leave—he was traded. He may quite genuinely have felt bad about leaving right now, since there’s no real reason to go (although who wouldn’t be glad to be on a playoff team as opposed to THIS team!). If this were the end of the year, and CC signed as a free agent with another team and said he “had” to leave, I’d agree that was hypocrisy. But, that’s not the situation and he hasn’t said that.

Albert Belle was (and is) a jerk. Chuck mistakes his lack of feeling for the guys he played with for honesty. I think there’s something wrong with a guy who leaves without feeling something about the place he’s leaving, whether he’s doing it for the money or not.

by peter m on Jul 11, 2008 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So is it better to get all weepy about the guys you play with and say, “sorry guys, but I love money more than playing a child’s game with you”. Or, “this is a business, I gotta make every last nickel I can” and then leave. What difference does it make? You’re still gone.

Resident LGT beer kinda sewer

by mauichuck on Jul 11, 2008 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No, it’s more like, “I’m getting mine, and I love you guys, and I hope you get yours, too.”

by Jay on Jul 11, 2008 9:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

why does this always get brought back to some scenario that all regular people might be able to empathize with? OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH now i understand where C.C. is coming from. it’s almost as condescending as a player thinking we don’t know there’s more to his decision than the soundbite cliche he busts out explaining it. we all get it. we either like it or don’t.

who gives a sh__, he’s gone.

by Brick. on Jul 11, 2008 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

not singling out pete here, just so that’s clear.

by Brick. on Jul 11, 2008 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I actually don’t mourn CC (or his periods). I thought they should trade him and think they made a pretty reasonable deal. I also think he doesn’t deserve our scorn. It’s baseball. Play ball.

by peter m on Jul 11, 2008 9:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually, from what I can tell it’s more about years than dollars, isn’t it? And as Jay says, it’s not inconsistent to want money, years, a ring, and a good setting.

I think he comes across as thoughtful and well spoken, and he’ll always be one of my all time favorite Indians. You know, along with you, Sam.

"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter

by Denver Tribe Fan on Jul 11, 2008 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It has always been the years.

by mjschaefer on Jul 11, 2008 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i just went to grab a coffee. the guy offered me a large for just a few cents more than my medium. but i said ‘no thanks’. i was perfectly happy with my medium. i’m able to drink it all before it gets cold, i don’t get too hopped up on caffeine. now, i’m sure the large was better for my family, and i could easily have afforded it. i mean it was probably just as good as my medium, really. but i took the medium anyway. i guess i’m just not very much like some major league free agents to be.

by Brick. on Jul 11, 2008 5:20 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

It must have been difficult to turn away from the offer of a large. Over the years you’ve been so happy with going large and now you change to medium. How does it make you feel to change to medium? Is you choice of medium a permanent decision or will you be going back to large at some point? (This is the level of inanity achieved by these interviewers.)

by elsandito on Jul 11, 2008 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

the biggest thing is trying to explain my decision to my wife. my agent wanted a sip, but the medium was just enough for me.

by Brick. on Jul 11, 2008 5:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Your agent is infuriated. Now the other agents will tell prospective clients that he was only able to negotiate a medium for you when you were deserving of a large.

by SuddenSam on Jul 11, 2008 5:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What if they offered you a lifetime supply of coffee though, would you turn that down and accept your medium?

by Roger Dorn on Jul 11, 2008 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

what if tomorrow i wake up and learn that i’m allergic to coffee? i’d like to think i could drink tea instead if i chose to.

by Brick. on Jul 11, 2008 5:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What if tomorrow, scientists discover that coffee is the main cause of global warming? Wouldn’t you feel terrible about drinking coffee? Do you use creamer in your coffee? What if creamer causes cancer? If you chose to drink tea, would it be green tea? I heard that’s really good for you.

by elsandito on Jul 11, 2008 6:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Funny you mention this. Right now I’m watching the Seinfeld where Kramer sues Java World because he spilled coffee on himself and he gets a lifetime supply of coffee as a settlement. He could have got more, but he accepted the deal before the offer was completed. Kramer’s lawyer was the famous Jackie Chiles.

Best show of all time.

by Buckeye Brad on Jul 11, 2008 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs