SCOTT JACOBS

The Brewers are having an atrocious off-season.  Unless you live in Ethiopia you know by now that the Yankees laughed at Milwaukee’s $100 million offer to C.C. Sabathia and then trumped it by $61 million and two additional years.  Bye bye to the ace of the staff, who the Brewers gave up so much for just to give themselves a shot to get into the post-season (which they did).  Ben Sheets appears to be next, as the Brewers will not be bringing back the injury riddled pitcher, who when healthy has great stuff, but isn’t hardly ever healthy.  Mike Cameron is reportedly getting shipped out of town, and there are people who even think the Brewers may deal superstar Prince Fielder because they can’t afford the growing price tag he is soon going to command (did we mention his agent is Scott Boras?  Cause he is).

And after their first playoff trip since 1982, the Brewers are watching everything fall back to reality.  Hard!  Such is the nature of being a small market club in Major League Baseball.  The Brewers had their moment last year, while capturing the masses love and attention in Milwaukee.  But that dream was derailed when the Phillies took out Milwaukee in the first round, and now the window is not only closed on a World Series dream for the Brewers, it’s locked, and the key is buried somewhere in the Northeast.

And on top of that, the Brewers recently lost a sponsor, when Mercedes said it is not going to renew it’s naming rights to the picnic area in right field of Miller Park.  Nothing Brewer related we’re told, but man, when it rains it pours.  Yeah, it probably has more to do with the sagging economy more so than the crappy team Milwaukee will be putting on the field next year, but still, it certainly doesn’t help.

Such is the nature that the Brewers are used to. They are a small market team that can only pick it’s spots, not take over them, when they see a manageable opportunity to compete.  While the Yanks blow their offer (and just about everybody else’s) out of the water the Brewers watch their playoff aspirations sink a little deeper.

And ya know what?  I’m sick of this!  Buster Olney wrote this about the Brewers’ iminnent demise from relevence:

There’s no one to blame, unless you care to find the places where the founding fathers of Major League Baseball are buried and lecture their headstones for the way the sport is structured financially, with built-in advantages for the most popular big-city teams. The Yankees are working within their much greater means to compete for a title, as they should, and so are the Cubs, who figure to soon get Jake Peavy, and so are the Mets and the Red Sox. The Brewers, Twins, Athletics, Indians and other clubs have to operate almost flawlessly, and have some good luck along the way, in order to compete.

Even if that’s true, which it is, it’s messed up.  The Rays will be very good most likely for a few years, and then their talent will head north or far west, because that’s where the financially powered franchises are.  The issue is that while the Yankees wipe their behinds with 100 dollar bills, teams like the Brewers are left to scrap together the cash they save from cheaper gas.

There was a report that the Brewers didn’t have money to spend right now, and this came after they lost C.C.  There is something seriously wrong with that.  It’s the type of reason that I openly root for fine oiled machines built off of the best money can buy to fail (such as the Yankees).  Yes, they’re fun to hate.  But they’re also like that only child who doesn’t know how to share, and hogs everything to himself, offering a scrap of his stuff every now and then.  And while the Yankees pick from the best of the best, most of baseball’s teams are left to pick at the scraps.

The sports’ salaries are out of control.  Mark Teixiera doesn’t deserve $200 million, but I’d be shocked at this point if he didn’t get it.  C.C. didn’t get $160 million like I originally thought.  No, he got $161 million.  Why you ask?  Because it makes him the highest paid pitcher per year by $100,000.  No, he couldn’t be tied with Johan Santana, he had to eclipse him.  While you go out and look for a second job so that the bank doesn’t forclose your house, C.C. and other high profile names on the free agency market suck up every last penny that’s on the table.

Once upon the time it wasn’t about just money.  There was loyalty, there was the desire to help your team.

Now, it’s a joke.  Guys say they want to be team players, and they want to win.  But they just want the money.  Because yeah, small market teams like the Marlins won’t pay much, but if guys were that determined to make their small market teams winners they would take major pay cuts from what they could get on the open market.  But that hardly ever happens.

Because baseball players live in a surreal world.  For the rest of us reality couldn’t be more different.

SCOTT JACOBS

I might be in the minority here, but I think the Yankees just made one hell of a mistake.

I may be in the minority here, but I think New York just buried itself a huge hole.

