Sabathia to Milwaukee

CC is on his way...

The Brewers and the Cleveland Indians agreed in principle to a deal for the reigning AL Cy Young on Sunday, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney. The deal is contingent on paperwork being finished and the exchange of medical records.

Cleveland would get minor league outfielder Matt LaPorta, who is hitting .288 with 20 homers and 66 RBIs in 84 games for Double-A Huntsville, and others. The other players do not include top prospects Alcides Escobar or Mat Gamel, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Hanging onto Gamel and Escobar is huge. LaPorta is probably going to be a stud but the prospect of being able to throw Sheets, Sabathia, and Parra (maybe Gallardo if he comes back?) at the Cubs in that last series of the season with the NL Central on the line...yeah...that's a sweet thought.

Gallardo tore his ACL i thought? that's a nine month process if that is what happened.

I was dissapointed that we gave up such a stud minor leagure for what seems to be a rental on Sabathia but i appreciate the brewers being in a win now mode. The fact that the minor leagure was a left fielder, which we clearly have filled, it might not be that big of a loss.

If the guy we gave up turns out to be the next Paul O'neil or Ichiro, then we may have problems. I cannot wait to line up Sheets and Sabathia as a one two punch against the cubs.

I'm pretty pumped about this. It might be high time for me to pretend i'm an associated employee and get in to the games through the employee gate. Yeah dog. :twisted:

thoughts on the trade...

The Good:
Allows us to become very dangerous in a 7 game series
Evens out the talent level between us and the Cubs (edge is still to the cubs i think)
Gives us two of the best pitchers in baseball as a one-two punch

The Bad:
Lost a minor league stud. The brewers have done a great job in talent eval's and drafting so giving up one could be a future all pro player.
It's a one year lease, putting the brewers, a 3rd place team, in a win now mode.
I don't trust their offense in a playoff series, it's too reliant on the long ball and with good pitching you need to be able to play som small ball (JMO).

I read somewhere that Gallardo's rehab schedule would end at about the time the season ends/playoffs start. Not sure if he'd be good to go, but if it goes really well he could be pitching.

LaPorta is probably going to be a good player, but he's not even putting up the best numbers on his AA team. The other prospects we lost aren't anything special, so I think overall we got a good deal. It's a half season rental, but with Sheets out the door at the end of the season and Prince probably gone in the next three years, going for broke now isn't the worst thing.

I don't like it at all. why trade for a guy that wont even play for the crew next year? its stupid, may as well have thrown in bill hall, at least we would have addition by subtraction.

Plaintiff93 wrote:I don't like it at all. why trade for a guy that wont even play for the crew next year? its stupid, may as well have thrown in bill hall, at least we would have addition by subtraction.

do you know who also wouldn't play for the crew next year? Matt Laporta. He can play 2 positions..left field and 1st base. Hmm..i wonder if we already have someone playing those spots. And he can't play even play those well.

Also, this type of move is almost a neccessity for any team that only has 1 reliable pitcher. This is a great move for our team and for the fan base. The possibility of throwing out 2 aces in a playoff series is too much to bypass.

And here is the kicker plaintiff...when Laporta was drafted..Melvin said that he would quite possibly turn into a trading chip, because he knew that Laporta was blocked from getting into our starting lineup due to his terrible defense.

And yes throwing in our player who is the best hitter against lefties we have is always a good idea. I'm no Hall superfan, but don't be moronic about it. People have really short memories. It was only 2 years ago he hit 35 homers and was by far the best everyday player on the team.

Please at least have some understanding before calling something stupid.

stupid3: marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting[b]

Irony

i know datrain and i talked about it earlier, but we need a damn lead off stick. Most teams that win the world series tend to be very dangerous at the top of their lineup, in terms of setting up their power hitters.

Power hitters we got...lead off men, we lack.

I'd love to see Braun and Fielder come up with men on at least 40% of the time.

