The CC Watch... Latest: Who knows?

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

The Angels should be making an offer any time now.

 

http://www.latimes.com/sp...2008nov25,0,5232679.story

[PrinceEatMeat]

So long CC. Thanks for everything!

[Invader3K]

Yeah, I was just going to comment that I heard MLB Home Plate on XM reporting that the Angels are laying off on Texeira, since they are unwilling to offer a 10 year deal that he is asking for...so they are turning to CC instead.

 

Maybe this will get wrapped up sooner than we thought, freeing Melvin to pursue other players.

[kramnoj]

This could just be a negoiating ploy on the part of the Angels. They are publically telling Boras and Mark that Mark is the Angel's priority but that they won't lose out on other targets while Boras does his thing. If Mark wants to play with the Angels, he should negotiate with them. It's not good for Mark to lose the Angels as a bidder, because that decreases the number of buyers looking for his services, probably down to NY and Boston, and neither of them seem to have been aggressive at this point.

[crewcrazy]

More talk about the Yankees maybe getting anxious with Sabathia's silence on their offer. There was a column by Wallace Matthews in Newsday today (before the news came out that the Angels were going to put in their offer) that discusses the issue: http://www.newsday.com/sp...244nov25,0,6768761.column

 

Imagine that today a rival employer called and offered you a deal that seemed almost too good to be true: a position at more than double your current salary, with incredible benefits and job and salary security virtually unmatched in any other line of work.

 

In addition, you'll work in a brand new, state-of-the-art facility, alongside colleagues who are among the most highly skilled - and highly paid - in your chosen field. And you'll always know where you stand, because the job comes with plenty of instant feedback, both positive and negative. Considering your past successes, odds are it will be overwhelmingly positive.

 

Best of all, there will be no new demands placed upon you, no new skills to learn, no greater responsibilities to shoulder. All you have to do is keep doing what you've been doing.

 

Considering the dismal state of the U.S. economy and its bleak outlook, you'd jump at such an offer, wouldn't you? Of course you would. Any sane person would.

 

So what is taking CC Sabathia so long to make up his mind about the Yankees?

[rluzinski]

That has to be one of the sillier things I've read in awhile. New York sports coverage is in its own little world.

[Team Canada]

Yes, how could playing for the Yankees not be the lifelong dream of any rational human being?

[logan82]

Best of all, there will be no new demands placed upon you, no new skills to learn, no greater responsibilities to shoulder.

 

Is he trying to say there would be the same amount of pressure in NY that there would be anywhere else? I think there would be a lot more responsibility.

[colbyjack]

I'm not a big fan of comparing the business of baseball, or any sport, to any other business out there. Every one I have seen is an attempt by regular Joe's like you and me trying to find some way to compare a situation we actually comprehend to ones that players like CC Sabathia face.

[Invader3K]

Report on brewers.com says Melvin spoke with CC's camp this week, and wasn't able to get any real answer on if the Brewers have any realistic shot or not. With today being Thanksgiving, and then the holiday weekend, it sounds like we won't hear anything new until at least next week.

[clancyphile]

Yes, how could playing for the Yankees not be the lifelong dream of any rational human being?

I consider myself quite rational - and to quote Ned Yost, "Milwaukee is it for me."

 

Of course, my fastball tops out at 30 miles per hour. But maybe I can teach my nephew how to throw a splitter and slider over Christmas...

[BuckyBrewer61]

"a position at more than double your current salary"

 

Yeah, current, but does 140/100=2? Not to mention the offer(s) he'll get from the west coast.

 

"you'll work in a brand new, state-of-the-art facility"

 

Miller Park is fairly new and certainly state of the art.

"the job comes with plenty of instant feedback, both positive and negative."

Judging from conversations around here, I think we all know that Brewers players tend to know where they stand amongst fans.

"colleagues who are among the most highly skilled"

 

Well, judging by last year's...uhh...bottom line, CC's colleagues in Milwaukee were more skilled than those in the Bronx.

 

"- and highly paid -"

 

Ok, 1 out of 5 ain't bad. Oh wait, no. Actually, that sucks. Get over yourself!

[jeffy]

If the new ballpark in NY is state of the art, where's the retractable roof? I'd think state of the art would include being protected from having to play in rain and cold.

