Milwaukee Brewers Win C.C. Sabathia Sweepstakes

Well, the Milwaukee Brewers have landed C.C. Sabathia with other teams also vying for the hefty southpaw. It became a 4-for-1 deal, as the Brewers gave up four prospects to get the reigning AL Cy Young winner.

The headliner of those prospects was outfielder Matt LaPorta, who Milwaukee drafted with their first round pick in 2007. In 84 games for the Double-A Huntsville Stars, LaPorta is batting .288 with 20 HR and 66 RBI.

Also in the deal was Triple-A left-hander Zach Jackson, who came to Milwaukee with Dave Bush and Gabe Gross from the Blue Jays in the Lyle Overbay deal. Jackson never lived up to the hype he had while in Toronto.

Right-hander Rob Bryson from Class-A and a player to be named later close out the deal. That player is said to be third baseman Taylor Green, who was voted the Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Player of the Year in 2007.

Milwaukee does hang on to their No. 2 prospect, shortstop Alcides Escobar, who plays outstanding defense. It was either going to be LaPorta or Escobar as headliner, but the Indians need more power in their outfield.

I was one of the ones who was up in the air about this trade taking place, but now that C.C. is actually on 'my' team, I'm excited to see what he can do. Perhaps he might be able to return to '07 form.

What does this deal mean for the Brewers?

Like I said in a previous article, it gives Milwaukee possibly the best one-two punch in all of baseball in the starting rotation. This actually could take a lot of pressure off Sabathia as he is now No. 2 with Sheets being the ace of this Brewers staff.

Sure, Sabathia is just 6-8 this year with a 3.83 ERA, but that was because Cleveland's offense couldn't produce many runs. He was given very low run support, which is the main reason for the sub .500 record.

The Brewers are a team who aren't going to fail in the run scoring department, so Sabathia will be given plenty of runs to work with.

He's now moving to the NL, so all his numbers reset to zeroes anyway. Also, he's only facing eight legitimate hitters, plus a pitcher. Brewers' fans will also get to see Sabathia hit, as he handled the bat pretty well in Cleveland.

Milwaukee can really make a serious push to win the division and their first playoff appearance since 1982 by making this deal.

C.C. Sabathia is expected to be in Brew City later today and might be able to pitch for the Crew as early as Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies.

I think I speak for most of Milwaukee, and the state of Wisconsin, when I say, "Welcome to Milwaukee big fella."

Let's just hope he stays longer than three months.