If Hart wasn't batting a ridiculous .357 RISP, I would say he's the answer for the leadoff conundrum. Really though I would put that towards the bottom of the to-do list. At least for the time being we have JJ absolutely raking, and while he's not going to keep the pace up all season, I am expecting him to finish at least around .275-.280 (assuming that shoulder stays healthy).
Now that we have another ace, my biggest want is some help in the bullpen, so hopefully we'll make at least one more move before the deadline.

i can't believe you are content with the top of the lineup. The guys are simply push overs (not hardy anymore) but even hardy is a free swinger. The only guys that seem to take pitches and work the count is Kendall.

datrain711 wrote:

Plaintiff93 wrote:I don't like it at all. why trade for a guy that wont even play for the crew next year? its stupid, may as well have thrown in bill hall, at least we would have addition by subtraction.

do you know who also wouldn't play for the crew next year? Matt Laporta. He can play 2 positions..left field and 1st base. Hmm..i wonder if we already have someone playing those spots. And he can't play even play those well.

Also, this type of move is almost a neccessity for any team that only has 1 reliable pitcher. This is a great move for our team and for the fan base. The possibility of throwing out 2 aces in a playoff series is too much to bypass.

And here is the kicker plaintiff...when Laporta was drafted..Melvin said that he would quite possibly turn into a trading chip, because he knew that Laporta was blocked from getting into our starting lineup due to his terrible defense.

And yes throwing in our player who is the best hitter against lefties we have is always a good idea. I'm no Hall superfan, but don't be moronic about it. People have really short memories. It was only 2 years ago he hit 35 homers and was by far the best everyday player on the team.

Please at least have some understanding before calling something stupid.

stupid3: marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting[b]

Irony

dude, fielder is going to be gone in three years anyway. We should not be giving away our prospects for another potential prospect. Just cause we drafted well a few years in a row doesn't mean that will continue.

Drafting got us this far, why start buying players now?

Aaaaaand the Cubs respond by getting Harden. ****.

who is harden? honestly...i've never heard of him.

5-0 for Oakland, 2.34 ERA, 92K in 77 IP.

He also is in the middle of a contract so he won't be a free agent for a few years. He is, however, as fragile as Sheets. He's been on the DL six times in six years.

i got a little bit of a rundown on him on sportscenter. Looks like a tough pitcher, should make for an interesting match up if we do make the PO's and face the cubs.

lets hope for an injury.

BOMBER wrote:5-0 for Oakland, 2.34 ERA, 92K in 77 IP.

He also is in the middle of a contract so he won't be a free agent for a few years. He is, however, as fragile as Sheets. He's been on the DL six times in six years.

harden is the guy that we shoudl ahve gone after. It's crazy that we grab a pitcher that won't even be on our roster next year. Why not go after the guy that we would have for a few years?

I'm glad CC won last night but he'll be gone as quickly as he arrived.

dude, the brewers are in a division race. They haven't had this good of a shot in a lnog time, although last year they had a decent shot as well. If you are going to go for a boom or bust, you go with the pitcher that is less injury prone. If you had it your way, we'd have two injury prone starters and we could be missing both of them come september.

On the same note, we only gave up the one stud minor leagure. Had we gone after a guy that is under contract, the A's would have been asking for much more than just the one stud. THey'd be wanting two of them at minimum.

I'm sorry but i do not follow your logic.

[/quote]

dude, fielder is going to be gone in three years anyway. We should not be giving away our prospects for another potential prospect. Just cause we drafted well a few years in a row doesn't mean that will continue.

Drafting got us this far, why start buying players now?[/quote]

Here is where drafting got us: 26 years and 0 playoff appearances. There is no team in baseball that wins the world series entirely because of drafts. The key to success is to stockpile draft picks so you can use some as trading chips. The day after Laporta was drafted Melvin alluded to him possibly being a trade chip.

This is the year we have been waiting for. It is a calculated risk, but one you have to take to prove to the fans that you are in it to win it.

datrain711 wrote:

dude, fielder is going to be gone in three years anyway. We should not be giving away our prospects for another potential prospect. Just cause we drafted well a few years in a row doesn't mean that will continue.

Drafting got us this far, why start buying players now?[/quote]

Here is where drafting got us: 26 years and 0 playoff appearances. There is no team in baseball that wins the world series entirely because of drafts. The key to success is to stockpile draft picks so you can use some as trading chips. The day after Laporta was drafted Melvin alluded to him possibly being a trade chip.

This is the year we have been waiting for. It is a calculated risk, but one you have to take to prove to the fans that you are in it to win it.[/quote]

The trade does look like it is holding merit. If sabathia is going to be able to hit this year, it's like picking up an extra out every 3 innings. I really like that he seems to bring an attitude to a team that sort of needs an identity.

Still anxiously waiting for Weeks to hit for average...