Sabathia likes everything about it here, may re-sign says Agent

[Invader3K]

I like hearing stuff like this, but in the end I fear the Brewers may very well make a HUGE offer to Sabathia, but some team like the Yankees will make an even bigger, more ridiculous one that "he just won't be able to turn down."

[JohnBriggs12]

"You are exposing yourself to major risk with a backloaded contract"

 

Attanasio did not become rich beyond our comprehension by not taking risks.

[Roderick]

But how will Doug justify getting rid of Greg Gagne just to make room for CC?

Why do we have an old Minnesota Twin on the team and wouldn't he be paid in 1980s money?

 

Or maybe Doug has Verne's son as a bodyguard?

[Roderick]

I wonder if their is a type of insurance the Brewers can take out that would protect them financially if CC were to get hurt?

Lloyds of London. I've seen lots of articles in the past that would imply to me that quite a few professional sports teams insure their players. My guess would be the policy would only cover a career-endind injury and not cover an injury that puts him out for a season.

[rluzinski]

"You are exposing yourself to major risk with a backloaded contract"

 

Attanasio did not become rich beyond our comprehension by not taking risks.

 

He became rich by being able to properly weighing risk vs. reward, more often than not..

[OglivieHomePerm]

As an earlier poster said, Carlos Lee said he liked milwaukee, Francisco Cordero liked Milwaukee as well. In the end, they liked the extra money more than they liked Milwaukee. I expect it will be the same way with C.C.

[1992casey]

I wonder if their is a type of insurance the Brewers can take out that would protect them financially if CC were to get hurt?

 

This is routine in baseball. Significant injuries can be covered by insurance, but lack of performance can't be. As Roderick says, Lloyd's of London is one of the major providers of this type of insurance.

 

A policy would designate a minimum time span for insurance to kick in, such as 90 days on the DL, out for the season, etc. And there would be some kind of deductible, such as the insurance covering 80% of the player's contract.

 

Of course, for insurance to be reasonably obtainable, the player would have to be a decent risk. For instance, unless we see Sheets pitch before the season is out, he'd have to have a pretty clean doctor's report to be insurable next season.

[FVBrewerFan]

It's been stated as fact the Brewers can't sign CC and/or Sheets. They can't have a $200MM payroll, or even $150MM. Heck, I've said it myself. But I've been re-thinking that notion. Why couldn't Mark A. juice up the salary structure for a couple years? Given the current economic situation, who knows how hard Mark A. is being hit, but assuming he still has a ton of cash, he can afford to have a huge salary structure for a couple years.

 

Before I get a head of myself, I'm not sure it's wise to throw big money at Ben Sheets. But why not CC? You could front load the contract to really entice him to stay. Over the next two years, you get rid of the contracts for Sheets, Gagne, Turnbow, Suppan, Hall, etc. So you re-sign Sabathia and lock in Hardy and possibly Hart. Yes, you would have a net gain in overall salary, but manageable for a couple years. And they should still be able to attract 3MM fans or so to help pay for all that jack.

 

The window is here, and you have to go for it. Mark A has proven he will do absolutely anything to win, if it makes sense of course. Only a couple more years to have Braun,Fielder,Hardy,Hart,Gamel,Weeks together so why not take that leap of faith and get CC signed and make a run?

[bork]

I still don't understand why people think Cameron is a lock. He's not worth $10 million at age 36 with declining skills and a strikeout rate that would make Jose Hernandez blush.

 

"That means a minimum salary bullpen outside of Torres and Riske"

 

Shouse (if they bring him back) isn't minimum salary. Resigning CC assures that Villanueva and McClung will be in pen and they could do a lot worse. By the way McClung won't be "minimum salary" either. He figures to get $1.2 to $1.5 or so in arby. Those 2 have held up as well as any all year.

I don't consider Cameron a lock. But it comes down to who they can find to replace him and for how much.

 

My point about the bullpen is that by signing CC, they likely won't have money to bring in bullpen help. So guys like Stetter, DeFelice, and Dillard will likely play larger roles in the bullpen next year. Not that that's a bad thing. The cheaper bullpen will likely outperform this year's overpaid bullpen.

 

Signing CC also means you don't have to trade for a starter. The emphasis can then be on trying to improve the offense.

[rupskinnn]

But most of these articles fail to address the increase in salary of the rest of the team. I'm sure we'll take the option on Cam (10) we are locked in with Kendall (Don't recall). Hall gets a big raise, Suppan gets a big raise.

 

Here you can find the details of Cam's, Kendall's, Soup's contracts for next year, etc. http://mlbcontracts.blogs...01/milwaukee-brewers.html

[markedman5]

This is a non story. An agent just doing his job nothing more.

 

I have no doubt CC likes it here but at the end of the day he will go for the money and Milwaukee can't outbid the big market teams.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The only way the Brewers can afford to resign Sabathia is if the rest of the expiring contracts/player options aren't picked up for next season, at least one of the arby eligible Brewers (Fielder, Hart, Hardy) are dealt for cheaper talent (unlikely to get cheaper players in return unless it's more prospects), and all the holes in the Brewer roster are filled by their current crop of minor league prospects, who will have their ML clocks start ticking too early...not exactly a sound organizational move.

 

I think the better option is to let Sabathia and Sheets go and reap the draft comp picks (unless for some reason they take huge discounts over what many believe they'll get from other teams), followed by packaging one of the arby eligible Brewers with other blocked prospects to trade for a frontline starter approaching free agency on a team looking for offense...Halladay, anyone?

