Had this magical train ride stopped at the wild-card game, how Brian Cashman viewed CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka during the regular season probably wouldn’t have changed a bit.
In other words, he’d be shaking both their hands right now, thanking them for their service to the team, and bidding them both luck on their next stop. They would need a younger arm than the 37-year-old Sabathia and a more consistent one than the 28-year-old Tanaka had provided a still-developing team.
The money saved by not re-signing free agent CC and Tanaka, who may well opt out of his contract, could go toward procuring such talent.