Done deal in Milwaukee, unless something really gets screwed up-

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Milwaukee, much more than St.Louis (at least to me), was the team to watch out for in this division from the Cubs perspective. If Sheets can stay healthy, and Sabathia destroys NL teams the way most expect, this is going to be a great race. It will be interesting to see if the Cubs step up their pursuit of another starting pitcher - I didn't really expect them to get Sabathia, but I don't think adding some overpaid veteran like Gil Meche is going to make much of a difference either.

man, i really hope Hendry makes a move for SOMEONE that is going to sway the momentum back the Cubs way. Obviously a top tier guy - if there is any that even become available, cos BD is right, it ain't Gil Meche. If the Brewers win this damn division cos they actually went out and GOT someone, i'm gonna be highly fucking pissed.

That's the problem. I think they are going to be looking at guys like Randy Wolf, Gil Meche, and maybe even Greg Maddux...Guys who may be ok, but certainly not top of the rotation guys.

CC was it. The pickens are pretty slim as far as starting pitching goes. I posted somewhere in the Cub forum that they should really try and push for CC simply to keep the Brewers from getting him. Nobody even dreamed CC would be on the trade wire anyway. I doubt anybody thought they Indians would be this bad. If they were even .500 I doubt he would have been traded.

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While of course I would rather Sabathia not be on the Brewers, I am not all up in arms about this.

Can someone tell me the last big trade at the deadline that came in and really powered a team to a division and/or WS title?

Sure it is important, but I just don't see it being as big of a deal as some others.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

The Cubs will get someone to be a solid #2. Meaning, they will have to get Harden or Burnett.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

ummm, yeah...Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton to the Cubs. They powered them to the NLCS.

But would the A's be willing to part with any of their arms? How are they lookin? I'm not an American league guy.

ok there we go, i'd go for that in a heart beat as well. Granted neither of those two are Sabathia, but they BOTH would have the same "American League" advantage that CC brings to the Brewers, not having pitched in the National League, thus being very unfamiliar to hitters. Burnett is a great pitcher as is Harden, I'd be happy with either of those guys - and to me at least - the momentum would be swung back in the Cubs direction.

BIlly Beane is always willing to wheel and deal. Given the A's spot in the standings though, the asking price is going to be quite steep I'd say.

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Sabathia would have never peacefully coexisted with Zambrano (and vise versa) anyway.

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Because they would be fighting over food at the buffet table?
Keep your fingers and hands away from the fat bastards. Proceed at your own risk.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

I can attest to that.

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Ok true, that did give the Cubs a big boost. But I just do not think these yearly trading deadline deals make as big of an impact as some think.

That being said, I do hope we can get another SP to bolster our staff and maybe another arm in the bullpen.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Nice deal for now for Milwaukee, but their bullpen is still horrible, hendry will counter this move. I have never been a fan of the fat one, I dont think this is a dagger to the cubs, because even with CC, Cubs are still better IMHO.

Rich Harden is probably the other big fish if Oakland decides to move him, but that guy is could either make or break a team with his questionable health.

Who would have thought that the Indians would be a 90+ loss team?

I also think the Cubs are the better team, but a healthy Sheets and Sabathia combo is pretty deadly. Cubs need to maintain a few games lead over them because they will be tough to score against most starts.

Burnett would be ok, probably better than what else is out there, but he's always underachieved with his stuff.

I was kind of holding out (false) hope that the Cubs would just go for it, and offer up 3 or 4 good prospects for Sabathia, and just try to win it all this year. A Zambrano-Sabathia combo in a best of 7 with at least 4 starts is pretty formidable....Hopefully, Rich Dempster will be able to continue his 1st half success.

Yea, like Barry Zito has done for the Giants

And Santana brought to the Mets. BTW, are they still in the Major Leagues?

Did we pick this guy up in a trade that I aint heard about?

That would be cool having Ryan Dempster and Rich together on the same team. I dont see anyone stopping us now.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Jason Stark had an article this week about how these deadline trades rarely ever (especially pitchers) help someone win a World Series.

From his article.
• The last two starting pitchers acquired at midseason to win a World Series game were Jeff Weaver (picked off the scrap heap), for the 2006 Cardinals, and Mike Torrez (a relic of another era), for the 1977 Yankees.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&page=rumblings

Making the playoffs are another matter though.

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There are exceptions to every rule, lol

i am still waiting for the long run of cy young awards tim hudson was supposed to win as well. i remember reading in a thread before the season someone "penciling in" santana to win 24 games this year, even though his career high is 20, because of how bad the NL is. the whole "al pitchers would domintate the NL" theory is dumb-assed.

The AL is a tougher league to pitch in. I think most would agree with that. It doesn't mean that Sabathia will be Cy Young in the NL, but if he does what is expected from him, I'm sure Milwaukee will be pleased.

Not my quote by the way....

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certainly it is tougher, due to the DH. that does not make AL pitchers automatically better and dominate in the NL.

I would say due to the DH and better players.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

perhaps, but the only point i am making is that there are actually very few recent cases of very good AL pitchers going to the NL and vastly improving their numbers, or really improving them much at all. yes, there are cases of it happening, but it is constantly over-stated when AL pitchers make the jump from league to league that they are going to walk all over the NL. it just hasnt happened very often.