MILWAUKEE — CC Sabathia, who perhaps will become baseball's highest-paid pitcher as a free agent this winter, said he would strongly consider returning to the Milwaukee Brewers.
"I loved it here," said Sabathia, who went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts after a July 7 trade from the Cleveland Indians, and led the Brewers to their first postseason in 26 years. "It's one of the most fun times I've had in my life. It was definitely a blessing to be traded here.
"Everything was great. We accomplished a lot. This team will be back. There's a lot of good young players in here.
"I'll go home this winter and make the best decision."
Awesome
6 hours ago
18 comments:
I think that right now, the Brewers should add a "Sabathia Fee" to season tickets and 9-packs and any tickets they are selling for next season. The fee would be something like $5 per ticket, optional, and go directly to CC's pocket (if we don't sign him, there could be a refund). I would pay that. If we sold a million tickets before the season started and everyone opted in, you're like a quarter of the way there.
how do you feel about $24 million per for 6 years?
http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2008/10/what-will-cc-sabathia-get/
Not a matter of could the Brewers do it, but should they. Attanasio has a hard cap on payroll and isn't interested in operating the franchise at a loss. There are no untapped revenue sources in this market and economic conditions suggest drawing 3 mil again will be a challenge, so payroll won't likely increase. As good as CC is it just doesn't make sense to have that much payroll tied to a single player.
If you do it -- and Braun says that CC's suggested he could be had by Milwaukee for fewer years -- how do you fill the other holes on this team, and pay all the arby-eligible guys? I don't think you can, and for better or worse, ready or not, Gamel and Escobar become opening day 2009 starters.
I want Escobar to be an opening day starter.
Rosenthal:
Brewers, 100-1: While both sides are saying all the right things, there's just no way the Brewers will prevail in such a heated market.
I don't, not in place of a salary-dumped Hardy anyway.
No, I want Hardy and Escobar up the middle
I think it's possible. I really do think it could be like the Green Bay Packers circa 1991-1992. The team was heading in the right direction after a shake-up in management, Wolf was the new GM and Holmgren the new coach. Who knows if Melvin will stay, but the Brewers have a newish owner, who's made some big moves, and now they'll have to get a new manager.
In 1992, the Packers traded for and signed Favre, a young offensive star. The Brewers signed a long contract with Braun, the heart and soul of their offense.
Then, after going 9-7 in the 1992 season, they somehow signed Reggie White, the most sought after free agent in the league (and probably in the history of the league), and shocked a lot of other teams when they did it. Reggie could have gone anywhere, but he liked the Packers. He thought they had good young players and were heading in the right direction. From there, everything else just fell into place. I could see Sabathia doing this for the Brewers, and not just because he and Reggie White are both big, black guys. Maybe it's all just lip service, but it sounds a lot like the stuff Reggie was saying when he was a free agent in 1992.
"No, I want Hardy and Escobar up the middle."
Agreed.
In a signed-CC scenario, Hardy's days with the Brewers are likely over.
Your Reggie White analogy neglects an important fact: The Packers were the highest bidder.
Details.
Were they? Do we know that for a fact?
I think the Brewers will have to give him the same per year salary, but he may knock it down to a 4 year deal in order to get another massive deal at 33.
Hardy's a high-cost arby-eligible guy. If they're gonna free up some money for CC, they'll do it at positions where they view the incumbent as replaceable. With Escobar in the wings, Hardy's replaceable. To a lesser extent, the same is true of Gamel/Fielder, or even Gamel/Hart.
Even at 4-96, which is certainly more palatable for the Brewers, the Brewers shouldn't touch him. The cost will be great to the core of this team.
I don't think anyone else's bids for White were publicly documented, but all anecdotal accounts suggest the Packers were the highest bidder. I've never heard otherwise even implied.
Would you do it if it meant giving up Fielder?
Actually, yes i would.
If they could trade Prince for value that wold be excellent.
Prince and Parra to Detroit for Carlos Guillen and Bonderman/Verlander
That would be epically awesome.
Sure, you'd have to trade Fielder for value, before he doesn't have any.
so you move him for a high OBP third basemen and bring Gamel up to play first.
He won't be significantly worse than Prince defensively and the addition of a productive third basemen should make up for the offensive pop lost.
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