Sabathia has begun throwing program, lost more weight

January 11, 2013 by Mike Axisa 36 Comments

Via Dan Martin: CC Sabathia started his offseason throwing program earlier this week after having surgery in October to clear a bone spur out of his left elbow. “My elbow is feeling good,” said the left-hander. “I just started throwing on Monday. That’s the time I would normally start my throwing program, and I’ll be ready to lengthen it out and be ready to go for Spring Training.”

Sabathia, 32, has also lost some more weight this winter — “I lost a little bit of weight … Twenty pounds. Coming off the elbow surgery, I just wanted to be able to be healthy and stay healthy all year.” — in what has become an offseason tradition. It was 30 lbs. in each of the last two offseasons, but he did a much better job of keeping the weight off in 2012 than he did in 2011. The most important thing is the health of that elbow after surgery though, and it’s good to hear his rehab is progressing well.

Robinson Tilapia

I heard him say the same thing to Colin Cowhird yesterday morning. Hope to see a nice return to form in 2013.
- Andy Pettitte’s Fibula (formerly Manny’s BanWagon)
  
  You like Colin Cowherd? I think he’s kind of a moron.
  
  I heard him go off on a soliloquy last week about how the SEC wasn’t so superior to the rest of the conferences and how this wasn’t a vintage Alabama team , that they vulnerable only to watch them bitch slap ND all over the field like they were the JV team. The score could have been 60-14 if Saban hadn’t called off the dogs in the 2nd half.
  - Robinson Tilapia
    
    He tends to be on the radio when I’m driving from one office to another, and I tend to have either ESPN Radio or NPR on as white noise at the office.
    
    That being said, I do like him, and probably a lot more than any of the other guys on ESPN (Kay is terrible, but entertaining. Stephen A defies categorization.) I don’t agree with any of these guys half the time, but I do feel like he speaks his mind and isn’t necessarily out to provoke just to keep you tuned in. He also laughs in the face of Yankee-haters from time to time.
    - Andy Pettitte’s Fibula (formerly Manny’s BanWagon)
      
      Cowherd is definitely better than Kay, who’s knowledge about anything other than baseball is pretty shaky IMO. Stephen A. Smith is a complete jackass and I can’t stand when he starts talking his street lingo crap. Mike Lupica is pretty bad too with that falsetto voice of his that sounds like he’s been castrated so I guess out of the bunch, Cowherd is the least bad IMO.
      - Gonzo
        
        Did you guys ever read that FJM piece on Cowherd’s HOF take?
        
        Robinson Tilapia
        
        Haven’t at all. Should I? Would it change my mind on him?
        
        Gonzo
        
        I’ll let you decide. It is dated, so maybe he’s changed his stance.
        
        http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2006/01/12-minutes-of-hell-with-colin-cowherd.html
        
        In his defense. I think it’s tough to listen to most radio guys about baseball. I don’t think they know enough.
        
        Robinson Tilapia
        
        Okay. I read it. That’s pretty terrible. It was also six years ago and, like I said, I think these guys are baiting listeners half the time.
        
        I do feel that, in the couple of years I’ve been listening to him in small spurts, he tends to bait less than, say, Kay does, who is just awful with it.
        
        Gonzo
        
        Yeah, he is pretty big now, so I guess he wouldn’t need to bait as much.
        
        Robinson Tilapia
        
        They all do, though.
        
        I think Hank Goldberg said it best once down in Miami. He’s on every day, four hours a day. There’s only so many things to talk about to keep you listening. Sometimes you have to throw something out there that’s going to have people talking. I get it. It’s just multiplied by 1000, and is such a slimy way, with Kay.
        
        ….and I’m pretty much a Kay apologist as play-by-play guy.
        
        Gonzo
        
        Fair enough.
      - Robinson Tilapia
        
        I love Stephen A as a character, even more after the Jay Pharoah impression, which was the best thing ever. That’s about it.
        
        Andy Pettitte’s Fibula (formerly Manny’s BanWagon)
        
        If I were an african american, I would be offended by Stephen A Smith who’s way of “keeping it real” is to speak like someone who’s relatively ignorant and uneducated.
        
        Sexy and Cano It
        
        Don LaGreca is probably the best on ESPN radio. He speaks his mind without trying to stir up controversy and most of the time he’s right. He knows what he’s talking about, in all sports, and is very easy to listen to.
        
        Andy Pettitte’s Fibula (formerly Manny’s BanWagon)
        
        I like LaGreca too but I don’t like how they’ve cast him as the side kick for Kay and Lupica.
TheOneWhoKnocks

Every year we hear CC has lost significant weight and is in the best shape of his life.
I’ve never noticed a difference.
- Voice of Reason
  
  Really? He was clearly thinner in 2012 than 2011.
- RetroRob
  
  I’ve never heard the term “best shape of his life” with CC. Just that he’s lost some weight, which he has done each of the last three off seasons, including this one.
  - Gonzo
    
    I want to hear a guy say he was in waaaay better shape when he was 22. Then say he wouldn’t kick his now self out of bed though.
  - WhittakerWalt
    
    Or maybe it’s just that the best shape of CC’s life is still pretty fat.
- Havok9120
  
  Yeah, like RR above, I’ve never heard the “shape of his life” junk about CC. But I’ve noticed him be significantly slimmer at the start of the last two seasons.
- MannyGeee
  
  This is now, if my math is right, the THIRD offseason where he’s lost weight.
  
  And then… The buffets during the season.
  
  Is it that the toll of the season has him eating for comfort? Does he just have less control in the road than he does when he’s at home with the wifey? I have to know what’s going on here.
Frank

Gotta keep in shape so you can launch those 91mph missiles.
- jjyank
  
  His average velocity last year was 92.4.
  - Robinson Tilapia
    
    C’mon. This guy was clearly just expressing a different opinion than us and here we go acting like only we matter.
    - jjyank
      
      I’m such a lemming.
      - Andy Pettitte’s Fibula (formerly Manny’s BanWagon)
        
        Lemmings vs. Trolls.
        
        and the daily fight for supremacy on RAB rolls on and on and on…..
  - LK
    
    Frank rounds anything below 98 down to 91.
  - Sexy and Cano It
    
    And that was on the bad elbow. CC should return to 93 avg. velocity easy this year with a chance to tough 97-98 in his yearly groove in July.
    - jjyank
      
      Yeah, he was at 93.9 average fastball velocity in 2011. Certainly possible.
trr

Gotta have the Big Guy ready if we’re gonna do anything at all this year…
johnnybk

CC is fun to watch when he is rolling though, isn’t he? I hope we get a couple of those 8-10 game stretches of total dominance this year.
- KeithK
  
  Yeah. Wouldn’t it be sweet if he had, say, four of those 8-0 game stretches?
Paco

I hear that CC is in the best shape of his life….. zzzzz… That’ll last 3 weeks into the season and a few dozen boxes of Cap’N Crunch….
Barry

Don’t be jealous. Hater.
Nathan

After voting for him for the baseball cover deal, a little video of CC plays and he does look slimmer.