Sure, sure, C.C. Sabathia to New York looks like the greatest thing the Yankees could have asked for this offseason.  But not so fast my friends.  For there is a horror story behind every happily ever after.  Yes, by signing Sabathia, the Yankees ultimately proved the notion that yes- they are recession proof- and no, they won’t stop till they get what they want.  But by signing the hefty lefty to a seven year deal worth a whopping $160 million I just think the Yankees are crazy!

They see Boomer Wells.  I see Barry Zito.

They see championships.  I see continued first round exits.

They see greatness.  I see slowdown.

They see press.  I see second guessing.

Of course, only time will tell what ultimately happens with C.C. and his new team, New York.

We did learn this much though:

It was about the money.  It was about the money.  It was always about the money.

Now comes the fun part: Is Sabathia worth it?  Quick answer: hell no.  Slow answer: probably not.  You see, while many see the Yankees reloading for more championship runs, I see a team that just handed out a ludicrous contract to an overweight pitcher who hasn’t really proven anything when it matters most: the post-season.

We (as a sports loving nation) like to go with the sexy numbers: the regular season record, the E.R.A, the strikeouts, and the complete games.  But this isn’t just some rebuilding team looking to make a splash and join the post-season party.  This is the Yankees, the team that expects to not only get to the post-season, but expects to win the World Series.  And that’s where I leave myself scratching my head.

Sabathia is a 2-3 lifetime pitcher in the post-season.  He’s given up 22 runs in 25 innings! He’s allowed four home runs, twenty-two (not a typo) walks, and has none– ZILCH– complete games.  But his E.R.A. is almost at 8.

Last post-season, Sabathia was hit hard for five runs and six hits (all extra bases) in a game that quickly got away from the Brewers, who are now left with bones and dust of the team that made the 2008 post-season, ending an incredibly long 26 year drought.  The Brew Crew is most likely going to lose Ben Sheets too, and is reportedly shopping Prince Fielder.

But hey, the Yanks are getting the guy that is a proven post-season winner.

Sabathia is great, a phenomenol player, a tremendous talent.  But the reality is this: he’s an overweight, over-used player, who will probably decline quickly after the first few years of this deal.  The Yankees are taking on a huge financial obligation with this move, and though it may look good now, it’s the back years of the deal which look questionable.  When the contract ends, Sabathia will be in his middle 30’s.  Can he hold up after all the innings he’s logged?  That remains to be seen.  But he’s yet to take over a post-season, and the Yankees are banking on that changing once he puts those pinstripes on.

I’m going to hate to say I told you so, but I feel like a few years from now, when Sabathia’s best years are behind him, and his decline becomes evident, I will probably re-cite this article.  And if I’m wrong, well so be it.  But I’ve got a hunch on this one.  And it doesn’t end favorably for New York.

Angels are Front Runner for Teixeira

The Angels are set to offer Teixeira $160 million over eight years, my source says. The Red Sox are the other contender, also willing to offer $160 million or more, but would Teixeira want to leave Los Angeles?

Teixiera may be on the Yankees radar as well as a backup in case they don’t sign Sabathia, but with the Angels and Sox getting serious about him, chances are he will be already signed by the time the Yankees get done dealing with Sabathia. That may be why they put a deadline on his offer.

That said, my source doesn’t expect Sabathia to sign with the Yankees, so here we go with…

C.C. Sabathia

Probable destination? The San Francisco Giants.

Despite the Yankees offering him $20 million more, Sabathia will take $110 million over five years with the Giants to go back to his hometown.

The Dodgers may also be interested if they fail to resign Ramirez.

The Players’ Union may pressure him to sign with the Yankees because it would increase the market value of everyone else, and they do have lots of sway over players, so he still could sign with the Yankees, but chances are he won’t. If they Yankees don’t sign Sabathia or Teixeira, A.J. Burnett is supposed to be their next target.

Ramirez’s Value Down; Dodgers May Be Favorite

Despite early indicators suggesting some team would go crazy and vastly overspend for Ramirez, the market has been surprisingly unfavorable to him.

He’s not expected to get over $100 million, and the best he might have to settle for is $70 million for three years with the Dodgers.

Other Odds and Ends

-Edgar Renteria said to be signing with the A’s or Cardinals.

