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Will Sabathia be worth the weight?
And here I thought the state of Wisconsin only had one professional football team. But since a recent trade, the Milwaukee Brewers are now better suited to run an iso [football term] up the middle than hit a line drive up the middle.
With today's blockbuster acquisition of left-handed ace C.C. Sabathia from the Cleveland Indians, the Brewers have announced to everyone their intentions to win the National League Central.
Sabathia is a serious acquisition and will be the most important piece added during the upcoming trade deadline. His 6-8 record (3.83 ERA) doesn't exactly dazzle, but remember that Sabathia is 5-3 with a 2.14 ERA and a league-leading 86 strikeouts since May 9.
Too bad the hapless Indians just couldn't score -- they scored two runs or less in 11 of his 18 starts there -- though I don't think that'll be a problem in Milwaukee.
Enter Sabathia's linemate -- first baseman/left guard Prince Fielder. Just for the record, I think I'd play the 6-foot-7, 290-pound Sabathia at left tackle. With his height, he'd definitely have more success with defensive ends and protecting his quarterback's blind side. Fielder (5'11, 270) just looks like a guard to me.
Too bad for the eight-inch height difference, otherwise we'd have exact replicas of each other. They look a lot alike: Fielder ... Sabathia.
Fielder's numbers (16 homers, 45 RBIs) are off of his pace from a year ago (50 homers, 119 RBIs), but I think that Sabathia's presence will jump start a season that at this point still doesn't need a whole lot of jump starting. It's not as though he's hitting .210.
But what the Sabathia trade does for Milwaukee is that it makes the 1-4 sacrifice bunt about the scariest play that can happen on a baseball field. Five hundred and sixty pounds of man barreling down on one baseball pushed to the right side. Ugh.
Another quick baseball note ... Chantilly graduate (2000) Joe Koshansky hit his first career homer on Saturday. Koshansky, a power-hitting first baseman, was called up by the Colorado Rockies on Friday after the team placed Todd Helton on the 15-day disabled list.
In the second inning of an eventual 12-6 win over the Florida Marlins, Koshansky drilled a pitch from Florida's Ryan Tucker an estimated 465 feet to center.
Hopefully I'll have something together on this for Wednesday's paper, but Koshansky is yet another pro ballplayer -- in addition to Los Angeles Angels left-hander Joe Saunders, Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Shawn Camp and Boston Red Sox lefty Javier Lopez -- that is from Fairfax County and has found success at the highest level.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Koshansky was hitting .281 with 18 home runs and 78 RBIs in 82 games for Colorado's Triple-A affiliate, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.
This blog is solely the opinion of the author and does not reflect the opinions of The Fairfax County Times. Blogs and the comments associated with them are not edited. Please click the Report Offensive Content link found on a blog or comment if you feel it should be brought to the attention of site moderators.
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