He is a starting pitcher by trade but is now being asked to be a sales closer. In the ads, he is pictured midway through a motion that, in 2013, did not deliver fastballs with their familiar Sabathia vim and vigor. His image accompanies a headline in the ad (“Yankees Holiday Ticket On-Sale”) that reads as awkwardly as “starting in left field for the Yankees: Zoilo Almonte” sounded last season, when the public-address announcer Paul Olden had to keep fans at Yankee Stadium up to date on all the anonymous players putting on pinstripes.

But before we digress further, perhaps into our Ben Francisco riff, let’s return to Sabathia. He is still a consequential Yankee, the team’s ace. Maybe he has a great sales patter, like Ron Popeil’s or Frank Perdue’s. He is relatively young, at 33. He is not rehabilitating a twice-fractured ankle, as is Derek Jeter, the Colossus of the franchise. He is not recovering from wrist surgery, as Mark Teixeira is. He is not newly retired, as are Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. He is not fighting a 211-game suspension imposed by Commissioner Bud Selig or, for that matter, suing Selig, both of which Alex Rodriguez is doing.

And Sabathia is not trying to convince teams, including the Yankees, that he deserves $300 million in a new contract, as Robinson Cano is.

Nope, C. C. is durable, jumbo-size (but down to a sveltish 285 pounds!) and hard-working. As far as we know, he has nothing against ol’ Milwaukee Bud. He will get $23 million in 2014 from a contract that runs through 2016, with an option year in 2017. His left arm has a lot of mileage on it, 2,7751/3 innings’ worth, but who’s to say he can’t keep going?

Sabathia will not be the only Yankees personality featured in these ticket-selling promotions. But how many of his teammates, given the uncertainty of the Yankees’ roster, will actually come after him?