Joe Borowski is Back
June 12, 2008More, and Hopefully Final Words on Bentley
June 12, 2008A potential World Series title may not be the only thing the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs are battling over this season.
As the Indians continue to find ways to lose games this season, their chances of getting back into the division title hunt get slimmer and slimmer. And according to the rules of inverse proportionality, as the chances of the Indians getting into the playoffs decrease, the chances of Tribe ace C.C. Sabathia being traded increase. In other words, not only are rumors of Sabathia being traded not going away before the trade deadline, they will actually get louder and more prevalent as the Indians continue to consistently lose baseball games.
It wasn’t that long ago that I felt that trading C.C. Sabathia was the key to saving this season for the Indians. According to most reports, though, that just wasn’t going to be possible as teams like the Rockies weren’t looking for a soon-to-be free agent in return for guys like Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins. Instead, they were looking for prospects a la the now infamous Bartolo Colon trade. Now, it’s possible that trading Sabathia could be the key to saving the future of the Indians.
In his blog, ESPN’s baseball analyst Buster Olney addressed this topic a bit, writing,
“The Indians have reportedly been scouting the Red Sox farm system, presumably in preparation for the possibility of trade talks with Boston about Sabathia. Let’s play this scenario out a bit.
Here’s how the Red Sox could rationalize a deal for Sabathia: They have a whole lot of depth in their farm system, and by adding Sabathia for the last two months and the postseason, they could strengthen an already deep rotation and apply a 6-foot-7, 300-pound hammer as they pursue their third championship in five years. They have the talent depth in their farm system to tell the Indians: Look, you can’t have Justin Masterson, Jon Lester or Clay Buchholz, but we can make a deal built around others. Double-A pitcher Michael Bowden could be an interesting conversation piece, given his dominant showing for Portland.
And at the end of the year, the Red Sox could just offer Sabathia arbitration and let him walk away as a free agent and recoup two draft picks for the 2007 Cy Young Award winner. To repeat: All of that is pure speculation and probably won’t happen.”
He went on to discuss how the Cubs fit into this,
“Some folks within the industry think that if Sabathia is traded, the Cubs will be the most aggressive in bidding for him. “They’re going for it this year,” said one GM. “Other teams are laying back and might not want to trade prospects, but the Cubs will.””
Again, even the Cubs rumor is pure speculation on the part of an unidentified GM. What is apparent, though, is that Mark Shapiro’s masterful Colon trade back in 2002 has changed the landscape of the way trades are viewed in major league baseball. Not that trying to trade Sabathia is a completely identical situation (the biggest difference being that Colon was still a year and a half away from free agency, thus giving the Expos more time to allow Sabathia to grow comfortable in the system and increasing the chances of re-signing him), but it’s clear that teams in today’s age of parity-filled baseball are not interested in taking a chance on high priced veterans at the expense of high-skilled young prospects.
The Indians know they will get two compensatory draft picks if they keep Sabathia and he walks, so the philosophy of trading C.C. just to get something in return doesn’t apply here. The Indians know that if they trade him, they must get value in return that exceeds the value of the compensatory picks they would be losing out on.
Another thing that could have an impact on trade negotiations would be Alfonso Soriano’s broken hand he suffered last night. This will require the Cubs to call up an OF prospect for 3 to 6 weeks to fill Soriano’s roster spot. Whether or not this injury impacts any potential deal would of course depend on who the Indians would target, and whether that would be a pitching prospect or a hitting prospect. If the Indians are interested in a hitting prospect, it could be trickier to acquire him as the Cubs whole system is a little less deep now with Soriano injured. On the other hand, it’s entirely possible that the Cubs could desire Sabathia even more with Soriano injured as he could be valuable in helping negate the impact of the loss of Soriano’s offense by bolstering the Cubs pitching staff even more.
Regardless, this is all pure speculation on my part, just as the mention of the Cubs and Red Sox is pure speculation on the part of Buster Olney and this unnamed GM. It is worth noting, though, that as the summer chugs along and the Cubs and Red Sox find themselves in position to possibly square off in the World Series, both teams will know in the back of their minds that if the other team is able to acquire C.C. Sabathia, he just might be the difference to tip the scale in the other’s direction. Whether or not this can provide the proper motivation for either of these teams to make Shapiro a legit offer that he can consider will remain to be seen. One thing that is certain, though, is that these rumors and speculation are going nowhere, so we might as well get used to them.
12 Comments
Obviously, Yankee fans are all about the big man as well. Im just not sure they have much to give us. I’d hate to move him for a guy that’s off of one dominant game, but in the same, I do not know much about other teams’ farm systems…
We’ll take Joba for CC. How about that? 🙂
why in god’s name would we EVER trade him to someone in the AL? so we have the chance of facing him 5 times a year? awesome.
the man loves to hit. IF we trade him (and i’m in the camp that says “play for now”), trade him to the cubbies or some other NL team so we’ll never have to see him (a la colon).
Well, in all honesty, as long we don’t trade him to an AL Central team, the most we would face him would be twice. I mean, we have 2 series with Boston and 2 series with New York this year.
But regardless, he’s a free agent after this year, and he can sign anywhere, so it really doesn’t matter. The Indians need to trade him to whoever gives them the best deal. They can’t be concerned with where he ends up playing, because that’s out of their hands completely.
Hey the yankeeze know that whatever prospects they trade to us, will eventually be traded back to them, if they pan out. Win, win for them.
“…both teams will know in the back of their minds that if the other team is able to acquire C.C. Sabathia, he just might be the difference to tip the scale in the other’s direction.”
Oh, I get it. It is a fat joke. Good one. 🙂
Scott, as a Yankees fan myself, I can say that we do NOT want the big man. I think we’ve learned our lesson with overpriced pitching…it doesn’t work.
Won’t happen. The Red Sox have Masterson (probably on an innings count), Lester, Buchholz, Colon, Schilling (starting in August or so), Matsuzaka, Beckett and Wakefield. Also they’re really high on Bowden.
Trade him to whoever has the best deal and do it soon before he gets injured. Doesn’t win the big games. Never been a true ace.
Ideally I’d like to see him dealt to The Angels who have a surplus of young promising corn OFs and middle infielders, or The Dodgers who are only a few games out in the West and have major league ready talent in their system, getting a Blake DeWitt (3B) or an Ethier or Kemp is probably out of the question.
look at the deal that arizona gave to oakland for dan heron. I think that the same type of deal can be made for CC. Over his last 10 starts he has been the best pitcher in baseball(or at least close to it). As far as the cubs go, lets trade them delucci along with cc to fill their need for an outfielder and take some money off our payroll….or i would give them sin shoo choo. i think that franklin is too good defensively to trade away, and ben francisco is just too good to trade…therefore choo is the most expendable…give the cubs both guys and we can get a good deal in return…I also think the Dodgers are a good candidate to trade with.
GMoney, YOU may not want him as a Yankees fan…but you’d be in the minority. I can GUARANTEE you that the Yanks want him, have him targeted, and will be major players in the FA market for Sabathia. What young, expensive pitchers have the Yanks gone after in the last 10 years? None…Mussina doesn’t count as young, nor does Kevin Brown or Randy Johnson.
McFad…DeWitt could be a possibility as the Dodgers have a stud 3B in AA or AAA that they’ve got in pen at 3B for the next 10 years.
Shop CC aggressively now, but only move him, as noted, if the value they can get back is worth more than 2 first round picks.