Brewers - Acquired His Rotundity

Back when the Brewers drafted Matt LaPorta, there was a lot of talk about how the Brewers simply drafted the best player available and even though they had Prince Fielder, they could always trade one of the two to fill a specific hole when the time came. Now, that ancient prophecy once foretold has been fulfilled by the sacred rite of, uh, R'Milwaukeewantsastartingpitcher.

It's not hard to see how this is a good trade for the Indians - I'd rather have LaPorta than the draft picks and the Indians apparently gave up on the prospect of re-signing Sabathia. Zach Jackson seems to be mainly filler at this point. Bryson's still down in the Sally League and while he's pitching well, he's still an A-ball reliever and with just fastball/slider, won't be a full-time starter. The Indians get to pick one of two players to finish off the trade and the early word is that it's probably going to be Taylor Green, who had a tremendous full-season debut in 2007 and can play fake 3B better than Mat Gamel (though Gamel's obviously the better hitter). Althouogh I'm suspicious of Taylor Green as Greens have a record of leading teams down a trail of tears. Tommy Greene? Tyler Green? Todd Greene? Khalil Greene? Willie Greene? David Green? It's a trail of tears, I tell ya.

For the Indians, adding Sabathia makes them a formidable team down the stretch. My only concern is if they really are going to make an attept to re-sign him. It enables them to let Sheets go, using the injury excuse (Sabathia's one of the most durable pitchers in baseball), but if they're unwilling to go 6-year, $120 million, I'm not sure I make this trade if I'm the Brewers. One-shot star trades don't interest me as much in a league with 8 playoff teams as it did when there were 4. I don't like rolling the dice this way in the weaker league - there's no glass ceiling of awesome teams to break through.

2008 ZiPS Projection - C.C. Sabathia
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              W   L   G  GS   IP    H   ER  HR  BB  SO   ERA    
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Year-to-Date  6   8  18  18  122  117   52  13  34 123  3.83
Rest-of-Yr    7   4  14  14  101   97   39  11  21  94  3.48
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Total        13  12  32  32  223  214   91  24  55 217  3.67
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2009?        16   8  31  31  220  199   79  21  46 230  3.23  
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Top Comps:  Frank Viola with Thyroid Problem, Vida Blue with Acromegaly and Donuts

2008 Translations
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Player        AB   R    H  2B 3B  HR RBI  BB  SO  SB    BA   OBP   SLG  OPS+
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Green        321  25   74  13  0  11  49  27  38   2  .231  .291  .374    76
LaPorta      319  46   80  20  1  20  60  30  55   2  .251  .331  .508   121	
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2008 Translations
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Player      W   L   G  GS   IP    H   ER  HR  BB  SO   ERA  ERA+
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Bryson      3   2  22   5   52   46   24   7  27  51  4.15   104
Jackson     2   4  22   6   57   81   45  12  18  27  7.11    61
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