ARLINGTON, Texas -- CC Sabathia has another three weeks or so to decide whether to opt out of his contract with the Yankees, whether to test the market and perhaps go someplace where there is need for a perennial candidate for the Cy Young Award.
The Cubs, for example, will soon have a new general manager and could use an injection of clubhouse leadership. The Rangers could be facing the loss of C.J. Wilson and looking for a replacement. The Angels are prepared to do something aggressive in the market and already understand what losing players like Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli to a division rival could mean; they could jump into the conversation on Sabathia, a California native, to keep him away from Texas.
For now, Sabathia's focus is entirely on remaining with the Yankees, according to his agent, Brian Peters. "CC has been clear about how he feels about New York and the Yankees," Peters said on Saturday morning, "and we will exhaust all of our efforts to reach a new agreement [with the Yankees]."
To read more from Buster on CC Sabathia's free-agent decision, plus updates from the ALCS and NLCS, sign up for ESPN Insider.
Buster Olney
ESPN Insider- Senior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com
- Reporter for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball
- Author of "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty"
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Buster Olney
Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of two books. "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," is a Times best-seller, and "How Lucky You Can Be", about basketball coaching legend Don Meyer, was released in 2011.
He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).
Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."
Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN
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