CC Sabathia joined the Evan and Tiki show as part of the A-Rod Day festivities, and gave a glowing review of Alex Rodriguez as a teammate after the two played together for parts of eight seasons.
“Alex was probably one of the smartest baseball players I’ve ever played with,” Sabathia said. “Numerous times, I’d get the ball from him after I’d get an out, I’d grab the ball with my bare hand between third base and the mound, and he would be like ‘Hey, this guy is swinging first pitch here,’ or ‘Hey, you might want to throw a two-seamer here.’
“I think people hear stories and try to villainize him, but Alex is a good dude. In a team setting, he does well.”
CC also revealed that Rodriguez was the first Yankee player to make a recruiting pitch to join the Bombers after the 2008 season, when Sabathia was a coveted free agent.
“He was the first one to say ‘Hey, we’re really trying to get you here next year,’” Sabathia said.
Sabathia won a World Series in his first year with the Yanks, and he doesn’t hide the fact that, without Rodriguez’s October explosion that conquered his past playoff demons, Sabathia may have never won a ring in New York, and the Yankees’ World Series drought could feel a lot more painful.
“I don’t think the ’09 team gets enough credit for being one of the better Yankee teams of all time…that infield was one of the best to ever be field,” Sabathia said. We won the World Series with three starters. That team, I don’t think we get enough credit…had it not been for him, we don’t win. You think about the big home runs he hit in the Twins series, against the Angels, the ball down the line in Philly and the home run off the camera in right field. He had a monster postseason, and he’s the reason why we won.”