Adding Sabathia Doesn't Make Brewers Automatic Favorites

The Brewers added another sausage to the race. That's right, according ESPN's Buster Olney the Brew Crew have added the beefy strikeout machine known as C.C. Sabathia.

From the looks of the deal, Milwaukee didn't even have to give up that much, only a few minor leaguers. They didn't even have to give up top prospects Alcides Escobar and Mat Gamel, both who had previously been rumored in trade talks.

While this certainly appears to be a huge steal for the Brewers I cannot state they automatically become the class of the NL or even their division.

As of Sunday the Brewer's are tied with the Cardinals for second in the central, 3.5 behind the division leading Cubs.

According to a recent ESPN poll almost 45 percent of the nation thinks that the Brewers will now end up overtaking the Cubs in the second half and win the Central. Sorry SportsNation I am going to have to disagree with you and stick with my Cubbies here for several reasons.

First, Sabathia is an elite pitcher and the one-two punch of him and Ben Sheets is one of the best in baseball. But, last time I checked I believe the only team in the Central with two starting pitchers on the All-Star team (Dempster and Zambrano) is still the Cubs, who are also the only team in the NL with three pitchers (Wood) on the All-Star team.  

But winning a division is not only about pitching, it’s about your overall team play, and staying with the theme of All-Stars, the Cubs had an astounding seven players make the team—with several other players finishing in second and third in voting.

In comparison to the Brewers two (three if Hart gets the final vote). You can say that a lot of that has to do with fan voting and player in a larger market but it’s hard to deny the Cubs offensive statistics this season.

Plus, I would take the Cubs bullpen with Marmol (who has not been as lights out as usual recently) and K-Wood (forgetting about Saturday) over the shaky Brewers bullpen of Gagne, Mota, and Torres. 

The last thing you have to figure is that picking up Jim Edmonds earlier this season wasn't going to be Jim Hendry's only move. You can expect this move by Milwaukee to spark a fire underneath his seat and the Cubs should be getting some pitching help before the deadline.

With all this considered it is very hard for me to say that the Brewers will leapfrog the Cubs just because they add one very good pitcher.

The Brewers have defiantly improved and this type of big move can spark a team but the Cubs have just played too well and have too many weapons to been overtaken with this one move.

In my previous article I picked the Brewers to win the wild card and I think this definitely makes that more of a possibility but for now the central still belongs to the Loveable Losers.