Ok! So the New York Yankees fell flat on opening day of the 2009 season with their new free-agent hi-powered starting pitcher C.C.Sabathia on the mound. Really folks, it's no big deal. It's one game in a very long 162 game season. And the New York Yankees are still listed as favorites to win the American League East Division by EVEN odds according to sports odds experts at Sportsbook.com.
The Yankees have much to prove entering this new season and have spent plenty of money making sure they have the talent on the field to win the division and beyond. Yankee's ownership and fans will not be happy with anything short of a World Series Championship.
The 2008 season ended in disaster for the Bronx Bombers having failed to make the playoffs for the first time in 13 campaigns.
"I think the feeling that we had at the end of September last year is a feeling that we don't want to experience," Manager Joe Girardi said. "That memory of last September was a bad memory. We went out and added to our team, and I think all the players were excited about the people that we brought in. That's one of the reasons we have expectations for ourselves."
And bring in people they did; at a very high cost too. Back in December, the team gave itself and backers a Christmas present by signing former Toronto Blue Jay's ace, right hander A.J. Burnett to a five-year multi-million dollar contract.
The news of Burnett's aquisition had hardly hit the wires before the Yanks pulled in another prime talent in left-handed pitcher and former Cy Young Award winner C.C. Sabathia to a seven-year contract.
From within, the Yankees bolstered their starting pitching rotation by re-signing ace Chien-Ming-Wang to a one-year deal.
New York won a bidding war for the talents of Mark Teixeira, signing the first-baseman to a lucrative eight-year contract. Teixeira, 28, combined to bat .308 (177-for-574) with 41 doubles, 33 home runs and 121 RBI in 157 games with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels in 2008.
Sabathia, 28, was 17-10 with a 2.70 ERA in 35 overall starts with Cleveland and Milwaukee in 2008, leading the Majors in innings pitched (253.0IP), complete games (10) and shutouts (5), while finishing second in strikeouts (251), fourth in ERA and eighth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.25K/BB). His 10 complete games marked the first time a Major League pitcher has reached double digits in that category this decade (since Randy Johnson had 12 in 1999). In his final 31 starts of the season, he went 17-7 with a 1.88 ERA after beginning the year 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA (18.0IP, 27ER) in his first four starts.
Burnett, 31, went 18-10 with a 4.07 ERA and 231 strikeouts in 35 games (34 starts) with Toronto in 2008, posting career highs in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched (221.1). He led the American League in strikeouts, fanning 10-or-more batters a career-high six times, was tied for first in games started and tied for fourth in wins. Over his final 15 starts, he went 9-2 with a 2.72 ERA and 10 quality starts.
Arch-rivals Boston Red Sox, are installed at +140 odds at winning the American League East Division. Boston finished second to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008. The Rays are listed at +300 odds of winning the division. Toronto at +3500 and Baltimore at +4000 are not expected to contend for the division.
