For those of you looking forward to Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia locking horns (as if they were deer, what a dumb expression that is) on Tuesday night, you might have to settle for Justin Verlander and Jeff Weaver. That’s almost the same thing right? Sabathia has been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for a passel of prospects including Matt Laporta. He’ll join the team and be successful in the next year or two and the Indians will lock him up through his arbitration years and then they’ll trade him in 2013 at the trade deadline for more prospects.
The Indians continue to transform the club with this coming after the Tribe DFA’d Joe Borowski. The AL Central continues to transform as well with Sabathia joining Johan Santana as southpaw Cy Young winners headed to the senior circuit.
I think the Brewers did a good job of helping the Tigers out here. The Crew had Laporta on the table for a few days…but Cleveland was holding out for another top-flight AA prospect. They wanted SS Alcides Excobar or 3B Mat Gamel.
Doug Melvin wouldn’t budge, though.
So the Tribe gets bona-fida prospect Laporta, going-nowhere pitcher Zach Jackson, unknown quantity Rob Bryson, and A-Ball 3B Taylor Green.
Most of the folks here in Milwaukee seem to think the Brewers got a steal. One top prospect and three nobodies.
Don’t forget…The Indians traded Bartolo Colon to the Expos for blue-ship prospect Brandon Phillips and a couple of useless throw-ins named Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee.
Those nobodies could very well turn out to be somebodies.
I’d hardly call Taylor Green a “nobody” but that’s because I’m a prospects fan. He’s a solid mid-level prospect.
I think the Brewers didn’t get a steal and Cleveland landed the best of the bunch. Alcides Escobar is entire overrated. Good glove from what I know, but he’s (1) repeating Double-A and (2) seen his numbers rise (slugging by 90 points, BA by 45-ish points) due mostly to the fact that his BABIP has jumped nearly 40 points despite identical Line Drive rates.
Anytime you’re trading for minor league players – there’s the chance they could become studs (e.g. Grady Sizemore). But according to the reports over here – the Indians were clamoring for more of the Brewers AA prospects. Instead, they only got one player who has any experience above that level. And Jackson has been flat-out horrendous at the major league level.
I agree that Green is certainly interesting. He’s a lefty and has really learned to hit the ball. But I’ve heard scuttle around the park that he wasn’t really projected at 3B in the bigs. There’s questions about his size and his defense. (I’m not sure what size has to do with it…but that’s what I hear).
Perhaps I drank the Kool-Aid and was expecting too much in the market for CC? I was suprised. I expected them to get more.
I agree that the package seems a bit low considering what had been floated out through the media (sup, ESPN?). Green is the interesting piece to the puzzle for me. Baseball Prospectus says that the Indians want to test him as a 2B before officially naming him in the deal, so he’s currently the PTBNL.
maybe I’m over estimating, but this to me would be like if the Tigers traded JV for some prospects instead of just paying up for a bonafied Major leaguer.
He’s the current Cy Young award winner.
We had better sweep this little 2-game series against the 8-straight losers and their CC-less pitching.
Was there a fire in Cleveland, because this looks like a fire sale…
Seriously, they had until the end of the month to move Sabathia. Seems like someone worth shopping around a little. They must have a real crush on Matt Laporta, and couldn’t bear to let the Brewers move him to another team.
I will not miss facing CC, that’s for sure. I wonder who else they might try and unload before the deadline. Casey Blake would be preferable, that guy always kills us.
It’s basically an 11 week rental of Sabathia to the Brewers. Since Cleveland isn’t going anywhere this year, it makes no sense to pay a fortune to a player who is just going to leave at the end of the year anyway. Laporta, meanwhile, will be under club control for six years – it’s just a sound swap of contracts.
With this having gone down, I can’t help but wonder if Cliff Lee is next. With this season a wash, it may be in their interest to get a big package for Lee while his value is sky high. If they think Sowers and Laffey can be long-term contributors, and they can get a top notch pitching prospect and a couple other guys, it makes sense to let him go.
With his contract status, Lee if probably more valuable to the Indians if they hold him. Given the market for top-notch SP and assuming he remains one.
It would make sense to trade Lee while he is playing great and try to get the most value for him but the Indians have him signed for next year and an option in 2010.
Regardless, I’d like to see him traded just so there is the chance that Cleveland fans might become so livid that they light the Cuyahoga on fire again.
I don’t think Lee is going anywhere. They’re probably banking on an ’09 rotation of Lee-Carmona-Laffey-Westbrook-Sowers/Miller/Fifth Starter X, which should probably be decent. If they finally hit Grady Sizemore in the three hole and Victor Martinez figures out how to hit a “home run”, The Tribe should be contenders in ’09.
this helps DET near term, but I am more worried about the Tigers satrting pitching next year and beyond.
does anyone think that DD may use the Pudge/Sheffield/Rogers money (assuming they are not re-signed) and go after a top free agent SP (among other needs…1B/3B, C, etc)?
they will have JV and hopefully a healthy Bonderman…Galarraga has looked good. nate is Nate…a #4-5 at best. Porcello…who knows when he will arrive?
the Jurrjens trade obviously looks worse in the rear view mirror, but no sense crying over spilt milk.
But that’s just it. Given that Cliff Lee had an awesome 2005, followed by a mediocre 2006, then a 2007 demotion, then a Cy Young-type 2008, I don’t see how anyone could legitimately predict consistent good pitching down the road from him. They could probably get a Haren-sized haul (pitching well, affordable contract) for him right now from a team that wants to win right now, and I kind of think that if they have given up on this year, they’d be fools not to.
“does anyone think that DD may use the Pudge/Sheffield/Rogers money (assuming they are not re-signed) and go after a top free agent SP (among other needs…1B/3B, C, etc)?”
I sure hope not.
Teams like the As and the Twins show us time and time again that you build effective pitching staffs from within or with trades for young prospects. Both of these franchises load up with young talent in their farm systems, and they then let the law of averages do the rest. And when they do get their guy, they ride him until the contract is up, trade him for more prospects, or simply let them go. And then they let one of those other sucker teams spend tons of money and prospects doing it. It is absolutely brilliant for the little guy. David is making Goliath small before kicking his ass.
For any GM to feel that they can get their ace with a big time, expensive veteran signing, I have only two words: Barry Zito. …..And even Johan Santana is nothing more than an expensive innings eater. The Mets can only hope that those innings are as good as the ones he provided on the cheap. Santana is still pretty good, but we are seeing a lot of young guys recently brought up in the past year or two who are performing as good or better than Santana, and for much cheaper.
Chris–that is a good point.
However, I would take issue with your characterization of Santana. I think he is a bit more than an “expensive innings eater.”
And DET followed this approach….but they traded away Jurrjens, Miller, Trahern, etc. I think the bullpen is looking solid for the future, but I am worried about the rotation.
Chris,
I disagree that FA SP is a bad place to spend money. Don’t spend a ton of money there, I agree, and at least 2/5 of the rotation should probably be young, home grown, and cheap, but I see no problem with signing a great FA pitcher if he’s available. Think about when the D’Backs signed Randy Johnson for a then-huge $55 million/4 year deal. He won the Cy each year. He was an expensive FA SP but without him the D’Backs wouldn’t have been good. Having one of those guys in the rotation isn’t an awful idea. I agree, it shouldn’t be more than that (see Yankees, last year: Clemens, Pettitte, Mussina), but to get a truly top flight pitcher, even if he takes a ton of money to get, isn’t a bad idea. I think there are only a few guys worth that these days: Sabathia, Halladay, Webb, Santana, maybe Peavy, maybe Beckett. A few more years and the likes of Verlander and Lincecum will likely be in that group.