CC Sabathia Changed the Milwaukee Brewers Forever

CC Sabathia Changed the Milwaukee Brewers Forever

it may be the best performance we’ll ever see from a pitcher in a 3mon span but I would say it’s the most impactful trade deadline acquisition a team has made CCE Sabathia ended up Fifth in saang voting and sixth in MVP voting from his three months in Milwaukee Sabathia took the underdog Brewers to an unlikely playoff push breaking a 26-year playoff drought he may have only been a brewer for 3 months but he cemented himself as a Brewers Legend let’s set the stage it’s June 2008 just last season cleeland Cleland lost game seven in the ALCS to the eventual World Series champions the Boston Red Sox during the off season Cleveland and Sabathia were unable to come to an agreement on an extension this lack of a deal left CCE frustrated with the organization as he was planning on playing his whole career in Cleveland and at the end of the 2008 season CCE was set to hit free agency Cleveland was going to try for one more push with Sabathia but they ended June last in the AL Central after a sub 500 April May and June it was clear that a fire sale was starting as soon as possible in Cleveland starting with their biggest asset Sabathia CC had a rough start to the season with a 4.72 erra to end may but was still considered the best trade piece at the upcoming trade deadline the Brewers were a 500 ball Club entering June but managed to go 16 and 10 in June propelling them back into the NL Central and wild card races Brewers GM Doug Melvin knew that they needed an ace to round out the pitching staff to keep the Brewers playoffs hopes alive their best pitcher was no doubt Ben Sheets who had pitched to a 2.03 RA in April and had just a 2.77 ra before the trade they lost their young pitcher yovani gardo after tearing his ACL in just his fourth start of the Season Dave Bush and Jeff Supan were both pitching around a 5 ER and they brought in Seth mclung in an emergency to start but that wasn’t going to work for a playoff push they their team was clearly dependent on their offense which was led by right fielder Ryan Brun and first baseman Prince Fielder it was just the Brewer’s luck that a Sai Young Award winner was going to be available at the trade deadline Melvin reached out to Cleveland’s GM Mark Shapiro at the beginning of June and told him I’d be willing to give up more Talent if I could get Sabathia earlier in the trade deadline process they continued to talk throughout June and it became clear that Dodgers were the Brewers biggest competition for Sabathia a deal almost went through that would have sent Sabathia to the Dodgers but the deal wasn’t approved by Dodgers ownership because they didn’t want a rental there were Rumblings about CCE ending up in Milwaukee and he got a call before the trade became official from one of his friends and relief pitcher for the Brewers Dave risky that he was coming to Milwaukee because he saw Sabathia’s Jersey being made in the back and on July 7th they came to an agreement the Brewer sent first baseman Matt leaport the Brewer’s top prospect Lefty Zack Jackson righty Rob Bryson and a player to be named later for Sabathia the Hall of young Talent didn’t really pan out for Cleveland but the player to be named later was dependent on the outcome of the Brewers season Shapiro and Cleveland couldn’t decide which player they preferred between third baseman Taylor green or outfielder Michael Bradley so they came to an agreement if the Brewers made it to the playoffs Shapiro would decide who the player to be named later was and if they didn’t Melvin would and in the end Shapiro chose Michael brenley who became an All-Star wall in Cleveland now back to CC he was dealing with a flood of emotions after being traded from the team he was drafted by and thought he was going to play for his whole career but that quickly changed once he landed in Milwaukee we’re here today to announce the acquisition of CC Saia CC made up has officially begun and it has Milwaukee buzzing with an anticipation that this city hasn’t seen in recent memory Brewer fans are bubbling with excitement and tonight they will get their first look at last year’s Al saong Award winner and this year’s prized acquisition today CC Sabathia starts his tenure with the Brewers the future is now Milwaukee let the chase begin saath was given the option to report after the All-Star break but chose to report to the Brewers immediately and on July 8th just one day after the trade CeCe was on the mound in Miller Park making his first start for the Brewers wearing his Cleveland cleats and all he went six Innings allowed three runs two earned striking out five and walking five against the Rockies clearly nothing spectacular but a sellout crowd loved it in his second start for the Brewers Sabathia faced division rivals the Reds he pitched a complete Game allowing two runs walking one and striking out nine he also went one for three at the plate hitting a home run off starting pitcher Homer Bailey his next time on the bump was in San Francisco where he pitched another complete game with one earned run punching out 10 next in St Louis CCE again went the distance but this time he pitched a shut out with seven punchies his four dominant starts ignited Milwaukee and ticket price began to soar the Brewers went 10 and N in July with Sabathia it was also a perfect fit for Sabathia in the clubhouse there are a bunch of guys he was already friends with like Dave risky Prince Fielder Mike Cameron and Ricky weeks he felt like he’d always been on the Brewers the team would only do better in August going 20 and seven CCE was on the bump six times and the Brewers won all six games he pitched to a 