CLEVELAND (AP) -There was a time when CC Sabathia figured he would play forever with the Cleveland Indians.
That changed as he began to understand that baseball is a business – one in which he could get very rich playing somewhere else.
“Three or four years ago, I probably thought I’d spend my whole career in Cleveland,” Sabathia said Friday in his first return to Progressive Field as a member of the New York Yankees. “It just worked out that as I got older, we couldn’t get a contract done. Then I kind of knew I was going to get traded.”
Sabathia was drafted at age 17 by Cleveland in the first round in 1998 and came up to the Indians two years later. When the Indians fell out of the AL Central race a year ago, they decided to trade Sabathia, an impending free agent, to Milwaukee on July 7 for four players.
Sabathia helped the Brewers go to the postseason for the first time in 26 years, then signed a seven-year, $161 million deal with New York in December.
s great to see some of them.”
Sabathia caught up with one acquaintance right away Thursday when the Yankees got to town – LeBron James.
“LeBron’s unbelievable, he had a triple-double,” Sabathia said after he and several Yankees watched James and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
“It’s always fun watching LeBron. I cheer for the Cavs, but they have a tough matchup.”
But Sabathia is content watching James play for the Cavaliers and said he won’t try and talk another Cleveland star player into moving to New York.
“I’m not going there, I want no part of that,” Sabathia said when asked if he thought of helping the New York Knicks sign James as a free agent. “It’s the biggest stage in the world and he’s the best player in the NBA. If he wanted to go there, I think they’d welcome him with open arms.”
Sabathia got less than a warm welcome at the Cavs game, being booed by fans when he was shown on the video scoreboard.
“I knew there would be a lot of boos, but there were some cheers in there,” said Sabathia, who compiled a 106-71 record in 7 1/2 seasons with the Indians. In 2007, he went 19-7 and became the first Cleveland pitcher to win the Cy Young Award since Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry in 1972.
uled to take the mound at Progressive Field for the first time as an opponent.
“I kind of went through all that when we faced them in New York,” Sabathia said.
“It will still be a little weird to face them. It will be different, but nothing unexpected. I follow these guys to see what they are doing.
“But I’m with New York now. It took a little while to get settled in, but it’s great.”
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