Morning Update: Sabathia takes out ad in Plain Dealer

What a kick in the gut.

Look..

I’m grateful for C.C. Sabathia and I expected nothing less from him.

Take a look at the $12,870 ad he placed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“Thank You for 10 Great Years…
You’ve touched our lives
with your kindness, love and generosity.
We are forever grateful!
It’s been a privilege and an honor!”

-CC & Amber Sabathia & Family

It just hit me like a ton of bricks….. This is it.. The final moment wasn’t when he was traded and introduced as a Milwaukee Brewer… It was the moment I read this ad. I’m sort of in shock. CC is gone and there is nothing more to it. I’m actually kind of sad. Him putting it in right now says he won’t be back, which is another story in itself.

I just.. I don’t know what to say about this.

“It was something that was in the works almost from the moment he was traded,” said Kathy Jacobson, the pitcher’s spokeswoman in San Francisco. (Plain Dealer)

I want to move on.. I didn’t expect this when I woke up this morning.. it’s just wow…. I’m a little mad about the timing of this.. But I’m still shocked by it.. Not only what he did, but just the fact that this is the exact moment that I’ve realized he isn’t coming back and he’s totally gone.

Just… More Sad News.. Travis Hafner went home to North Dakota for a family emergency. It turns out his father Terry has passed away. Just.. The news is matching weather so far.. Really Really Cruddy.

Terry Hafner used the games against the Twins to come down and see his son play in Minnesota. Condolences to the Pronk Family in this time. I feel for him. Terry was battling cancer.

Kelly Shoppach makes no bones about the way he swings the bat.

“It doesn’t do me any good to try to beat out an infield single,” he said. “I might as well get the ball in the air and see what happens. My swing’s structured with some elevation to it, anyway.” (Plain Dealer)

Shoppach will be splitting time with Victor Martinez when Martinez returns. Vic can’t do the everyday thing and you know he’ll be playing an awful lot first base. The thing isn’t simply catching though.. He had stuff done on his elbow, so it effects his swinging more than anything. He’ll get days off from the start, he prob won’t play two days in a row for awhile.

Since getting shelled in an extra-inning game against the Padres last month, Edwin Mujica has been prepared for battle.

“After that game, I put it in my mind to be ready for anything, any situation,” he said. (Plain Dealer)

With that said, Eric Wedge is going to mix and match and play every game one night at a time when it comes to his bullpen. He doesn’t have any defined roles, which makes it tougher on the guys in the pen in prepartion. But, no one wants to seem to step up so..

“We’re going to keep mixing and matching with it,” said Wedge. “Depending on where I feel we are and where I feel the guys down there are. There may be three or four guys I use to close down there. The same thing with setting up.” (Plain Dealer)

Terry Pluto was scribbling in his notebook.. I liked this from him.. It’s something I would do.

Asdrubal Cabrera is working his tail off, which has gotten Wedge’s eye.

“I tell you, this kid’s working hard,” manager Eric Wedge said of Cabrera. “He’s out there early, he’s spent a lot of time with [hitting coach] Derek [Shelton]. He’s working hard to make that positive repetition.” (Indians.com)

That’s great to see Cabs working hard.. He is a young guy and maybe now that work-ethic thing is coming around.

The Official C.C. Sabathia Trade Entry

It will be long and it will be painful. But, here is the official C.C. Sabathia trade entry.

Why don’t we start with the official deal. Before we get to all the outside opinions.

Milwaukee Gets: C.C. Sabathia and the two draft picks he will net a team after he signs with a team not named Milwaukee.

Cleveland Gets: Outfielder Matt LaPorta, LHP Zach Jackson, RHP Rob Bryson, PTBNL

The Player To Be Named Later is a very important part of this deal according to Mark Shapiro. His press conference was very informative and he let us know more than I thought he would.

He said that the PTBNL was the key to this deal happening. LaPorta was obviously the center-piece, but without the PTBNL that WILL be a supposedly Major League Prospect, then Shapiro wouldn’t have signed off.

The PTBNL is assumed to be a list that Doug Melvin said there are two dates for the Indians. He didn’t let the media in on those dates of course, but Shapiro supposedly has a list of players that can become an impact at the Major League level that include Third Baseman Taylor Green and Outfielders Michael Brantley and Lorenzo Cain.

The sticking point of the PTBNL is whether Green can make the move to second. I will tip my hat to Shapiro in this part. The fact that he can be flexible to this part of the deal is huge. I’m hoping Green is the player, but if Michael Brantley is the player when all is said and done. I won’t have any problem with it.

The next player is Rob Bryson. Bryson is a right handed relief pitcher who Baseball-America said could be the Brewers closer by 2011.

