With the Indians reeling from injuries,* their front office may decide to trade ace C C Sabathia, an impending free agent.
The Sox certainly have the pieces to make an offer for him. However, acquiring Sabathia seems like a better move for the Yankees, whose rotation is once again faltering.
Sabathia's arm has a lot of wear. At age 27, he's pitched over 1500 innings in the majors, including 256.1 last year (counting the playoffs). He's been a great pitcher, especially over the past two seasons, with ERA+s of 140 and 143. For a power lefty, he has great command - from the 2005 season onward, his walks per nine innings have always been lower than 3.0. He also has a high K-rate (career 7.38 Ks / 9) and suppresses the long-ball, having never more given up more than 20 HR in a season.
So the $20 million question is, should Boston be in on Sabathia? Assuming the Indians begin shopping him, should our front office aggressively pursue him? Or should they sit tight with the current rotation?
* Catcher Victor Martinez just went down, and stars Fausto Carmona and Travis Hafner are on the DL. Pitcher Jake Westbrook recently had season-ending surgery. The Indians are 31-36, 6.5 games behind the ChiSox.