Thursday, April 17, 2008

Steak at Stake, Chapter 3

For the newbies, here are the Steak at Stake ground rules.

Update: Much like his opponent in this wager, C.C. Sabathia sucks.



You heard me, big man. You are costing me steak.

Last night, Sabathia gave up 9 earned runs on 8 hits and 5 walks in just 4 innings to raise his season ERA to 13.50. His season line is 0-3, with 32 hits, 14 walks, 27 earned runs, 5 home runs and 14 strikeouts in 18 innings pitched.

Players in contract years are supposed to be motivated, and Sabathia could be costing himself a shot at Johan Santana money. However, those with steak on the line look at Sabathia's early troubles and recall the more than 250 innings he threw last year, playoffs included.

About that, I have only one thing to say: Eric Wedge, I know where you live.

Cleveland, right? You live in Cleveland? Yeah, I thought so. It makes sense. I mean, you're the manager, you would pretty much have to live in Cleveland. At least during the season.

Thanks for your time, Mr. Wedge, I'm glad we could settle that.

It's easy to get bent out of shape by a series of ugly starts, but we are after all talking about a mere 18 innings, which isn't really enough data to judge. In today's Baseball Prospectus ($), Joe Sheehan argues that this four-game stretch really isn't out of line with the worst four games Sabathia has thrown in any of the past four seasons.

It's a valid point, but he probably doesn't have steak at stake.

2 comments:

8 said...

Then again, he turned in a dandy last night.

TK said...

Indeed he did. I'm overdue for an update.