C.C. Sabathia Already Managing Expectations

C.C. Sabathia was introduced to the New York media yesterday, which is generally not an interesting moment in a player's career, but there was one little nugget of information that may hint at trouble.

Apparently, Sabathia was concerned that his adventures in Milwaukee last year were so incredibly awesome that Brewers fans would have had some unreasonable expectations for his performance were he to return. So in order to avoid the uncomfortable situation of being expected to deliver superhuman feats, he took the largest free agent pitching contract in history and moved to New York City.

""If I had gone back to Milwaukee, they would have been looking to me to win every single game. I expect to win every single game here, too, but there would have been more immense pressure there because they wouldn't have been able to put the pieces around me to help me win. I think I can get that here....

If I had went somewhere else, they would have expected me to do what I did the last second half in Milwaukee and you know that's kinda unrealistic."

You know, $161 million for seven years of work used to seem unrealistic, too. It's funny how those things work. Fortunately, New York baseball fans are a kind and patient bunch with no sense of entitlement that would never make unreasonable performance demands on new players. Just try your best—that's what they care about.

Sheesh.

CC Sabathia Press Conference: Came to NY So He Doesn't Have To Repeat His Milwaukee Excellence [Bob's Blitz] CC Sabathia seems man enough to put Bronx in Fat City [NY Daily News] CC & A.J. press conference roundup [NY Daily News] The Yankees Welcome $243.5 Million of Pitching [NY Times]