CC = Good Guy = Yankee Championship

Here's an almost completely useless piece in the NY Times about what CC Sabathia *really* brings to the Yankees, courtesy of William Rhoden.

Which team made the best deal for itself on the pitching front? My vote goes to the Yankees.

[Agreed. With respect to PITCHING, Sabathia clearly has more value than K-Rod. He'll give you many more quality innings, he's a lefty pitching in Yankee Stadium, his stats don't look exactly the same as Scott Downs', etc. Rhoden has lots of good reasons to choose from here.]

While the Mets plugged an embarrassing hole in their bullpen, the Yankees plugged an even larger hole — a hole in their soul.

[Or he could go that route. To quote my Friend Who Knows Things, "Brutal."]

Sabathia represents a potential breath of fresh air in a stale, cliché-ridden Yankees clubhouse, one with little personality and even less passion, and no recent championships to compensate for those deficiencies.

[In fact, did you know that the Yankees won 114 games in 1998 largely because of Paul O'Neill's love-hate relationship with the dugout water coolers?]

In 2007, for example, Sabathia complained about the lack of African-American players in the majors. He even pointed a finger at Major League Baseball for not doing all that it could to increase the numbers.

[2009 World Series trophy, please!]

He said later: “I think Major League Baseball should do something about it. I don’t know exactly what they could be doing, but I know it’s not enough.”

[The Yankees clubhouse hasn't had this kind of problem-identification skills in years. Hope you enjoyed your brief stint atop the standings, Tampa!]

Finally a Yankee with an opinion.

[Ha, I know! No one associated with the Yankees EVER has opinions to share! Put your hand down, Hank! Not now!]

Gary Sheffield was the last great truth teller in the Yankees’ clubhouse.

[Great point. My favorite Sheffield "truth" was his proclamation that Jeter "ain't all the way black," and that Joe Torre treated black players differently from white players. I'm surprised that the Yanks didn't go undefeated that year.]

Before that, the passion was generated by the Paul O’Neill Yankees, who played with a verve that has been missing. It’s no coincidence that the championships have been missing as well.

[Two things: (1) Sheffield was definitely not on any of the championship teams; and (2) Why is O'Neill only ever credited for his "verve" as opposed to the fact that he was actually quite good at baseball. Career OPS+ of 120, one batting title, 5 all-star appearances, over 2,100 career hits. Dude could play. Pretty sure it was probably that fact, and not his temper tantrums, that helped the Yanks win titles.]

“That team can play, but something’s missing,” [Kevin Millar] said. “When you play against them and you look over there — other than they didn’t pitch very well — something was missing.” The something was chemistry.

[NO! No, it wasn't! It was pitching! He even just said that! OK, you know what? Forget it. Done.]