 

Suppan's contract will prove to be a big albatross that gets in the way of the 09 and 2010 Brewers from signing a big time free agent - their big acquisitions will need to continue arriving via trades.

[TheCrew07]

I really don't understand trading for Halladay at 17.5 mil per but not resigning Sabathia? Why not tack on the extra 3 and make a run at Sabathia for 20-21 over 5 years than aquire Halladay? I'd rather have the younger guy for 5, than the older for 2, when performance is basically a wash. I'm not in favor of singing or aquiring any "name" pitchers because they are too expensive, but if my choices are Halladay or Sabathia, I take Sabathia in every possible scenario.

[TooLiveBrew]

I still don't understand why people think Cameron is a lock. He's not worth $10 million at age 36 with declining skills and a strikeout rate that would make Jose Hernandez blush.

Give it up already, JBriggs. If only Cameron were as bad as you repeat time & time again, you'd have an argument.


I didn't read anything in the linked article that we haven't heard from agents in the past. As much as I'd like to believe that Sabathia will re-sign with the Brewers, I understand that the Crew cannot realistically compete with the funny money that CC's going to get.

[MBHA]

As nice as it would be to have him back fiscally it's too much of a risk. This market can only support a payroll in the 80-85 million range with current ticket, pricing, revenue sharing, media dollars, and club expenses, and that's with attendance in the 3 million range. That means that re-signing the young guys as they age and are elligible for arbitration and free agency will not be possible if you choose to offer him the moon and he accepts. While he shows no indication of being injury prone nor anything short of durable, he is one arm injury away from handcuffing this franchise for years should they agree to pay him 100+ million for 5 years. To me the risk/reward is not in the Brewers favor.

 

Lastly the players union will apply great pressure to get him to take the highest contract possible, and his agent has only begun to lay the groundwork for the bidding process.

 

Look for the Cubs to play a role in the bidding as they can almost print money, and it helps them and hurts the Brewers who are the chief competition.

[Ennder]

Cameron has been the 2nd most productive Brewer positional player this year so I don't have a problem with them picking up the option.

[kramnoj]

This market can only support a payroll in the 80-85 million range with current ticket, pricing, revenue sharing, media dollars, and club expenses, and that's with attendance in the 3 million range

 

There's no reason to think that ticket prices will stay the same. Ticket prices have gone up in previous years, they are going to go up this year as well. Media dollars will presumably increase somewhere during CC's contract that he will sign this offseason. I would guess the Brewers media rights are worth a few million more right now if they were available, and could be worth more a few years down the road. It would be risky to sign a deal based on future anticipated dollars, but I think CC is worth the risk.

 

Look for the Cubs to play a role in the bidding as they can almost print money, and it helps them and hurts the Brewers who are the chief competition.

 

I haven't looked closely at the Cubs payroll for next year, but I don't think it's a given that a Cub team going through ownership transition will be able to add CC to future obligations.

[jhart05]

Cameron has been the 2nd most productive Brewer positional player this year so I don't have a problem with them picking up the option.

 

And the best defensive CFer the Crew has had in years.

[LouisEly]

I think the better option is to let Sabathia and Sheets go and reap the draft comp picks

 

If there's one thing that Suppan has taught us it is that it is cheaper to develop your own pitchers or trade for them than to sign them as free agents. Between the current arby-eligible starters (Fielder, Hart, Hardy), their potential/eventual replacements (Gamel, Escobar, Gillespie, Nelson, Cain), and depth at other positions (Salome, Lucroy, one of Green/Brantley), they still have plenty of talent to trade for pitching.

 

That being said, either one of CC/Sheets needs to be back or they need to trade for a #2-type starter because going into 2009 with Yo as your #1 and Parra/Bush/Suppan as your #2/3/4 isn't going to cut it.

[FVBrewerFan]

No, that won't cut it. Unfortunately, no team is going to trade a #2 type starter unless it's a trade deadline deal. Developing your own pitchers is ideal, but there is not a SP on the horizon- let alone a #1 or #2 type. 2009 is out, and 2010 doesn't even look real promising at this point for someone from the system to step in.

 

My 10 year old has the best idea. "We should trade Hall, Gagne, and Suppan for a really good pitcher"

[Thurston Fluff]

I think the better option is to let Sabathia and Sheets go and reap the draft comp picks

 

That's assuming Sheets will be healthy enough to get us comp picks. He'd have to be healthy enough to risk offering arbitration to.

[Tbadder]

I've really grown to respect and enjoy CC. I believe him when he says good things about Milwaukee because he seems like a sincere guy in a cynical world.

 

Having said that: "West Coast here he comes!"

 

The Brewers can only be the Twins--nothing more, nothing better. In order to survive they have to be the team that develops a Sabbathia or Santana, loses a guy like Hunter, and still remains competitive.

 

CC staying here is like a "Deep Thoughts" skit from SNL. It's nice. It's funny. And it's ridiculous to think it could ever happen.

[naivin]

My 10 year old has the best idea. "We should trade Hall, Gagne, and Suppan for a really good pitcher"

 

Your son's a Cub fan?

[logan82]

I would imagine that they are referring to the pressure from the player's union to get the highest possible amount. It's not necessarily just for himself, but the bigger deal he gets, that will drive up the price of all upper echelon starting pitchers. The union really handcuffs top players in this regard.

 

Maybe, but it still comes down to being their choice and to say otherwise is untrue.

[FVBrewerFan]

Your son's a Cub fan?

Not if he expects to sleep here or have a meal here every again. Hey...college savings problems would be WHOAA SOLVVD!!!