 

In addition, the $140 million is over 6 years, while the $100 million is 5 years and putting $23,000,000 in this cost of living calculator

http://swz.salary.com/Cos...outscripts/coll_start.asp

indicates that:

 

The cost of living in Milwaukee, WI is 42.9% lower than in New York, NY. Therefore, you would have to earn a salary of $13,128,915 to maintain your current standard of living.

http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Invader3K]

MLB Trade Rumors says that the reports about the Angels "switching focus from Tex to CC" are false, according to the Angels GM.

 

So it would seem that Milwaukee and New York are still the only two teams to make any sort of offer to Sabathia.

[PeaveyFury]

While it's great that really at this point CC has only the two offers, one of them for a team he doesn't want to play for and the Brewers, it's not great that this situation is both holding up anything the Brewers do this offseason and also anything from happening seemingly at ALL on the free agent market.

 

What happens if this is still a stalemate going into the Winter Meetings next week?

 

And perhaps more interestingly, what happens if Sheets accepts arby before anything moves with CC? Do the Brewers pull their offer, knowing that they can't give CC 20 mil/per with Sheets likely to get 10-15 million in arbitration? Suddenly Monday rolls around and CC could find himself with only that offer from the team he doesn't want to play for actually on the table.

[PilprinBuddha]

Peavy - I understand what you are saying about CC, but I don't see any way Sheets accept Arby that quickly if at all. Additionally, If that did happen, we could potentially deal Cameron or Prince or Hardy to make the needed salary adjustment for this season.

 

What is the deadline to accept arby?

[Invader3K]

Peavy - I understand what you are saying about CC, but I don't see any way Sheets accept Arby that quickly if at all. Additionally, If that did happen, we could potentially deal Cameron or Prince or Hardy to make the needed salary adjustment for this season.

 

What is the deadline to accept arby?

The deadline is this Sunday (if I understand correctly). That was Peavy's point.

 

Anyway...theoretically if CC did sign the Brewers' rumored offer, and they did re-sign Sheets for one more year...even if his salary is 16 million or so...I think the Brewers could swing that. After one year Sheets would be off the books.

[Roderick]

I agree with Invader. Sheets taking a one year arby contract, would not preclude MA from ponying up the long-term bucks for CC. Obviously I don't see that scenario happening, but if it did I do think that would mean one more year of "go for it" and Cameron would be retained (unless another solid CF was traded for).

[strawbossisevil]

If Sheets accepts arby, and I think that's a big if. Would we be best served putting all of our remaining offseason money into CC? It seems to me that this offseason may be one where there will be a number of players coming cheaper than expected.

 

Having Sheets and Gallardo at the top of the rotation is very solid. Imagine how good we would have been last season if we had that pair at the top of our rotation the whole season. Instead of for a few weeks at the start.

 

Now, we could spend all of our cash on CC at what is not considered a discount. Or we could fill a number of other holes in our lineup. We could use the money to bring in Hoffman AND Dunn. Trade either Hart or Cameron for pitching help or help at 3B, and have a much more potent lineup along with a solid rotation. The Hoffman and Dunn combo would also likely be for a shorter time period leaving us with much more flexibility financially going forward, which is very important for a smaller market club like the Brewers.

 

A middle of the lineup featuring: Dunn, Braun, Fielder would probably be one of the most scary in the league, with all three having 40+ HR potential.

[PilprinBuddha]

I didn't realize the dealine was son close. I still think CC can be signed if Sheets returns. I just don't think it's likely that both would want to return.

[LennyBrisco]

for what its worth, yesterday on espnnews they had a guy on from baseball prospective who said the brewers are willing to increase thier offer to c.c

[Weirdos19]

If Sheets accepts salary arbitration, can the Brewers deal him if CC re-signs? Just wondering if there's a time frame when arby signees can be traded.

 

I suppose a rotation of CC, Sheets, Yo, Parra, and Bush would be ok.

[fondybrewfan]

for what its worth, yesterday on espnnews they had a guy on from baseball prospective who said the brewers are willing to increase thier offer to c.c

In Haudricourt's latest blog item he said that Brewers staff has told him that they have very little wiggle room in their offer with CC. I would assume that to be maybe an extra $1-2M a year tops.

[Cyanogen5]

I heard on XM radio this morning that the Brewers would probably have to go to a sixth year in order to get CC to sign. I am not sure if I believe that would get it done, but I think I would be OK with it.

[Oldcity]

Six years would be killer. I'd try 4/100 or maybe even 3/90. I still think that would be the Brewers' only chance.