Brewers Riding Sabathia Hard
By Blake VandeBunte • Aug 19th, 2008 • Category: 2008 season, CC SabathiaWhen the Brewers traded a group of prospects for CC Sabathia, many figured it would help push the Brewers into the playoffs. That assumption appears to be spot on. Sabathia and the Brewers are currently leading the Wild Card race and appear to be poised for a strong stretch run.
At the front of the charge has been Sabathia. Since joining the Brewers at the beginning of July, Sabathia is 8-0 in 9 starts with an ERA of 1.60. Amazingly good, right? Even more amazing is that in five of those nine starts, Sabathia has thrown a complete game. In fact, since joining the Brewers, Sabathia is averaging a lofty 8.1 innings per start. That is unheard of these days. In 1968 that wasn’t that big of a deal, but the Brewers are letting him air it out.
The Brewers are a mid market team. They’ll just never have the cash of Chicago or New York to pay the big time players. I don’t think the Brewers have said this but most everything I’ve read indicates that Sabathia will be a Brewer for only this season. He’s a free agent at the end of the season and he’s likely to want Johan Santana money (around $20 million per season) and there is no way the Brewers will pay that. In a way, they are renting Sabathia. This helps explain why the Brewers are pitching the guy so hard and letting him pitch deep into most every game he starts. They really don’t care that much about what happens in the future for him, they need him out there now.
Sabathia is averaging 112 pitches per game since joining the Brewers. This may seem really high but the Indians were leaving him out there for 107 pitches a game before trading him. Maybe the guy is just durable.
Either way, the next two months are huge for CC and for the Brewers. For Sabathia, he’s looking to get paid. Last year he won the Cy Young award while with the Indians. He was dominant during the regular season. However, he faded in the playoffs and appeared to run out of gas. He’ll need to prove that he can pitch a full season, plus the postseason. The Brewers on the other hand are playing for now and need him to be an ace to lead their club deep into the postseason.
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