CC Sabathia is glad the “likable Yankees” era has quickly come and gone.
The Yankees exceeded expectations last season, riding performances from young, exciting players all the way to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Then they remembered they are the Yankees, and went and added the National League MVP from the small-market Marlins, and suddenly the Evil Empire days are back.
“Last year, we were the team that everybody loved, that feel-good story,” Sabathia said Thursday on MLB Network. “But getting Giancarlo [Stanton] just brings us back to being that hated team. That’s what we like. We want to go out there, put the best team on the field and crush everybody every game.”
Adding Stanton was the type of massive offseason move the Yankees were always known for with George Steinbrenner in charge. It gives the Yankees a frightening lineup, and puts them among the favorites to compete for a World Series title.
The franchise has been a little more measured with Steinbrenner’s son Hal in control, even setting a hard budget for 2018 — less than $197 million, to reset the franchise’s status for luxury-tax-paying purposes.
That hasn’t the stopped the Yankees from pursuing trades for players like Gerrit Cole or trying to add Japanese two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, players who would have been under control for a low price. The Yankees offset Stanton’s deal in the short-term — he’ll make $25 million this season — by sending Starlin Castro back to the Marlins and then trading Chase Headley to the Padres.
The moves have created potential holes and second and third base, but general manager Brian Cashman has chosen patience and faith in several prospects as potential solutions instead of splashing money for veteran players like the franchise has so often done.
This brief period of frugality is really only a means to increase future spending with less penalty because of baseball’s financial system. The Yankees were among the teams trying to acquire Manny Machado from the Orioles this offseason, and he is one of several marquee players who could be on the free agent market next year.
The likable underdog label wasn’t going to last for long. Count Sabathia, who signed a one-year, $10 million contract to return to the Yankees, as someone who is glad it’s gone.
“I was on vacation,” Sabathia said Wednesday on “Desus & Mero” of when he first heard about the trade for Stanton. “It was just one of those things where you catch it on the news and you’re like, ‘Yo, that is a Yankee move.’ ”
Asked for his first thought when he saw the Stanton trade, Sabathia had a simple response.
“World Series.”