Highest Paid Players in Major League Baseball: An overview – Part 3
Ranked Number three in the list of highest paid players in Major League Baseball this season is New York Yankees’ star player and starting pitcher CC Sabathia. His salary at just over $24-million is justified in the sense that he is the only dependable pitcher
which the Yankees have in their ranks.
With a win-loss record of 14-5 this season, Sabathia is easily ranked among the leading pitchers this season. No other pitcher from the Yankees is even close to his winning tally. The reason why the Yankees have been successful this year, apart from their
formidable batting line-up, is Sabathia.
Sabathia once again proved his valour at the mound this season when he recorded seven consecutive winning starts before he lost to Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, July 21. His statistics in the game were not below par with just two runs coming from eight innings
accompanied by eight strike-outs. This was his first loss since June 9.
Sabathia started his MLB career in 2001 with the Cleveland Indians and impressed immediately without wasting any time. He started in 33 games and ended the season with a win-loss record of 17-5. His first season at the professional level saw him register
171 strike-outs against his name but had an ERA of 4.39 which had to be improved to sustain his position. He was quick to realise that and his first season’s ERA became the highest-ever in his career to date.
Sabathia publicly announced his authority at the mound in 2007 when he broke the 200 strike-outs barrier and ended the season with 209 strike-outs. Out of 34 starts for the Indians, Sabathia managed wins in 19 games and losses in just 7. His ERA nose-dived
to 3.21 and he was now the next big thing at the mound.
Sabathia shared the 2008 season between the Indians and the Milwaukee Brewers before finally moving to the New York Yankees in 2009.
2008 was a record-breaking season for Sabathia as he ended the season with 251 strike-outs at a career-best ERA of 2.70. He pitched 253 innings, the most by him in his entire career.
He has been at his level best since he joined the Yankees in 2009. He has recorded 54 wins in 90 games since 2009 with just 20 losses to accompany the wins. He has been injury-free and has persistently pitched more than 200 innings every season since 2009
and is in line to repeat the feat this year with 161.2 innings pitched thus far. His strike-outs have not plunged either with the 197 in 2009 and 2010 and another 142 thus far in this season with almost 14 more starts to go. At this average, he is all set
to cross the 200 strike-outs barrier this year as well.
Sabathia has been a sensation throughout his career and rightly deserves to be among the highest paid players in Major League Baseball. The Yankees would not want to risk losing him and thus would do enough to keep him aboard, for the foreseeable future
at least.
Alex Rodriguez and Sabathia are joined by team-mate Mark Teixeira who makes it to the fourth place in the prestigious list of the highest earning players. Teixeira plays at first base for the Yankees and earns just over $23-million per year from the club
which has a team payroll of roughly $200-million, $30-million more than any other club in MLB.
Continued in Part 4
Tags: