CC Sabathia has made more than $250 million in his career, so he’s not hurting for cash.
But the New York Yankees pitcher cost himself a nice chunk of change Thursday in order to defend one of his teammates.
Sabathia, just two innings away from reaching a $500,000 contract incentive, was ejected from his start against the Tampa Bay Rays when he hit Rays catcher Jesus Sucre with a pitch.
Sabathia plunked Sucre in apparent retribution for Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge going up and in with a fastball near the head of Yankees catcher Austin Romine.
Sabathia was immediately ejected, and the left-hander quickly walked off the mound. He didn’t head straight for the dugout, though. Instead, he started yapping at the Rays dugout and could be seen telling someone “That’s for you, b—-.”
According to Cot’s Contract, Sabathia has a $500,000 incentives for innings. Sabathia entered the day with 148 innings on the season and needed to pitch seven innings in order to reach that first incentive. There’s little doubt he’d get there, too. Sabathia was cruising — his final pitch was only his 55th of the outing — and the Yankees held a commanding 11-0 lead.
But apparently Sabathia placed a pretty hefty price tag — half a million dollars, in fact — on being a good teammate.
