The CC Watch... Latest: Who knows?

[BrewCrewForever]

No matter what happens the close to 4 months CC pitched for us were some of the best in Brewers history and will go down as some of the best in CC's career. And I enjoyed every single start he made for us. We will all be telling people about it years down the road as will MLB talking heads years down the road. It was fun.

[Beast Light]

If the Brewers are to sustain long-term sucess, they need to stay disciplined and stick to the business model. Many people use the Minnesota Twins as an example of this business model. To me, it speaks volumes that last year, they lost a SP who many people would consider to be better than CC Sabathia in Johan Santana. They also lost their star CF in Torii Hunter. While the Twins did not make it to the playoffs, they were once again right in the thick of things.

 

To me, the 3 keys to this business model are as follows:

 

1. Maintain a strong, continuous flow of talent - Acquiring and accumulating talent needs to be the competency but always remember that prospects are called prospects for a reason. They have yet to establish themselves as Major League talent. Having one highly touted prospect at each position is not enough, you need to have depth. A good example of this would be the Brewers catching depth in the farm system. They are 3 deep with Salome, Lucroy and Lawrie (Palmisano even?). With this kind of depth, you are much more likely to find a "keeper" at each position. Also, it is important to make sure that your talent is polished and ready for the show when brought to the major leagues. The sooner you rush a young player to the big leagues, the sooner you will be looking to either move or pay them the big bucks. Make sure they are truly ready before giving them the call.

 

2. Do not sign players to big contracts once they hit Free Agency - The team must be willing to part ways with Free Agents that will command big time salaries. When parting ways with such players, the team must also be sure that it receives good talent in return. This can be done by either trading the player in the offseason or letting them walk and receive compensatory selections in the draft. Signing players will tie up salary and can impede talent accumulation. The whole idea is to build a snowball of talent and let it keep rolling, getting bigger and bigger along the way.

 

3. Trade surplus talent for finishing pcs on the Major League club - Some of the talent developed will be good enough to play at the major league level but end up being blocked by more talented players. When these players can no longer be held on to, they must be traded to fill any holes that exist at the major league level. This is much like what the Cleveland Indians did when they traded names like Richie Sexson, Sean Casey and Brian Giles. The other option would be to trade the block on the Major League club itself. It all depends on what you can get in return.

 

If a team can stick to these three rules, they can sustain success over a long period of time. I was thrilled about the CC Sabathia trade and still consider it to be a huge success. What we lost, however, was Matt LaPorta, who could have been the man to replace Prince (assuming he is traded for SP) and a centerfielder in Michael Brantley, who I believe, is going to have a great Major League career. If CC walks, we will get compensatory picks, which will give us the opportunity to replace what we lost in Brantley and LaPorta. If he signs, we will have $25MM tied up in a SP who could be great for years to come or could end up being the next Barry Zito. We don't know. If he turns out to be the latter, this team will be crippled for years to come and two first round picks will be playing in someone else's system.

 

Watching CC was awesome and it would be great to see him come back. The Brewers, however, cannot deviate from the master plan. Successful businesses know their strengths, weaknesses and core competencies. They also find a sound business model to exploit them and do not waver from it.

[Team Canada]

However, you could argue the Twins made a major mistake in trading Santana last year. They got a mediocre package, and would have been much better off having Santana pitch for them this year. Heck, they probably would've beaten the Sox by 3-5 games.

[Ennder]

However, you could argue the Twins made a major mistake in trading Santana last year. They got a mediocre package, and would have been much better off having Santana pitch for them hits year. Heck, they probably would've beaten the Sox by 3-5 games.

I imagine Santana would have been worth a good 3 wins and not playing Gomez would have been worth another 2 or so.

[Beast Light]

However, you could argue the Twins made a major mistake in trading Santana last year. They got a mediocre package, and would have been much better off having Santana pitch for them hits year. Heck, they probably would've beaten the Sox by 3-5 games.

Valid point. Regardless of what they got in return, they had enough talent in the pipeline to get by this year. Personally, if I were the Twins, unless someone blew me away with an offer, I probably would have let him walk after this year and taken the compensatory picks.

