Sabathia to Brewers for LaPorta and Prospects

It's all but official. Tom Haudricourt, of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has it from an inside source that the Brewers and Indians have exchanged former Cy Young Award winner, C.C. Sabathia for the Brewers top prospect, Matt LaPorta, and two low level minor leaguers, which is likely to include 2007 Milwaukee Minor League Player of the Year, Taylor Green. More information and analysis to come when the deal gets finalized.

Update: The second prospect will not be OFer Lorenzo Cain, who has been mentioned as another candidate earlier. Cain was told to report to Huntsville, the Brewers AA affiliate, in order to take LaPorta's spot on their roster. It has been made perfectly clear that Gamel, Escobar and Salome are still with the team. Look for a press conference to be held tomorrow.

Update 2: It appears that the Brewers have included AAA LHP Zach Jackson and A-ball Rob Bryson. Neither of these two players were even considered to be in the plans of the Brewers for the years to come. Bryson is currently 3-2 with a 4.25 ERA in West Virginia and Jackson is 1-5 with a 7.85 ERA for Nashville. Another player is involved in the deal and is referred to as being a player to be named later. Bryson's numbers are a bit deceiving, but he does carry a 1.15 WHIP and a 73/20 K/BB ratio. Rumblings continue to suggest the Indians want to look at Taylor Green some more and are considering moving him from third to second. I'll let you know what I find out, but at this point the Brewers appear to have made a steal as far as which prospects they have given up after LaPorta.

Update 3: There's been quite a bit of speculation regarding who the PTBNL will be. Taylor Green's agent, who runs a blog of his own, has been told that Taylor has not been moved yet, but that cold change any time. My guess is that the player will likely be a conditional acquisition depending on how well Sabathia pitches and where the Brewers end up at the end of the year. A press conference will be held today at 11 AM to announce the trade. Hopefully the final details will be presented then.

Update 4: C.C. Sabathia is reportedly interested in a multi-year deal that would garner him $20-25 million a year, making it practically impossible for the Brewers to resign him. But Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports has indicated that despite the Brewers getting Sabathia so late, they well get two first round draft picks in return, one of which will be in the compensatory round. Therefore, if the Brewers lose Ben Sheets as well, they will have five picks in the first 35, which will be very interesting for the organization.