Earlier today, I questioned whether C.C. Sabathia would be starting for the Indians tomorrow.  As you will probably already know, the answer is no.

I don’t think there’s much doubt that this is going to be a three month rental for the Brewers.  Sabathia is going to get a massive multi-year deal when he becomes a free agent at the season’s end and Milwaukee aren’t going to be the team paying it.  Is three months of Sabathia worth giving up your top prospect (Matt LaPorta) and three other minor leaguers for?  Only time will tell.

The Brew Crew sit just three games behind the NL Central leading Cubs and with Yovani Gallardo on the shelf (most likely for the rest of the season), they needed another quality starter to join Ben Sheets in a formidable 1-2 punch.  C.C. is just the man.  With Sheets also being a free agent later this year, the Brewers will likely be banking themselves four compensatory first-round draft picks for the 2009 draft.  Milwaukee have had an excellent drafting record in recent years, so they are set for a full-on charge at the post-season, followed by a re-tooling project. 

Heading into the season, you wouldn’t have predicted that the Indians would be parting with their ace partway through.  After their attempts during Spring Training to sign Sabathia to an extension proved futile, it looked a certainty that 2008 would be his final year in Cleveland.  However,  it looked like they were primed for another shot at the ALCS, having come so close to knocking out the Red Sox last year.  In that situation, there’s no doubt that the Indians would have kept hold of Sabathia regardless of whether he left for nothing (draft picks aside) at the end of the season.  ‘Flags fly forever’ as they say.  What we didn’t expect was for the Indians to be rock bottom of the Central at the start of July, a full fourteen games back of the White Sox.  So it made sense for the Indians to look for a deal that suited them and the Brewers’ offer appears to have been too good to turn down.

Cleveland’s actions are basically an admission that their season is over.  Milwaukee’s actions are a sign that their season is only just about to begin.

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