 

I hope I am not coming off as anti Sabathia because the guy was amazing. I would love for him to stay in Milwaukee but I just don't know if it would be in the best interest of the Brewers. Obviously, only time will tell what ends up happening but this is one of those scenarios where I will understand either outcome.

[AJAY]

We may be getting some help from the government . . .

 

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3650262

[logan82]

I am not even going to worry about it until free agency starts. Until CC sees what other teams will offer it wouldn't make sense to even think about the Brewers' offer.

[MNBrew]

Also reported here by Haudricourt on the JS website. Must've been the same conference call from which ESPN picked their storyline.

[dogs with bees in their mo]

I don't see how this is bottom-line newsworthy because it remains to be seen how competitive the offer will be. It could just be a PR move by the Brewers to make it look like they are trying no matter how serious they actually are.

[rm121978]

http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=16096

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

I would not be surprised to see us offer 5/120 with a $30 option for year 6 with a $10m buyout. Makes it 6/150. We'll probably be outbid, but hard to say we didn't try if that is the case.

[BrewCrewForever]

I would not be surprised to see us offer 5/120 with a $30 option for year 6 with a $10m buyout. Makes it 6/150. We'll probably be outbid, but hard to say we didn't try if that is the case.

If that is the offer. I would give the Brewers a lot of credit for at least trying. And I'm sure CC would really consider it at the least.

[rluzinski]

it 6/150.

 

I'd love to put money on the Brewers' offer being less than that. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I think it will be a token offer that Melvin knows will have no chance of being accepted. They have to make some kind of offer for PR reasons, obviously.

[craigharmann]

You've got to put in an offer to CC. He really seemed to like the team and like it in Milwaukee. Why not put it out there? It's on him to take a better (or different offer) but you can't say you didn't try. I'd love 6/150.

[BrewBomber]

Any chance of Mark A. giving a stake in the team as part of an offer to CC? Is that even an option?

[sbrylski]

Any chance of Mark A. giving a stake in the team as part of an offer to CC? Is that even an option?

 

Against the rules.

[Weirdos19]

The Brewers are past the point of making an offer "just to make an offer". They can be competitive with other teams.

 

Everybody says the Yankees have an unlimited amount of money to offer. With all the holes the Yankees have now and in the near future (Jeter, Abreu, Matsui, and Rivera are all aging fast), they can't just open the pocketbook anymore. They gave ARod a ridiculous amount of money that he will never fully earn. They have learned that you can't buy a World Series.

 

If the Crew can offer 5/125m with a 6th year option, they aren't blowing smoke.

 

But would you rather have CC at that money, or a combination of Derek Lowe, Brian Roberts, and say Hank Blalock? Not so sure which way I'd go.

[Baldkin]

The YES network brought in 340 million for the Yankees in 2006, I'm sure that's only increased the last two years.

 

The Brewers aren't even close to anything like that.

[BrewCrewForever]

We need a Brewers Network.

[kramnoj]

The YES network brought in 340 million for the Yankees in 2006, I'm sure that's only increased the last two years.

 

The Brewers aren't even close to anything like that.

 

It's important to distinguish between revenue and profit. It's also important to realize that the Yankees don't own 100% of YES. There's no question YES brings in huge profits to the Yankees, but it's not $340 million.

[Ennder]

The Yankees have been cutting salaries the past few years, they might make a big splash this year but their cash isn't anywhere near limitless. They also have to know that if they go overboard it will just make MLB tighten up the revenue sharing and penalize them more and more.

[logan82]

The Yankees are going to get breaks on the revenue sharing while they pay off their new stadium.

[rluzinski]

The Brewers are past the point of making an offer "just to make an offer"

 

These are not the Brewers of 2000 but we are talking about the most coveted free agent in the league. I don't think the Brewers' offer to CC will be embarrassing by any stretch (4/$90?) but I doubt it will be even close to what he eventually gets. You just know that he's going to end up with a something silly like 6/$150 and it won't be coming from the Brewers.

[Ennder]

I think I'll be more upset if we get CC than if we don't. He is going to get too many years almost for sure and I think it would be a terrible move for us. I'd love the move for the short term but for the long term no thanks.