Brewers Nation has a great profile on him here.

Zach Jackson is probably considered a throw in. Mark Shapiro didn’t have many great things to say about him. He looked at him as a “depth option this year” and who knows what. So, I think he is a project. They need to see if a change of scenary will do him some good, but looking at his stats, I’m not expecting much.

This isn’t the “near-major league ready” pitcher I was thinking about for this deal.

Now.. The centerpiece.. Matt LaPorta.

LaPorta is a Florida Gator, he was recruited as a catcher. Played third and first for them and was moved to the outfield after getting drafted by Milwaukee.

Milwaukee had him in the outfield for one reason and one reason alone. They have Prince Fielder at first.

LaPorta is a defensive liability, so I get the impression after listening to Shapiro that he will be moved to first base when all is said and done.

If you want to learn about Matt LaPorta, you can read the Cleveland Fan’s report on him.

LaPorta is all about the power in my eyes. He probably won’t hit for that high of an average, around or under .300. This is all about the power and his potential to hit 40 home runs. No defense, no speed, this is a one tool, hit it deep guy.

Most experts agree.. The Indians did not get enough for C.C. Sabathia.. or at least could have gotten more.

Keith Law and Jeff Passan both said so.

Dennis Nosco of the Cleveland Fan basically puts it how I feel. I think the Indians rushed this. I heard what Shapiro said about these offers not being on the table at later times, but you know what.

I doubt it… You know why? This is C.C. Sabathia, the reigning American League Ace.. When that deadline starts ticking, someone was going to give you a great package. I’m going to beat this Eric Gagne deal to death. That guy yielded two near major league or already major league ready prospects plus more.

C.C. should have brought a kings randsom.. I do not feel as if that was what they got at all.

Tony Lastoria gives us the goods on some of the players.

In other news, The Dodgers did make an offer that included Casey Blake in the deal.

Here is Paul Dolan’s letter to the fans. Blah Blah. Yeah I understand.

Overall.. I won’t judge now.. I think Shapiro pulled off a GOOD trade.. But I think he could have had the potential to pull of a GREAT trade. He did not pull of a GREAT trade and I think he missed out on getting more for the franchise cornerstone.

We’ll find out more within the next few days. LaPorta WILL go to Akron for now, that is what Shapiro said. Lastoria thinks Bryson goes to Lake County and Zach Jackson will probably go to Buffalo when Jeff Weaver gets called up to start TOMORROW. Oh My God….

The Details of the Sabathia Trade

I’ve held off.. I wanted to do an update tomorrow with my thoughts on the pieces.

For now though..

The Brewers get C.C. Sabathia and CC alone…

The Indians will get OF Matt LaPorta, Pitcher Zach Jackson, Pitcher Rob Bryson and a Player To Be Named Later that is tentatively going to be Taylor Green, who is a third baseman. The Indians want to see how he works out as a Second Baseman before they make the choice to take him on.

I’ll say this.. I like the deal a lot more than I did before I knew the pieces in it. I’ll have a full review tomorrow.

Updated: We Have a Deal… C.C. Sabathia to Milwaukee

C.C. Sabathia according to Tom Haudricourt, is close to being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers.

It is a gloomy day in Cleveland if you ask me.

I think Mark Shapiro is being pushed around to be honest..

If you read the last line of that entry, it sounds as if the Brewers are saying “This has to be done now” and that Shapiro is simply saying, okay!

I wanted him to actually shop CC. There will be more teams than the Brewers that will want him and a bidding war is just what you want.

Here is how the deal could shake out.

Sabathia will go to Milwaukee.

Milwaukee will send Double A Outfielder and First Round pick Matt LaPorta. LaPorta played first for the Florida Gators and did some time at Third. He was recruited as a Catcher.

Cleveland also gets two minor league prospects, one is assumed to be Taylor Green, a third baseman in High A for the Brewers. The other is unknown, but it is not to be a high prized one such as Alcides Escobar, the slick fielding shortstop.

I really really really wanted a pitcher in this deal. LaPorta is pretty big, but you would think a pitcher can be had in this deal for C.C.

We’ll see where this goes. But a Press-Conference should be tomorrow with the off-day and it is pretty solid that this will happen by the end of the night.

Here is the log on the day..

UPDATED 7:13 PM ET

C.C. Sabathia is on his way to Milwaukee for Matt LaPorta and two prospects.

UPDATE AGAIN!!!! 7:35 PM ET

CHRIST!! I’m just gonna wait.. It isn’t done..

Indians Sign Jeff Weaver

Oh boy..

