CC stands for 'cold cash' any way you do the math

LAS VEGAS -- When the ink dries on CC Sabathia's seven-year contract with the New York Yankees, it will call for the left-hander to be paid $161 million, a million more than originally reported. Why the extra dough?

Turns out 161 divided by seven is 23, making the annual average value of Sabathia's contract $100,000 a year richer than the record six-year, $137.5-million deal Johan Santana signed with the New York Mets last winter.

It also pushes the total worth of the contract just past the 10-year, $160-million deal Manny Ramirez signed with the Red Sox in 2001 -- making Sabathia's deal not only the richest ever given to the pitcher but the fourth-most lucrative in history behind the $275-million and $252-million, 10-year deals given Alex Rodriguez by the Texas Rangers and Yankees and the $189-milllion, 10-year deal Derek Jeter has with New York.

-- Kevin Baxter