Yes, Brewers fans, celebrate the night away! CC Sabathia is now a Milwaukee Brewer pending paperwork and an exchange of medical records. Sabathia is expected to start his first game for the Brewers on Tuesday night versus the Rockies.
Sabathia is the reigning AL Cy Young award winner and after getting off to a slow start this season has reverted back to his old self. In his last 10 starts, Sabathia is 4-3 with a 2.22 ERA. He has pitched 77 innings and struck out 77 batters. For the year, Sabathia leads the AL in strikeouts with 123.
The Brewers did give up quite a lot to acquire Sabathia. Matt LaPorta, the Brewers 2007 first round draft choice, is the center piece of the deal. LaPorta is batting .288 with 20 home runs and 66 RBI in 84 games this season. The Brewers also gave up their 2007 Minor League Player of the Year in Taylor Green. Green is a third baseman at single A Brevard County. He is batting .295 with 10 home runs and 54 RBI in 81 games this season. There is at least one more prospect going to the Indians but no one is quite sure who it is at this point.
The Brewers completed a sweep of the Pirates today and now sit only 3.5 games back of division leading Chicago and are now tied with the Cardinals for the NL Wild Card lead. It’s likely that Seth McClung will get moved to the bullpen and serve as a set-up man for Salomon Torres. A rotation anchored by CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets is as good of a 1-2 in the National League. The Brewers could still trade for one more starter or maybe a relief pitcher. There are still rumors of the Brewers sending Tony Gwynn to the Padres for either Greg Maddux or Randy Wolf. If that happens, Dave Bush will likely head to the bullpen as well.
A ton of credit needs to go to GM Doug Melvin and Owner Mark Attanasio for having the guts to make this trade. I think this guarantees post season baseball in Milwaukee for the first time in 26 years. Get out there and support your team, Milwaukee! The management is showing they are serious about winning, now it’s time for the fans to show they are serious about supporting a winner!
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