Sabathia, Burnett and Rodriguez make Big Apple pitches

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If it’s the Big Apple and you’re a pitcher who just signed a lucrative MLB contract, your next stop isn’t Disneyland. You’ll instead be directed to a very expensive, but as-yet unfinished stadium, where you’ll get your picture taken -- and immediately start to do what you’re being paid a fortune to do.

The New York Yankees on Thursday trotted out newly signed pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett for a photo op at the new Yankee Stadium under construction in the Bronx. The Yankees signed Sabathia to a seven-year contract worth $161 million, a record, and Barnett to a five-year, $55-million deal.

A few days earlier, the New York Mets staged a similar photo op with former Angels reliever Francisco Rodriguez -- who signed a three-year, $37 million contract -- at the soon-to-be-completed Citi Field ballpark in Queens.

The photos are a reminder that you have to spend money to make money -- or to at least have a crack at paying off the substantial bills accumulated while building an expensive new ballpark. The new Yankee Stadium will cost at least $1.3 billion to complete, while Citi Field will cost $800 million.

The appearances by Sabathia, Rodriguez and Burnett likely were the first of many sales pitches they’ll probably be making as the two Big Apple teams try to drum up interest in the expensive seats inside their shiny new ballparks.

-- Greg Johnson

Lane / EPA