1.12 ER in the month of August pitching at least six Innings he threw for a complete game against the Nationals on the 8th and then again against the Astros on the 18th on the last game of the month for the Brewers CCE pitched another complete game against the Pirates pitching 117 pitches giving only one hit up to Andy L roach in the fifth inning which seemed like it was an error by CeCe on a routine play but it was ruled by the official scorer as a hit I guess that’s what you get when you’re the away team the Brewers entered September with an 80 and 50 six record 4 and 1/2 games behind the Cubs in division but leading the Wild Card race with the Phillies 5 and 1/2 games behind them then disaster struck the Brewers in the first half of September they went 3 and 11 they started the month off by being swept by the Mets then they split a series with the Padre’s lost a four game series 3 to one against the Reds then they were swept by the Phillies they needed to keep pace and CeCe was coming back down to earth after a spectacular August and it was clear that if CCE was winning the Brewers were winning and vice versa the Brewers were looking to end a playoff drought of 26 years and this sent the front office spiraling the last 3 weeks of the Season every game was like a playoff game front office fired Ned yoast with just 12 games left in the season hoping to light a fire under the team they appointed the third base coach Dale swam as inner manager the older players like future Brewers manager Craig counsel helped keep the team together it was the end of the season and the pitching staff was getting depleted on swm’s first day as manager CeCe went into his office and told swam that he didn’t need to worry about who was pitching tomorrow because CeCe was pitching tomorrow and CC stepped up and started pitching every 3 days making four starts in the team’s last 12 games he was still unable to stop the Brewers losing ways in his start on the 20th he pitched 5 2/3 Innings giving up four runs one earned striking out three against the Reds leaving the Brewers 2 and 1 half games behind the Mets it looked like the Brewers were choking at the end Sabathia’s agent was obset with the Brewers front office for pushing CeCe too much in a free agent year but it wasn’t the team it was Cece who was pushing a pitch on 3 days rest for the last 12 games of the Season he was willing to do anything he could to help the Brewers win even in a free agent year his second game on 3 days rest CCE pitched seven Innings giving up one earned run and striking out 11 entering the last game of the season the Brewers were tied with the Mets for the wild card spot CeCe was taking the mound against the Cubs he came into the game confident he knew he was going to win the game he pitched a complete game against the Cubs allowing four hits and striking out 11 Ryan Braun hit the go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth the Brewers couldn’t totally celebrate yet though they had guaranteed themselves at least a tie break game with the Mets the Mets and Marin’s game was still not over so Brewers fans anxiously watched in the stadium and the Brewers watched in the clubhouse and 34 minutes later the Mets finally lost to the Marlins 42 and Miller Park corupted with joy ending a 26-year playoff tra the Brewers playoff appearance was brief as they lost in the N LDS to the eventual World Series champions the Philadelphia Phillies in five games CCE pitched in only one game pitching three and 2/3 Innings but his dominant performance in Milwaukee was clear he ended the season leading incomplete games and inning pitched and was second in strikeouts he managed to end up top six in both sa young and MVP voting despite only pitching half a season in the National League the Brewers magical run to the playoffs was carried by CC their newly acquired Ace in Milwaukee Sabathia made 17 starts going 11 and two he had pitched seven complete games three of them being shutouts with a 1.65 erra he had an RA plus of 255 and a BW war of 4.9 the Brewers did try to bring seban back on a long-term deal and Sabathia expressed interest in staying with the team but in the end the Brewers budget would not match other offers CeCe rejected the Brewer’s 5year $100 million offer and signed the largest contract for a pitcher at the time with the Yankees the Brewers and Sabathia both benefit from the 3 months in Milwaukee the Brewers finally set up a winning culture that would bring them back to the playoffs many times since sabathy was able to pitch for a team truly going for it in his contract year as we all know Cece was a big competitor and fed off that energy and Sabathia’s brief tenure in Milwaukee will always be remembered by Brewers and Baseball fans alite I hope you guys enjoyed this video please subscribe thank you

The Milwaukee Brewers trade for CC Sabathia in their 2008 post-season run maybe on of the best trade deadline acquisitions ever made. Sabathia took the Milwaukee Brewers on his back to bring them to the post season for the first time in 26 years.

Sources:
CC Sabathia Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwZyZA_mj24

Mark Attanassio Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn-tuu3_Hgc&pp=ygUSY2Mgc2FiYXRoaWEgeWVsaWNo

Christian Yelich Interview R2C2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqgFMWV3cXo

Sports Illustrated Article
https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/08/02/cc-sabathia-brewers-trade-indians-2008

Reviewing the Brew Article
https://reviewingthebrew.com/2015/07/02/milwaukee-brewers-a-look-back-on-cc-sabathia-trade/

Bleacher Report Article
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/43316-2008-mlb-trade-deadline-deals