CC Sabathia has made one big league relief appearance in 585 games, working 1 ¹/₃ innings in a 3-2 loss in a deciding Game 5 of the 2011 ALDS against the Tigers.
Now the Yankees are going to use the final week of the season to see if the veteran lefty can adapt to relieving and help in that role during the postseason.
“CC will pitch out of the pen at least a couple of times,’’ Aaron Boone said before the Yankees lost 4-3 to the Blue Jays at the Stadium on Friday. “He will probably pitch once in Tampa and hopefully again in Texas.”
Asking a 39-year-old with a 251-161 record and 3,091 career strikeouts to work out of the pen isn’t exactly routine. However, if Sabathia shows he can handle the switch he could be an option for the post-season staff.
“The first time will be a little bit more of a controlled setting where he knows he is coming in,’’ Boone said. “If that goes well maybe do it a little bit more on the fly over the weekend.’’
Despite Sabathia’s right knee issues, Boone believes the retiring Sabathia has a chance to succeed out of the pen.
“I feel he is in a pretty good place to do it,’’ Boone said. “He has always been a guy from an arm standpoint that bounces back. We will have to walk through this and see how he responds to it. We feel like there is a significant role there that he could play whether it is in short spurts or bulk in different areas.’’