BALTIMORE — Two New York baseball icons offered counsel to Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia following their disappointing Yankees debuts Monday in an alarming Opening Day loss to the Orioles.
Sure, it was the first of 162 games, but there are prices to pay for drawing those massive salaries.
“You need to know the expectations are high, you make big paper and you are judged and evaluated every day,” Reggie Jackson told The Post, when asked what advice he could offer Teixeira, who went 0-for-4 and had fickle Yankees fans instantly screaming the Steinbrenner family was insane to give the switch-hitter $180 million. “It’s different. If you don’t believe it, ask the litany of players who have been hit upside the head.”
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Dwight “Doc” Gooden was on the back end of a career in 1996 and was nowhere near the highest paid pitcher in the game when he opened the season in the Yankees’ rotation.
“I was 0-3 and they were ready to send me out,” Gooden told The Post. “I was walking out of the Stadium with my ex-wife Monica and George comes up to me and says, ‘When are you going to win a [stinking] game.’ You have to take it as it is.
“The fans and media in New York are knowledgeable and the fans want to win. You get that kind of salary and expectations come with it. For me, the expectations were that people were comparing me to the old Doc. I would tell CC not to try and do too much. And whatever criticism he gets he can’t take it personal.”
Sabathia, who is in the first season of a seven-year deal worth $161 million, couldn’t command his signature fastball and it led to the Orioles paddling him for six runs and eight hits in 41/3 innings. He walked five (one intentional) and failed to whiff a batter for only the fifth time in 255 big league games.
Jackson has no concerns that what we saw on Opening Day will be the norm from Sabathia and Teixeira.
“Teixeira is too good and too consistent. Look at the consistent way he goes through life, he has a nice family and nice life,” Jackson said of Teixeira, who was heavily booed Monday by O’s fans who somehow have painted the Baltimore native as a villain for not signing with their downtrodden club. “He has had a heck of a career to draw confidence from. For the people of Baltimore to boo him doesn’t make sense. What was he supposed to do, be the first step in the rebuilding process?”
With Sabathia, Jackson pointed out the heavyweight hurler was a mess early last season.
“He struggled last year at the beginning and by the end of the year he was among the best pitchers,” Jackson said of the lefty who was 1-5 with a 7.51 ERA for the Indians on May 3 and went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA for the Brewers after being dealt in early July. “If he has a few bumps in the road, it shouldn’t surprise anybody around the game or around the Yankees.”
Gooden said Sabathia has a solid support system inside the clubhouse.
“If he has problems, just get through it and deal with it,” Gooden said. “Having Andy Pettitte there will help, he has been through everything.”