Don't call them busts yet: Sabathia, Teixeira adjusting to glare of NYC

CC Sabathia has struggled this season in New York, blowing all but one of the five leads the Yankees have had with him on the mound. G. Newman Lowrance/Getty Images Tom Verducci's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Tom. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

The Yankees have handed their new ace, CC Sabathia, five leads this season. He has blown all of them but one. The team is 2-4 when it gives him the ball.

Their new slugging first baseman, Mark Teixeira, brought a .182 batting average into a game against Boston on Monday night before hitting two home runs in a loss.

Throw in third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who should be back within a week to 10 days after undergoing hip surgery in March, and the Yankees already have paid out about $13 million of the $80 million they will give Sabathia, Teixeira and Rodriguez this year and they have almost nothing to show for it. For $13 million you could cover the entire Marlins' payroll into June.

And believe it or not, the cost inefficiency is unintended good news for the Yankees. At 13-12 with the second-highest scoring offense in the league, New York is weathering what could have been its most vulnerable period: waiting for Rodriguez to return and for Sabathia and Teixeira, notorious slow starters in the best of times, to make it through their break-in period as Yankees.

Because they have no health concerns, Sabathia and Teixeira are bound to get hot, as soon as they get past their inclination to justify their combined $341 million contracts. Both have been their own worst enemies thus far. Sabathia was miserable in April 2008 (7.76 ERA), but then the Indians, after breaking down high-tech tracking information available from MLB, discovered his release point had dropped several inches, causing him to lose command. Once Sabathia corrected the mechanical flaw by adjusting his stride, he went back to being a dominating pitcher.

This year Sabathia has no such quick-fix remedy to set him straight. His fastball velocity (93.6) is right where it should be. His release point has been mostly rock solid. His mechanics are clean.

"Last year my stuff wasn't there," Sabathia said. "I couldn't get the ball in to righties. This year is completely different. I feel like I'm throwing the ball the way I want to. I'm just not getting the results."

The Yankees already have lost more games with Sabathia on the mound than the Brewers did last year in 17 outings with him (14-3). In his most recent start, Sabathia took a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning at home against the Angels and a 30-year-old rookie named Matt Palmer -- and got outpitched and lost. That should not happen to an ace. Asked about the team's 2-4 record when he starts, Sabathia said, "That's frustrating. Definitely. Every time you go out there you want the team to feel like it can win."

The Yankees don't yet have that bulletproof belief behind Sabathia. So what's wrong? His command, especially with his fastball, has been erratic, and given his proper velocity and mechanics, probably is due to some performance anxiety about pitching in the spotlight, which has been a problem for him in postseasons. Sabathia's strike percentage is down slightly from last year (62 percent, down from 66 percent). Most tellingly, his strikeout rate (5.54 per nine innings) and walk rate (3.46) are well off his career numbers (7.5 and 2.85).