FanNation | DugoutCentral.com's Blog | Thomas Wayne: Sabathia Deal Doesn't Help or Hurt the Brewers

“I’ve seen the future and it’s much like the present, only longer.” – Dan Quisenberry

Pending a physical and a little paperwork, Indian ace and 2007 AL Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia will be a Milwaukee Brewer sometime this week. In return for Sabathia the Brewers will part with three prospects, most notably Matt LaPorta, who is widely regarded as the top prospect in Milwaukee’s minor league system.

This is a “let’s try and win it now” move by the Brewers as both Sabathia and All-Star Ben Sheets are free agents at the end of the season. Neither is guaranteed to stay in Wisconsin after the season is over even if Milwaukee cracks open the piggy bank and is willing to pay one or both of them in multi-year deals.

Currently, Sabathia is in the middle of an in-season renaissance. He started poorly, going 0-3 with a un-Cy like ERA of 13.50 in his first four starts. In the 14 starts since then he is 6-5 with a 2.16 ERA. He is also on a pace to strike out over 225 men, which one can assume will even be a higher total now that he will be throwing in the National League. This trend bodes well for the Brewers as Sabathia and a healthy Ben Sheets could become the best starting strikeout tandem in the National League for the rest of this year.

With all of this in mind, is Sabathia the answer to Milwaukee’s regular season troubles?

In all reality, yes, he is. The Brewers haven’t been to the playoffs since 1982 and a dominate hurler like Sabathia might be just enough to get a young and hungry team over the hump and into October.

And if they make it to the post season, will Sabathia take them all the way to the top?

Turn away now Brewer fans, because history suggests otherwise.

In his four previous October starts with the Indians Sabathia’s numbers look like this:

Wins: 2
Losses: 2
Innings Pitched: 21.1
Hits Allowed: 27
Walks Issued: 18
Strikeouts: 19
Earned Runs: 17
ERA: 7.17

Sabathia is like a lot of star pitchers who toss well during the regular season but never seem able to dominate the post season in the same way. October is where men like John Smoltz, Jack Morris and Bob Gibson earned their dough and reputations. They took their games to another level come playoff time. Sabathia is nowhere near that class of pitcher, at least not yet. The Brewer faithful hope this is the year he steps it up.

In the end, this is a deal that doesn’t hurt the Brewers. They have a very talented farm system and can afford to deal a Matt LaPorta type prospect on the chance that Sabathia will be in full Cy Young caliber form for the stretch drive.

Conversely, it doesn’t help them either. Sabathia has a long way to go in proving his value past the regular season.