And put me firmly on the train of people that aren't sure we should even be considering signing him.
Starting this time last year and throughout the season, the "now or never" philosophy was clearly in play for this team. It was widely known and thoroughly accepted that everything was all about this season - this was the big push and we'll worry about next year later. The implication was that we knew - and were ok with - the fact that we'd be pretty bad in 2009 and would be rebuilding.
Suddenly, that seems to have changed and it's as though people are reneging on the "agreement" we had prior to this season.
So now, we're dropping that plan (and any subsequent moves that may have tied in to that game plan) and we're going to commit an extremely large portion of our salary to a player who ideally wants a 7 or so year contract. CC's at his peak. I think it could be argued that he's not still on his way up. That means in 7 years, he'll be a little more than one his way down. Even if we get 3 or 4 great years, we're talking major money for the long term and I don't believe that's a smart move for this team.
It's unlikely that we'll be able to get CC to lower his price. If we're serious about signing him, we have to get him to agree to a shorter-term contract. They only way I'll agree with any sort of contract, immediately off the bat, is if it's 4 years or less. Any longer than that and we're mortgaging this team at the expense of one guy.
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Ben Sheets should have taught every Brewer fan exactly how common pitcher injuries are. Right now, CCs a low-risk guy, but that can change in an instant. Looks at Gallardo's knee injury. Or Chris Capuano. The Brewers can't risk putting so much of the team's chances in one contract.
I can also understand the argument that if we're going to lay out a considerable amount for a pitcher - which we're going to have to do in order to have a 5 man rotation - then why not get the best? Kyle Lohse just got a contract for $10 million a year. You have to pay for arms, even middle of the road arms. And Sunday should have taught us that paying $10 mil/year on middlin' arms isn't going to cut it, is it Jeff Suppan?
I read elsewhere someone advocating the signing in terms of being able to make CC THE premier athlete in Wisconsin. The Brett Favre void isn't filled and if the Brewers play themselves right, CC can be that personality. The revenue from CC being the state hero could go a way to offsetting his costs.
This will be an ongoing discussion...