-My source on the Coco Crisp for Rimon Ramirez (Royals to Red Sox) trade: It’s a bad trade for the Royals because they need relief help, and Crisp just isn’t all that good. He’s a good outfielder, but he overpreformed in Cleveland two years ago, his only year of batting .300. That said, playing in a large market and suffering from bad injuries did hurt him in Boston, so he Kansas City should be a better fit.

SCOTT JACOBS

Call it what you will, but there’s not a doubt in the world that golden liquids will be spraying all the way into the wee hours of the morning in the land of the cheese.  Whether it’s Brewers fans peeing their pants, or Brewers players spraying champagne and beer everywhere, Milwaukee is into the post-season for the first time since 1982.  Their 3-1 win, coupled with New York’s sad 4-2 loss (officially putting the recking ball on Shea) today sent Wisconsin into a frenzy.  It was the only type of win that could put Aaron Rodgers’ injury on the backburner, along with Brett Favre’s six touchdown day.  Milwaukee watched the only New York team it truly needed to lose, lose.

The Brewers, notorious losers for decades, had made the playoffs twice since 1970.  That’s 38 seasons.  Lucky number 39 was what the Brewers needed to tack  one more to that very un-humbling list.  But, the team that was brought to Milwaukee by primary owner Bud Selig (now MLB commissioner) is back.  Back in the playoffs.

That’s three times in 39 seasons.  That’s once every 13 years. That’s a seven percent success rate.

But hey, how many teams (not players, not coaches) can say that they’ve made the playoffs in both Leagues?  Not many.  Milwaukee can lay claim to that.

Besides, they haven’t had a heck of a lot to celebrate as Brewers fans.  Milwaukee’s first playoff berth (1981) came in a year where a players strike wiped out a portion of the year.  Yes, the Brewers did what they had to do, but that’s historically not all that amazing.  Especially in a season as long as baseball.

And then there was 1982.  The greatest year to date, in the history of the Brewers.  Robin Yount was AL MVP that year, the team belted out 216 dingers, and their pitcher Pete Vulkovich won the CY Young.  The Brewers came back from an 0-2 deficit to win the final three games and secure their place in the World Series, where they would fall in seven games to St. Louis.

So that’s where we stand.  The Brewers are trying to overcome the demons of 1982.  Was it a bad beer keg that cursed the team?  Or was it bad cheese?  No one knows, but this Brewers team will have to overcome the odds without Ben Sheets, who is done for the year.

C.C. Sabathia has been brilliant, but he can’t do it all.  The Brewers will need everyone to advance.

And if they do, could a Brewers-Cubs NLCS possibility loom?  It seems only fitting that the team that can’t win a World Series plays the team that hasn’t won one in  99 years and counting.

But first things first: the Phillies.  Philadelphia was swept out last year by red hot Colorado after winning the NL East.  This year, that probably won’t happen again.

But then again, who thought the Mets would collapse again?

Indians, Brewers Agree on Trade: LaPorta, Bryson, Johnson to Indians, Green to be Named

The C.C. Sabathia trade that has been announced includes Matt LaPorta, Rob Bryson, Zach Johnson, and one player to be named, going to the Indians in exchange for Sabathia.

JSB has learned who the player to be named is. Brewers’ 2007 Minor Leauge Player of the Year, Thirdbasemen Taylor Green, will be sent to the Indians on August 16. This news came after speaking with an agency insider.

Green, 21, was selected in the 25th round of the 2005 draft, out of Cypress College (Ca.), and named to the South Atlantic League All-Star team last season. He batted .327 and hit 14 home runs and 86 RBI in 111 games for Single-A West Virginia.

Sabathia is expected to start for the Brewers against the Rockies Tuesday. Green is expected to make the majors in 2010 or 2011.

Green’s agent, Joshua Kusnick, said last night on his blog that Green had not yet been informed about his future.

Taylor has not been informed he has been traded nor has he been informed that he is any part of a pending transaction. What does all that mean? Nothing, because if the Brewers drop the PTBNL bomb anyone can go including Taylor. I know everyone in the game is an adult and I know it’s a business but you would think maybe someone in the entire organization could let Taylor know what his status is instead of letting him just float in the wind.

This could be because, as one Brewer’s blogger who speaks closely with insiders said, “The farm director, Reid Nichols, hasn’t always been as forthright with info as players/agents would like,” or simply because the Indians have no officially decided on Green as the player to be named.

Another possibility includes Michael Brantley, but my agency source says the Indians want Green.