C.C. Sabbathia Reaction

When I first saw this morning on ESPN news that this trade was official, I was a little worried. The Brewers now have arguably the best 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation in the NL, and they have a decent offense to go with it. After thinking about it for a while though, this trade definitely does not make the Brew Crew favorites in the division, that spot still belongs to the Cubs. The Brewers bull pen is still pretty bad: 10th in the league in ERA (although they are 19-8 in one run games). There offense really isn't that great either when you look at them. They rely too much on the home run and they're in the bottom third of the majors in OBP. This trade is really only a big help if they make the playoffs, Sabathia-Sheets in the playoffs would be pretty close to the Johnson-Schilling one-two punch the Diamondbacks won with. I do believe the Brewers win the wild card though, and I hope they would be knocked out of the playoffs before the Cubs face them. That three game series at the end of the season could be really big for both teams, quite possible deciding the division winner.

There are positives to this trade from the Cubs perspective also, now when the Brewers lose Fielder to free agency in the next few years, they won't have the big bat of LaPorta to take his place. This also may be the shot in the arm Jim Hendry needed to make a move for a SP of his own; Rich Harden anyone?