Mike Celizic

Usually, when the economy of the game forces a small-market team to make a personnel decision, it’s bad news for the team’s fans and, ultimately, for the game. The trade of C.C. Sabathia to the Brewers is an exception.

The Brewers have a good team, one that has caught the Cardinals and is pushing the first-place Cubs in the NL Central. But it is a team whose shelf life is about to expire. At season’s end, ace pitcher Ben Sheets and slugging first baseman Prince Fielder become free agents, and the team’s payroll can’t expand enough to keep them around.

So for Milwaukee, it comes down to going for it now. So they reached down into their stock of prospects, picked their best power-hitting outfielder, Matt LaPorta, and handed him over to Cleveland in return for Sabathia.

Sabathia makes the Brewers more than a threat. It makes them a danger to what had been a triumphant march through the season for the Cubs. The Brewers already have a good offense and decent pitching. This gives them dominant pitching.

With one bold move, the Brewers just made the NL Central a whole lot more interesting than it had been Sunday morning.

There’s no illusion that the Brewers are doing anything more than renting Sabathia for the remainder of this season. The 2007 AL Cy Young honoree is a free agent at season’s end, and there’s no way Milwaukee is going to be able to fit the contract he’ll demand into its payroll. So this is an all-or-nothing move.

It’s risky. Such moves always are. But it’s the kind of risk every small-market team should want management to take. You can spend a lifetime — or, in the Brewers’ case, 26 years — waiting for the team to get back to the playoffs. To see them get within sniffing distance of the Promised Land but not close the deal for lack of one more major piece has to be as depressing as it gets for a loyal fan.

And in Sabathia’s case, a three-month rental might be better than getting him for five years. The lefty is as enormously talented as he is enormous. He’s listed at 290, but looking at him, you have to figure that’s only because the scale didn’t go any higher. And guys that big are adding the strain of carrying all that excess avoirdupois to the strain of pitching. Sabathia is not the kind of guy you’re going to feel secure about for a five-year deal.

But if he’s got three months to show the rest of baseball how much he’ll be worth for the next five years, you have to feel delighted. Sabathia threw 241 innings last season, which is a huge total in these pitch-count days. He’s going to give Milwaukee – and the scouts – everything he has.

Of course, his arm could go sproing or his back could go out or he could pull a muscle carrying his tray back from the buffet table. But bad things can happen to any player. And this is the guy who the Brewers believe can get them over the top.

Milwaukee’s rotation is led by Sheets, who’s 10-2 with a 2.77 ERA. Backing him up is Manny Parra, who’s 8-2 with a 3.69. But after those two you find Jeff Suppan, a good fourth or fifth starter who will eat up innings and win about as many as he loses, but not the third cog in a great rotation.

Now, the Brewers have three guys who could be No. 1 starters on most teams. If they can get to the playoffs, a rotation like that can drag them to the World Series.

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They’re giving up LaPorta and probably will add another top prospect once the player-to-be-named later is identified. That’s a big part of their future. And if the Yankees were making the same deal, you might suggest they stop and think about what they’ve giving up.

But in New York, there are always other ways to fill needs because of that bottomless pot of gold the team has to spend. In New York, there is always a future.

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In Milwaukee in 2008, there is no next year. The team has already resigned itself to the fact that Sheets and Fielder will be gone by 2009. And if they’re gone, LaPorta isn’t going to help.

So for the Brewers, it’s now or another generation. After years of being satisfied with mediocrity, the team’s management has decided to grab for the brass ring. They sold the farm for a rent-a-starter. I wouldn’t advise it for every team, but for Milwaukee, it’s a great move. It’s the only chance they have.

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