Morgan Ensberg, Juan Rincon, Jorge Julio, and now Jeff Weaver.

All in all, the guys that the Indians have signed to minor league deals have had some good years in the Major Leagues.

The problem is..

Well Uh the HAD some good years.

Anyway.. In case you haven’t figured it out. The Indians signed Jeff Weaver (31) to a minor league deal.

Uh he’ll go to Buffalo. They have relievers starting for now. But apparantly this is for when C.C. is traded if Fausto hasn’t come back yet.

He won’t finish the year on the roster, if he even makes it.

Speaking of C.C. here are some more links on him..

Echoing what was said earlier about Shapiro not rebuilding. Hey look someone said something about Jake Westbrook… I wonder who that is.

Doug Melvin the Brewers GM is very open about their pursuit for C.C.

Morning Update: C.C. To Milwaukee Picking Up Steam

The most speculated team to get C.C. Sabathia so far is probably the Milwaukee Brewers. There have been plenty of rumors and speculation posted here, but nothing of the magnitude of what we’ve heard with Milwaukee.

There’s been so much talk that there are even prospects being named at this point. The prize is former Gator outfielder Matt LaPorta. LaPorta played first and some third for Florida, but Milwaukee has him as an outfielder. That would be the place he would play if he does indeed become a Cleveland Indian.

Another name mentioned in the first link is third baseman Taylor Green. Getting a third baseman or second baseman in a level like Single A would be ideal for me.

Dennis Nosco has a fine write up from the Cleveland fan in how the Indians could land a Colon-type package for C.C. You can’t disagree with his evidence. He also notes guys that the Indians should get in return if a trade with the Brewers comes to be.

If the Indians do get LaPorta in the deal, it is said that Alcides Escobar, a talented shortstop will not be apart of the deal.

That brings us to the Dodgers part of that link. Los Angeles doesn’t have the caliber prospect of Milwaukee, but we all know with guys like Loney, Kemp, Martin, Ethier, LaRoche and DeWitt coming up in the past few years, they certainly know how to grow them. They would have to give up three really good players, instead of say two great players that Milwaukee would.

Also from that first link. Mark Shapiro was naming names..

“Brian Slocum is out of options next year and we’ve got to find out about him,” said Shapiro. “We have to see more of Edward Mujica. At sometime Asdrubal Cabrera will be back up. We’ve got to figure out what Ryan Garko is going to be. We need to get Jeremy Sowers to improve.” (Plain Dealer)

There you go.

Also, an interesting quote from Shapiro.

“I’d like to think at some point an opportunity presents itself to give him regular at-bats,” said Shapiro. “If not, it will be tough to factor him for next year.” (Plain Dealer)

Wedge was on the same line saying there was too much going on right now and that they wanted to see how things shake out.

I think the writing is on the wall and Casey Blake is as good as gone before the deadline.

To make it aboslutely positively clear though.. This is no rebuilding thing. This is a setback and Shapiro and company are going to be ready to compete in 2009.

Rick Bauer To Be Designated; C.C. News

Paul Hoynes has said that Rick Bauer will be designated for assignment here within the next day and the Indians will call up a reliever from the group of Stevens, Slocum, and Lewis.

Hoynes believes that Jensen Lewis will be the man to get called up due to his recent success. But, you never know.

Now here are the numerous reports over C.C.

From MLBTR, some things we already knew and some interesting info on his suitors.

The Phillies have scouted C.C., as mentioned before they have a lot prospects that they’d be willing to part with.

From the same post, Buster Olney said that the Sox and Rays will complete a trade for C.C. So I guess you can take two teams out.

Now Jayson Stark also said not to count out the Indians in re-signing C.C. He also mentioned that Sabathia would probably go out west next year if he doesn’t re-sign. Something I’ve been ranting and raving about for awhile now.

Now our emotions are just getting toyed with

Grady Sizemore’s league leading 21st home run of the year was a jolt in the arm. It tied the game up in the ninth and took C.C. off the hook of an undeserving loss.

You figured, much like you did last night. That this game was going to be ours.

It turns out that was just a prolonging of the death.

I don’t know.. I did say C.C. didn’t deserve a loss, and he didn’t. However, he did give up just about every lead the Tribe got him. Which is depressing. This could very well be the last or second to last game he pitches for the Indians.

I think Eric Wedge kinda sensed that, so he gave C.C a chance to go eight and maybe get a win.

Grady hit the two solo jacks tonight. So that puts him in the AL lead by two over Dye, Hamilton and Quentin.

Jamey Carroll had that RBI triple with no one out, yet we failed to get him in, surprise surprise.

