CC willing to stay long-term?

[bklynbrewcrew]

Do we really want to sign a 300 lb pitcher that has thrown a ton of innings the last few seasons. I say no. We are way better off signing Sheets to a 5 yr/ 90 million contract and letting CC walk. With all the dead money coming off our payroll after the season we can definitely afford one of them and I truly hope its Ben Sheets that we keep.

[paul253]

Sheets has only been healthy 2 seasons...his first one, and his contract year. I'd rather take a shot at Sabathia. I'm not concerned about his weight. Like I said though, i think we can afford both if we really want to. 5 years $100 million for both.

[T B0NE 10]

Sabathia is 300?

[PeaveyFury]

Sheets has only been healthy 2 seasons...his first one, and his contract year.

 

He made 34 starts in each of 2002, 2003, and 2004, actually.

[nate82]

Teams that could sign Sabathia and why they will or wont sign them.

 

This is just me looking over the teams and looking what they might do.

 

Yankees are the #1 team.

Why they will sign Sabathia. Hank is looking for a guy like Santana and not getting him in a trade has not settled with him. If the Yankees don't make the playoffs this year Sabathia could be a Yankee. The Yankees also have a lot of players coming off the books this year.

Why the Yankees won't sign Sabathia. Sabathia is not needed for the Yankees to win in 09. Getting Texeira and signing a guy like Ben Sheets, Brad Penny, or even Lowe or Dempster would be just as good as signing Sabathia when you figure in the payroll differences. Yes the Yankees could sign all of them. But I don't think they will I think they will go after Lowe and Texeira. Also the Yankees are not in the NL.

 

Angels #2 team.

Why they will Sign Sabathia. The Angels are always looking to add pitching but they really need hitting more than pitching. The Angels are on the West coast which is near Sabathia's home. If the Angels don't sign Francisco Rodriguez they will target Sabathia.

Why they won't sign Sabathia. If the Angels sign Francisco to a long term deal it is going to cost them a lot of money which would put them out of the Sabathia race in free agency. The Angels are not a NL team.

 

Dodgers #3 team.

Why they will sign Sabathia. The Dodgers are close to his home in California and are in the NL. If the Dodgers decide to not take on Penny's option they will pick up Sabathia. Joe Torre also would love to have a Sabathia on his team.

Why they will not sign Sabathia. If the Dodgers pick up Penny's option they will not sign Sabathia and I'm not sure the Dodgers are willing to risk a long term deal with Sabathia when Kershaw and Billingsly could be ace like pitchers and they would be locked up with Sabathia when they could be giving the money to both of those players. Also the Dodgers have Jason Schmidt who they could plug into the rotation when he comes back.

 

Brewers #4 team

Why they will sign Sabathia. If the Brewers pass on Sheets the best option would be Sabathia. If the Dodgers, Angels, and Yankees pass on Sabathia his price could come down from $20-22 mil per year to the $18-20 mil per year area. A 5 year deal for $95 million could land Sabathia in Milwaukee with a player option for a 6th year. The player option would be what Sabathia would want since it would give him the contract length he is looking at.

Why they will not sign Sabathia. The Brewers won't sign Sabathia becaus $19 for 6 years maybe to risky for the Brewers especially with Gallardo and Parra coming up. This is about the same problem as the Dodgers have in why they may not sign Sabathia. The Brewers may also decide to gamble on Sheets for 4 years and a team option for a 5th year and a player option for the 6th year.

 

There maybe another team like the Rangers, Astros, or the Giants whou could come in and bid for Sabathia. I don't see the Red Sox going after Sabathia. The Red Sox rotation is set for a long time with young and veteran pitchers and adding Sabathia just like adding Santana would be just to make the price higher just to start a bidding war with the Yankees.

[danzig6767]

Any time a player is happy at all about a trade, he'll talk about how great the new team and city are. It's posturing and salesmanship. "See, potential buyers, I'm a happy affable guy who rolls with the punches and isn't afraid to go to a new place. I'm a great guy, and a great pitcher, so I think your piles of cash would look great in my bank account".

I don't buy that it's always or almost always posturing. Sabathia very well could end up loving his teammates, liking the city, and really wanting to stay if the money is right. The problem obviously with the Brewers though is the money part. Pro athletes often truly do like the team and city that they are playing for, but once free agency hit, if that team is only able to offer say a 4yr/80 million dollar deal and another team offers a 6yr/130 million dollar contract, that extra 50 million dollars is the trump card that decides things.

There is also the players union factor in which they pressure high profile free agents to take every last dollar so that it sets the bar higher for future free agents. I could see Sabathia being willing to at least listen to an offer from the Brewers after the season, but the odds are extremely high that the money offered just won't be enough.

 

[ILuvDaBush]

Which player is more likely to stay with their respective team after this season, CC or Tex? Or is that like asking, which character in "The Bucket List" is more apt to live to the end? (Spoiler Alert!) Honestly, I would really hope Doug learned his lesson after the A-Rod fiasco. Even having the best player does not allow you to pay him 20-25% of your entire payroll...unless he's Hanley Ramirez. If he's Hanley Ramirez, then your entire payroll is A-Rod's salary, so you might as well pare it down to a defensively-deficient Carl Crawford at short.

[JohnBriggs12]

LA Dodgers are number 1 contenders for Sabathia and it's not close. Sabathia loves to hit and everything being equal will stay in NL.

