The View From Seat 113: Cubs and CC Sabathia Becomes a Distant Afterthought

Back in July, CC Sabathia to the Cubs in 2009 seemed like a warm thought to North Siders. And why not?

A former Cy Young winner that's under the age of 30, a lefty, strong as a bull, and a free agent at year's end with very little possibility of the Brewers resigning him.

Now, on August 19, that possibility has become nothing but a distant memory.

In nine starts with Milwaukee, Sabathia is 8-0 with five complete games and 73 innings pitched.

There's where the memory begins.

It was no secret to any knowledgeable baseball fan that Sabathia was nothing more than a rental player to Milwaukee. It was a secret though that the Brewers would work him like a Colombian drug mule in hopes of getting to the post-season.

At the rate Sabathia is going his arm will be hanging lower than Corey Patterson's batting average, the Brewers may be in playoffs, and he'll be searching for a new team come October.

But what cannot be overlooked is the workload that Sabathia has faced this second half of the season. Based on that, Sabathia has certainly made himself a risk to sign to the long-term, big money contract he will certainly be looking for.

And that is one reason why the Cubs will be smart not to pursue Sabathia come season's end.

The last thing the Cubs need, no matter how far they go into the playoffs, is to have an off-season acquisition flop, get seriously injured, or tail off at the end. Instead, how about the Cubs chase a center fielder since Jim Edmonds won't play forever. Or maybe strengthen up the bullpen more? How about seeing how Rich Harden works out in 2009 and lock him in for a few more years?

Whatever the Cubs decide to do with Mark Cuban's money, Sam Zell's money, or random owner No. 1's money, it shouldn't be on CC Sabathia. He will undoubtedly carry a question mark to how much the Brewers left in his tank.

Sabathia has more starts, and more likely than not more complete games. Any more games of 130 pitches or more like Monday could be damaging to Sabathia's season, contract, and career.

Apparently, if the Brewers can't have him, than the rest of the majors cannot have him either.