CC Sabathia to enter alcohol rehab center, miss playoffs
NEW YORK – CC Sabathia is checking into an alcohol rehab center and will miss the postseason, a setback to the Yankees pitching staff the day before the team’s opening playoff game.
The team issued a statement from the pitcher Monday, with New York awaiting the Houston Astros on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium in the A.L. wild-card game. Sabathia, the 2007 A.L. Cy Young Award winner, said he took the step to receive the care he needs and become the kind of person “I can be proud of.”
“I love baseball and I love my teammates like brothers, and I am also fully aware that I am leaving at a time when we should all be coming together for one last push toward the World Series,” the 35-year-old left-hander said. “It hurts me deeply to do this now, but I owe it to myself and to my family to get myself right. I want to take control of my disease, and I want to be a better man, father and player.”
Sabathia is 214-129 in 15 major league seasons and was 6-10 with a 4.73 ERA this year, slowed by his surgically repaired right knee. After returning from the disabled list and using a tighter brace, the 300-pound-plus pitcher was 2-1 with a 2.17 ERA in his last five starts and got the win against Boston last week that clinched the Yankees’ return to the postseason following a rare two-year absence,
“As difficult as this decision is to share publicly, I don’t want to run and hide,” Sabathia said. “Being an adult means being accountable. Being a baseball player means that others look up to you. I want my kids – and others who may have become fans of mine over the years – to know that I am not too big of a man to ask for help. I want to hold my head up high, have a full heart and be the type of person again that I can be proud of. And that’s exactly what I am going to do.”
In mid-August, TMZ posted video of Sabathia getting into a confrontation with hecklers outside a nightclub in Toronto.
Sabathia signed a $161 million, seven-year contract with the Yankees before the 2009 season and helped New York win the World Series during his first season in the Bronx. Rather than exercise his right to terminate the contract after the 2011 season, he agreed to a new deal – a $25 million guaranteed salary for 2016 and a $25 million team option for 2017 with a $5 million buyout.
“I am looking forward to being out on the field with my team next season playing the game that brings me so much happiness,” Sabathia said.