 

LA will still pick up Penny's relatively cheap option, but will probably let Lowe go through FA. Brewers should concentrate on the far more affordable Lowe (both in dollars and years) than Sheets or Sabathia. Lowe may not quite have the quality or pizzaz of Sheets or Sabathia, but he's close and he's a model of consistency. Think Jeff Suppan except with quality stuff. You could do a lot worse than a rotation of Lowe, Gallardo, and Parra at the top, with Suppan, Bush, McClung and Villanueva fighting for spots 4 and 5.

 

As for Sheets, I think Houston gets heavily involved. Houston could also get in the Sabathia sweepstakes too. Drayton McClain is always willing to throw big money around.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

As for Sheets, I think Houston gets heavily involved. Houston could also get in the Sabathia sweepstakes too. Drayton McClain is always willing to throw big money around.

 

Couldn't agree more. Houston is in that weird zone that will keep them in that 75-80 win zone for awhile. Their team is aging, yet their owner throws money around thinking he's one player away. Signing Valverde was silly. Their starting pitching is bad and getting worse now that Oswalt isn't Oswalt anymore. They probaly will rationalize that Oswalt will regain form and if they bring in another ace, they'll have an awesome 1-2 punch, but they'll keep getting older.

It would be great to rethink we could keep Sheet and/or CC, but it just won't happen...it's too big of a percentage of the payroll. DM's bet will be that Gallardo comes back as an ace and Parra keeps improving into a solid #2. He likely trades for a three and fills in with Soup, Bush, Villy, McClung or their equivalents until some of the single-A and below pitching talent starts to surface. If Yo & Parra can keep us competitive, he may be able to pull off a CC-equivalent trade next year as well...but committing to a 6-7 year deal is just too risky.

[fondybrewfan]

To answer the question "[is] CC willing to stay long-term?", I think the answer is "Absolutely!" Milwaukee is competitive and from all accounts they have a great clubhouse.

 

That being said, he's still going to be after a huge deal. And while he might consider playing here but not, say, Minnesota or Pittsburgh, that doesn't mean Milwaukee will get a discount. If he turned down 18 million per year from the the Indians, I doubt he'd take 18 million to play here.

I always thought the issue was years? If we offer $18M just like the Indians did but offer one more year than they did, i think we might have a chance

[nate82]

LA Dodgers are number 1 contenders for Sabathia and it's not close. Sabathia loves to hit and everything being equal will stay in NL.

I can't remember the last time the Dodgers went out and got the big stud free agent. You are also forgetting the Dodgers still have Andruw Jones at a high price. I believe it is close to what Sabathia is asking. I believe the Dodgers go elsewhere in the off season they will probably go after a bat more than a pitcher in the off season since that is what they need more than anything else. Sabathia may come at a discount because there may not be that many teams looking to add Sabathia to their team.

 

Yes Sabathia makes the Dodgers a better team pitching wise but the Dodgers need hitting help more than they need pitching help. I could see the Dodgers going after Burrell or another big bat in the off season. If Loney wasn't at 1B the Dodgers would go after Texeira. I just don't see the Dodgers going after Sabathia in the off season especially with Billingsly and Kershaw being in the rotation for the next couple of years. If the Dodgers want a veteran player they could just resign Lowe or pick up Penny's option and their rotation would be just as good as if they added Sabathia. The amount of wins would be negligble compared to adding Sabathia and not adding Sabathia for the Dodgers.

 

[Postseason2006]

I would be completely disappointed in Sheets goes to Houston A) we'll face him enough B)There goes the #1 pick C) I hate Houston

[PilprinBuddha]

I would go all out for CC. He has been healthier and he is a lefty. Gallardo would complement him well with Parra and Suppan.

 

He is the type of pitcher that you consider overpaying - slightly.

 

Take the Cameron $ (move Hart to CF and bring up Gamel for RF) and Gagne $ along with the sheets money and get it done.

 

5 year $100

[SeriesFinale]

Some guy claiming to be a friend of CC's called into KNBR here the other day and said that CC wanted to sign for an NL team because he "wanted to bat." I'm amazed the radio host didn't hang up on him.

Why is that hard to believe? If I was a pitcher who dropped 400 foot bombs I'd want to swing it too

Because the guy made it seem like that was priority #1. I understand him wanting to bat but I'd assume (and hope, really) that before the chance to bat he'd be looking for the best fit financially and competitively and in the community for him and his family.

[Hate those Rodents]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/ny-spken0713,0,1013682.column

[endaround]

I can't remember the last time the Dodgers went out and got the big stud free agent.

You yourself mention Jones. And they signed Pierre. And Garciaparra. And Kent. With Lowe's contract up plus the end of Nomar's and Kent's contract the Dodgers have the money and the desire.

 

As for the Brewers signing Lowe? His road ERA right now is 4.85 and he's going to be 36 next season.

[Oldcity]

5 years 100 mil won't get Sabathia signed. I imagine he'll get six years, and it probably will be for more than 20 mil per.

[Bucky Rules]

5 years 100 mil won't get Sabathia signed. I imagine he'll get six years, and it probably will be for more than 20 mil per.

 

I thnk that's true. And when he helps bring a World Series championship to Milwaukee his price will go up even more. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

[Invader3K]

I just don't know...you'd think teams would shy away from such long term high dollar contracts for pitchers, since they almost always seem to backfire. I'm sure some team will get stupid and pony up, though.

[cwolf2012]

I think 5 years 100 mil is the likely contract for Sabathia plus or minus a few million. I also think that there is no way we should be paying anybody that much, so I will wish him well and say thanks for your help after this season.