Article:Inside the Brewers/Indians deal

It's not too often when looking at a trade can we say definitively one way or the other it will pay immediate dividends, today's deal does not fall into that category. The Milwaukee Brewers acquisition of defending Cy Young Award winner C.C. Sabathia will pay-off for the Brewers immediately in the form of the N.L. Central title and likely home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs. The Brew Crew are currently tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for second place in the Central, 3 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs. More importantly, they are tied with the Card for the Wild Card lead, and conversely have the third best won/lost record in the National League.



While it is certainly possible both the Cubs and Cards could make a deal or two within the next three weeks to off-set the Sabathia pick-up, as of now the National League is advantage Brewers. Even if Sabathia were to walk at the end of the season, if he walks with a ring I don't think the Brewers or their fans will be too sorry to see him go.

Sabathia over his career has been historically a better second half pitcher. He's gone 49-33 with a 3.71 ERA, (compared to a first half ERA of 3.92). He's gone 23-9 in August, and 19-9 in September and October, with a career best ERA split of 2.90 for the latter. While moving to a more hitter friendly park may be a concern, in reality, for a power pitcher Sabathia's career groundball/fly ball ratio is pretty much even. More importantly, C.C. will be facing hitters who, as a group, haven't faced him much, if at all. From a schedule standpoint, the Brewers have six games left with the Cardinals, all of them on the road, and ten with the Cubs, with seven in Milwaukee, including the final three games of the season. Looking outside the division, only a three game series at home vs. the Mets, and a four gamer at Philadelphia, both in September, are cause for concern. Division teams out of the race enjoy the spoiler role, and a ten game block remains against the Cincinnati Reds, but remember one thing, with Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Adam Dunn, and Ken Griffey Jr., the Reds power is all from the left side.

While, on paper, moving four "prospects" to obtain a player for what likely will be a three month rental seems alot, in reality, only Matt LaPorta is considered a "true" prospect, defined as being a major league regular. And even LaPorta himself is lacking in some areas, he may be better off in the American League, where the DH role is available for him.



LaPorta, the Brewers first round pick in the 2007 draft, went from a high school catcher to a college corner infielder to a pro outfielder. Usually, when an outfielder begins to lose skills, he is moved to a corner infield position, going the other way shows a lack of projectable skills, putting him in the outfield guarantees his bat stays in the lineup, and he would be less likely to be killed by a batted or thrown ball. LaPorta has improved dramatically in the outfield after an off-season spent in Arizona working with Brewers legend and Hall of Famer Robin Yount. LaPorta's make-up and attitude almost matches his hitting skills, he wants to learn and get better. While he won't ever win a Gold Glove, he's no Chris Duncan either. His routes are good, his approach is better, and as a former catcher, already has the arm. Hitting .291/20/66 at Double A Huntsville, LaPorta will play in the Futures Game at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, and is on the U.S. Olympic Team roster scheduled to participate in Beijing in August. There is a report that as part of the deal, LaPorta has been asked by the Indians to remove himself from consideration for the Olympics, fueling speculation he will report to Cleveland for the second half of the season.

Lefty Zach Jackson was a supplemental first round pick by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2004 draft. He came to the Indians in the Lyle Overbay trade, for his minor league career he is 28-23 with a 4.62 ERA. Jackson has spent a brief time in the majors, appearing in eight games with Milwaukeein 2006, posting a 2-2 record with a 5.40 ERA in 38 innings. He has two appearances to date this year, pitching three and two thirds innings, while allowing two earned runs. A 6'5", 220 pound lefty, Jackson has three average ML pitches, (fastball, slider, change), his issues stem from inconsistencies in his delivery and pitching from behind in the count. He could also make an appearance in Cleveland at some point, although with Cliff Lee, Jeremy Sowers and Aaron Laffey filling the lefty starter spots, Jackson's role likely will remain out of the bullpen.

Rob Bryson was a draft and follow (31st round) from the 2006 draft, and is a power pitching righthanded reliever. To date this season, Bryson has struck out 73 in 55 innings pitched while performing in the Class A South Atlantic League, picking up five saves in the process despite a 4.25 ERA. Bryson has a 95 mph fastball with a hard slider and a slow curve he uses as a changeup. The Brewers had him working on a conventional change, although he has yet to use it in game action as Bryson has had trouble with arm speed on the delivery.

The fourth piece of the deal, the proverbial "player to be named later", is rumored to be Class A third baseman Taylor Green. Green, despite being named the Brewers Minor League Player of the Year for 2007, had little future in the Brewers organization as he was being blocked by Mat Gamel, Milwaukee's sixth ranked prospect. Currently hitting .295/10/54, Green's strength is his plate discipline, as referenced by his walk and strikeout totals of 42 each. Green doesn't run well, (no triples, three stolen bases in five attempts), and is rather dimunitive for a corner infielder (5'10", 180). Green has committed 13 errors in 81 games, not a high total for a Class A player, but high enough to be of concern for a third baseman.

If LaPorta continues to develop, and becomes an acceptable defensive player while hitting around .280 with 25 HR and between 90-100 RBI, and if Jackson turns into a serviceable lefty relief specialist, then the Indians will consider the trade a success. How the Brewers end up viewing the trade will depend on one thing, on whether or not they are measured for individual World Series rings.

And if they did win it all, could both Ben Sheets and Sabathia decide Milwaukee isn't such a bad place to be afterall, and decide to hang around for three or four more years?