Lefty starter CC Sabathia held a press conference Saturday at Yankees camp to announce that 2019 will be his last season before retirement. It wasn't a surprise or anything, as the news broke earlier this week and Sabathia is 39 years old this season with over a quarter billion dollars in career earnings.
As noted, there's still a season left in which to polish his resume, but let's take a look at Sabathia's Hall of Fame case.
The numbers: 246-153, 3.70 ERA, 117 ERA+, 1.25 WHIP, 2,986 strikeouts, 1,060 walks, 3,470 innings, 38 complete games, 12 shutouts.
The six-time All-Star won the 2007 AL Cy Young with the Indians. He has four more top-five Cy Young finishes, including the notable fifth-place finish in the 2008 NL voting. That's notable because he was traded to the Brewers midseason and only made 17 starts with them. All he did in those 17 starts was pitch to a 1.65 ERA with seven complete games and three shutouts, veritably carrying the Brewers to the playoffs for the first time since 1982.
The ensuing offseason, Sabathia signed a huge deal with the Yankees and did not disappoint. In 2009, he was the ace of the World Series champion Yankees and won the ALCS MVP.
Sabathia will almost certainly pass 250 wins and 3,000 strikeouts for his career this coming season. He would join the following pitchers on that list: Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Steve Carlton, Bert Blyleven, Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Walter Johnson, Greg Maddux, Phil Niekro, Fergie Jenkins and Bob Gibson.
Note that all of those pitchers are Hall of Famers except Clemens, and we know the extenuating circumstances there. As things stand, Sabathia ranks 17th all-time in strikeouts and 51st in wins.
Sabathia is already 75th in career innings pitched, a significant feat considering the number of innings the Dead Ball Era pitchers used to rack up. A true throwback workhorse, Sabathia averaged 240 innings per season from 2007-11 and went at least 188 innings in 12 different seasons.
In WAR, Sabathia is 51st all-time among pitchers and the JAWS system has him 71st. In the case of the latter, he's a decent bit below the average Hall of Fame starting pitcher but among the likes of Three Finger Brown, Early Wynn and Don Sutton.
In sifting through all this, it appears that Sabathia's Hall case is going to be an old-school one. The advanced numbers don't love him nearly as much as the wins/strikeouts combo and the so-called intangibles. That is to say Sabathia has long been known as a great teammate and in his prime he had that dominant mound presence. You know, the "feel" factor. He just felt scary and Hall-like on the mound at times, specifically for me during that run with the 2008 Brewers. You just knew they were gonna win when he took the ball, even on short rest (he had a 0.83 ERA in three starts on short rest).
Regardless of whether he ends up in the Hall or not, the Big Man's career has been really enjoyable to watch. Here's to one more good season before he rides off into the proverbial sunset.
