New York Yankees: CC Sabathia loses $500,000 bonus

CC Sabathia had a chance at a $500,000 bonus, but gave it up to protect a Yankees teammate who’d been thrown at.

The Yankees sent CC Sabathia to the mound on Thursday afternoon to face the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. With a 1.5-game lead on the Oakland A’s in the AL wild card race, the Yankees were still looking to secure home field advantage for that win-or-go-home game. Their spot in the playoff was secure, but the game still had high stakes as far as home field advantage is concerned.

Sabathia had an extra incentive. He has a clause in his contract that gives him a $500,000 bonus if he pitches 155 innings this season. He came into the game with 148 innings under his belt. Winning the game for the Yankees took the most importance, but pocketing another $500,000 would be a nice bonus.

The Yankees came out strong with four runs in the first, then added three more in the top of the fourth to take a 7-0 lead. Sabathia was cruising. He didn’t allow a baserunner until the bottom of the fourth inning, when Joey Wendle scratched out a single. Sabathia allowed a second baserunner in the bottom of the fifth, when an errant pitch hit Jake Bauers.

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In the top of the sixth, Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge retaliated to the Bauers beaning by throwing a pitch at Yankees catcher Andrew Romine. He didn’t hit Romine, but the intention was clear. The Rays were sending a message. The Yankees immediate response was to tack on another four runs in the inning to push their lead to 11-0.

At this point, Sabathia had allowed two baserunners through five innings and thrown just 54 pitches. He needed two innings to get the $500,000 bonus and he had an 11-0 lead to work with. It was practically money in the bank.

Then it wasn’t. The first batter was Jesus Sucre. On the first pitch, Sabathia beaned Sucre and was immediately ejected. He didn’t even protest; he knew he’d be gone. As he walked off the mound, he pointed at the Rays dugout and said, “That’s for you, b*$^@!”

Sabathia chose retaliating for the pitch thrown at his catcher over $500,000. It’s easy to point out that he’s made $252 million in his career (according to Baseball-Reference), but that’s still a nice chunk of change to willingly give up. Depending on your point of view, you either think Sabathia should be commended for sticking up for his teammate or you think he’s an idiot for losing his chance to pocket $500,000. I’m sure his Yankees teammates will take the former view, which is probably the most important thing here.