C.C. Sabathia

10:38pm: Barring something unforseen, Sabathia is expected to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract, a source with knowledge of the situation told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.

9:35am: Not many players would ever think about walking away from $92MM, but C.C. Sabathia is one of the few who could consider it. Sabathia can opt out of his contract with the Yankees after the season, but repeated today that he does not intend to do so. The left-hander told reporters, including Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger, that he will not opt out and that he doesn't intend to address the issue again this season (Twitter link).

However, Sabathia later told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that "anything is possible in a contract," suggesting that he could opt out.

Sabathia, a Legacy Sports client, signed a player-friendly seven-year, $161MM deal after the 2008 season. The contract allows him to choose between $92MM from 2012-15 or another free agent contract. Given the shortage of top available starters Sabathia would have a lot of leverage if he opts out. Sabathia has thrived in the AL East, posting a 3.27 ERA (136 ERA+) in 467 2/3 innings and leading the league in wins in consecutive seasons.

Some Yankees-related news as things get underway in Tampa..

• Yankees GM Brian Cashman is still on the lookout for a starting pitcher, either via trade or free agency, writes Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees Blog.  “If it makes sense, I’m ready to rock and roll,” the GM said.  Of course, the Yankees already have plenty of candidates for the backend of the rotation in-house, including Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, and Ivan Nova, as well as youngsters D.J. Mitchell and David Phelps.
• Meanwhile, manager Joe Girardi says that the competition is wide open at this stage.  While that could mean that the club's in-house position battle goes down to the wire, it could also mean that there's enough time for a new acquisition to be worked into the mix.  “The chances that the fourth and fifth starter role will be answered sooner than later are not very good,” the manager said. “I think we’ll spend all spring evaluating everybody in our camp…So, basically, we have an open competition until March 30.”
• Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com (via Twitter) doesn't blame Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia for keeping his opt-out option open. 
• Hank Steinbrenner isn't concerned about Sabathia opting-out of his deal, writes Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com.  Steinbrenner also says that fans can expect the Yankees to contend every year.

C.C. Sabathia said this morning that he does not intend to opt out of his contract, but stopped short of guaranteeing a return to the Bronx next year. The left-hander can exercise an opt-out clause in his contract and hit free agency after the season if he and his agent see the opportunity for a better deal on the open market. 

Sabathia appears to like New York – he has certainly pitched well since donning pinstripes – so there's no guarantee that he opts out. But we can be reasonably sure of one thing: he won't have much competition from free agent starters if he does choose to explore free agency again. Here's a look at some of the other starters who will be available after the coming season:

• Mark Buehrle – Buehrle, who could retire after the season, has logged 200 innings for ten consecutive seasons and has a career ERA of 3.85. He'll draw lots of interest if he has another strong season.
• Yu Darvish - The Japanese right-hander has ace stuff and plans to play in the Majors in 2012.
• C.J. Wilson - Wilson was fantastic last year, but he has started more than six games in a season once. Sabathia has averaged 32 starts for the last decade.
• Edwin Jackson - Jackson hasn't been nearly as consistent as his rotation-mate, Buehrle. He posted a 4.47 ERA last year and is not a top-of-the-rotation starter despite his no-hit stuff.
• Hiroki Kuroda - Kuroda has been effective in three seasons with the Dodgers, but he's five years older than Sabathia and hasn't been as dominant.
• Joel Pineiro – A capable starter, Pineiro is no Sabathia.
• Bounce-back candidates Brandon Webb, Chris Young, Javier Vazquez, Brad Penny and Jeff Francis will hit the open market. 
• Adam Wainwright (vesting), Roy Oswalt (mutual), Ryan Dempster (player) and Chris Carpenter (team) could hit free agency after the season, but all have options for 2012.

It would be hard to fault Sabathia for staying put. The Yankees win and $92MM is a lot of money. But Sabathia has averaged a 3.27 ERA, 234 innings, 197 strikeouts and 20 wins in two seasons as a Yankee. Another similar campaign would put Sabathia in position to obtain more guaranteed money, especially considering the shortage of aces likely to be available in free agency.

Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia has the ability to opt out of the remaining four years and $92MM remaining on his contract after the 2011 season.  It's been suggested that a Cliff Lee megadeal could prompt Sabathia to bail in search of more money or years, but he told George King of the New York Post, "It has no effect on me at all."  But as Joe Pawlikowski of River Ave. Blues points out, Sabathia did not directly slam the door on the opt-out.