It’s just exhausting to watch really. It is.. But what can you do? If you love thee sport and the Tribe, then you can’t possible stop.

It’s gonna be an interesting new few weeks here..

[BOXSCORE]

Morning Update: Ozzie Guillen Must Be Loving This

I know he is just being nice to Mark Shapiro.. But Ozzie Guillen probably doesn’t want the Indians to break up this awful team.

Now obviously, there will be no complete break up.. Guys will get traded, but there is no rebuilding going on here.

Say what you want about Ozzie Guillen, but I can never say anything bad about the respect he’s showed our club. He’s always said good things and has even drooled over Grady Sizemore at numerous points. I’m not his biggest fan, but I always respect his opinion about our team.

As pointed out yesterday, Tom Mastny called up and Scott Elarton on the Restricted List due to “Personal Reasons.” Wedge simply said he has some personal stuff to deal with. I wouldn’t expect a real reason.

CastroTurf is a quick reader. Looks like he pounded out Paul Byrd’s book already and has a recap.

Because it’s what you want to read, here is a quote about his HGH use.

“I hadn’t tried to cheat or disrespect the game,” Byrd writes. “I hadn’t thrown the baseball any harder during the times I supplemented with growth hormone … but I did enjoy sleeping more than four to five hours a night and I think that rest helped me recover and throw bullpens like a normal Major League Baseball pitcher.”

Here’s some quick stats on the roll C.C. Sabathia has been on.

New Mailbag and interesting quote from Castrovince again..

He said that the Indians might be willing to go as high as 5 years-20 million per. That’s a 100 million for the big guy.

If that ain’t enough.. I don’t know what is.. He gets an extra year as previously offered, he gets 20 million a year. He’s gonna be a 100 million dollar pitcher.

Morning Update: Hafner’s shoulder only at 50%

It’s 11:45, maybe if I hurry I can beat the Noon Deadline so this doesn’t become “Afternoon Update.” GO GO GO GO!

Jamey Carroll has not sat a game since taking over and I don’t think I blame Wedge. I’d play him every day against the National League, and why not? He played in it for the last few years.

Jamey has been giving Wedge and the team pointers on the NL.

Anthony Castrovince is always digging for a new story. Which is why I like him.. That and he’s Italian and his brother does the local sports here in Youngstown. Trust me, Anthony is the better of the two.. No Offense Bill.

BUT, for some strange reason he talked to Andy Marte… Marte provided some quotables about his playing time.. Here Here..

“I’m still young,” said the 24-year-old Marte. “All I need is playing time. If not here, maybe somewhere else. But I’d like to stay here. I like this organization and the way they’ve treated me. I like it here, but I’ve got to think about my career.”

We all believe that something needs to be done here.. If they fall out of the race, Casey Blake must be the second guy to go. We need to give Marte a real shot at showing he can play. They can’t have this guy hanging over their head next year.

So it turns out the bat C.C. Sabathia used was just a loner from Adam Dunn. Dunn planed to go get the bat back. Hopefully C.C. used all the power it had in or Dunn doesn’t use it this series. Garsh.

Since I brought him up (7 minutes to noon), I forgot about something on C.C. yesterday.

Jon Heyman of SI rounded up some stuff on Sabathia that likes.

Heyman said the Tribe will probably not committ to a fifth year for C.C., uh-oh. May I propose a mutual option?

There are as many as 12 teams interested and all the contenders have at least asked, excluding the Cardinals.

C.C. could be looking for 125 million.. Yikes, over 6 years thats 20 million, and over 7 thats around 17, but closer to 18.

And finally the Indians probably won’t give anyone a window to negotiate.. Why should they? Unless of course the other team sweetins the pot.

Cliff Lee is superstisious. Not really, but he steps over the chalked lines. Carmona hops over them, but Lee tries to make it subtle. I would do the same thing.

Also, Paul Byrd’s book is in and he gave it to the media members. I’m thinking of picking it up when it comes out, just to see what’s up about this steroid use. Straight from the Byrd himself.

Finally we got injury updates on Fausto Carmona and Travis Hafner.

Shoot, it’s noon.

Welcome to the Afternoon update…

First Fausto Carmona…

He played catch yesterday and also ran sprints. The plan is to get him throwing on a mound for a bullpen session in the next week, then go on some rehab assignments. Wedge is pinpointing right after the All-Star break for Carmona.

The news is less-exciting about Travis Hafner, who could be out for a longgggg time.

40-50% is the shape his shoulder is at. They want him to get it to 75% before they even think of letting him swing a bat and what not. There is really no time table, but Lonnie Soloff is supposed to talk to the media today sometime, so maybe he can provide a better insight into this 40-50% thing.