Acquired OF Michael Brantley (AA) from the Milwaukee Brewers as part of the CC Sabathia trade

When the trade was first made, Mark Shapiro emphasized the PTBNL as a legitimate prospect. Michael Brantley certainly fits that description.

The Brewers drafted Brantley in the 7th round of the 2005 Draft out of high school. Since then, he's moved up the minor-league ladder pretty much on schedule. He spent his third full season entirely at AA Huntsville. 2008 was Brantley's Age 21 season, so he's been young for his levels. 

Good prospects usually have an unusual combination of skills or tools; Brantley's combination is plate discipline and baserunning. He's also consistently been a good average hitter (career .311), which compliments both his walk rates and stolen base rates.  Too often you see a speed guy without the skills to utilize his physical gifts; that hasn't been a problem with Brantley. In 2008, he walked twice as often as he struck out, posted a .398 on-base percentage, and stole bases at a 78% clip. In a Baseball America survey, he was voted both the best baserunner and having the best strike zone judgment in the Southern League. Again, it's the combination of skills that makes him such an intriguing prospect.

Defensively, Brantley has played left field, center field, or first base. I'm pretty confident that he'll be sticking to the outfield from now on. And if he makes it to Cleveland, that means he'll be a left fielder. His routes could improve, but I don't think defense is going to be a major concern for the Indians. He will, however, need to hit for at least gap power along with playing to his current strengths to be an everyday player. He is young enough to expect some power to develop as he enters his mid-20s.

With Matt LaPorta, the Indians got an impact power bat who could be ready in 2009. Brantley could also be ready sometime in 2009, and as an eventual top-of-the-order player.

United States vs. Canada, 10:30 PM (NBC Online)

Some people get all worked up about the Olympics; I can't say I'm one of them, at least not since I was a kid.  I couldn't tell you the first thing about the history of Olympic baseball, although I do know that after this month, Olympic baseball is history.  So my main interest in these games is as a showcase for a few Indians prospects who are participating.

Team USA features Akron OF/1B Matt LaPorta, 23, centerpiece of last month's Sabathia trade and arguably the Indians' top propsect, period.  Team USA also includes Buffalo reliever Jeff Stevens, not quite 25, notorious fruit of the Brandon Phillips trade (not that there's anything wrong with being notorious fruit).  Stevens electrified Indians prospect watchers by striking out 102 in 83 innings last season, earning a spot on the 40-man roster, and he continued at that pace in Akron this season before slowing down somewhat upon his promotion to Buffalo.

Team Canada features Kinston OF Nick Weglarz, 20, an excellent slugger prospect having a fine season against older competition in the Carolina League, probably one of our best five prospects at this point.  Joining Weglarz is Akron reliever T.J. Burton, 25, more of an organizational solider than a serious prospect at this point.

Like the other Olympic sports, baseball will be broadcast sporadically across NBC's confusing network of networks, and many other events are being streamed online at nbcolympics.com in surprisingly high quality.  Here's the schedule of games being broadcast or streamed, featuring Team USA and/or Team Canada:

"The player to be named component is a very important part of the value equation for us ... I know it's hard to get your arms around it when you see that PTBNL in there, but that's an advantage for us that we negotiated, to give us a little more time ... we'd probably have gone in a different direction if that player wasn't included."

If you came here looking for info on Sabathia and LaPorta — see below.

Ryan reported heavy trade talks on Friday night.

Andrew said farewell to C.C. on Sunday morning.

Ryan linked to reports of an imminent deal Sunday afternoon.

I wrote up the basic deal a few hours later.

Ryan summarized the reasons for the deal late last night.

Our buddy The Diatriber posted a nice intro to LaPorta last night.

Despite that little flurry of content, however ... we still don't know quite what to make of this deal, because we don't have all the details.  As of this moment, the Brewers have concluded their press conference and Shapiro is speaking live on TV right now, including the quote above.  We can talk about Sabathia and LaPorta, but we can't really assess this deal until all the players are known.

The talks initially were reported as involving our getting three prospects — one impact guy, one potential impact guy, and another solid prospect from the lower levels, akin to Phillips, Lee and Sizemore from the Colon deal.  It quickly became apparent that that second "potential impact guy" was two much to ask.

The deal then became one major prospect and two other good prospects — and that's where it remained.  But a confusing twist emerged when a fourth player was added to the deal — Triple-A pitcher Zach Jackson — and the insertion of those letters "PTBNL" in place of an actual.

While potentially useful, Jackson is not a prospect, and there is every indication that he is the fourth guy — the throw-in — rather than one of the main three guys who are key to the deal.  And in contrast, the PTBNL, almost always a throw-in, in this case apparently is a significant prospect — reportedly a choice of three prospects that includes 3B/2B Taylor Green, the Brewers' minor league player of the year last season.  So from what we understand ...

THE DEAL IS NOT:

1. Impact prospect OF Matt LaPorta
2. Lower-level prospect RHP Rob Bryson
3. Scrub minor leaguer LHP Zach Jackson
4. Throw-in PTBNL

THE DEAL IS:

1. Impact prospect OF Matt LaPorta
2. Quality prospect PTBNL (such as 3B/2B Green)
3. Lower-level prospect RHP Rob Bryson
4. Throw-in LHP Zach Jackson

LaPorta is comparable to Phillips (as a 2002 prospect).  The PTBNL, as we understand it, may not be at the level of Cliff Lee (2002) but is still a significant talent to add.  Bryson likewise is not quite comparable to Sizemore (2002) but isn't too far off.  Jackson isn't Lee Stevens at all, but the needs were different — at that time, the Expos needed us to take Stevens' contract; at this time, we need another warm body — any warm body — to throw the ball at the plate in Buffalo and possibly Cleveland.

As for the PTBNL, aside from Green, the most commonly cited name is CF Michael Brantley — a potential leadoff hitter who may not have enough pop to make his patience and contact-hitting work in the majors — and RF Lorenzo Cain — a five-tools guy who skipped Double-A but has yet to put up impressive numbers at any level.  None of these names can be reported officially, and the only name that has been reported consistently as being on the Indians' pick list is Green.

As Shapiro acknowledged, this is hard to get a handle on — it is, in a sense, a tremendously clumsy bit of PR, adding insult to Indians fans' injury on already bruising day.  But give Shapiro credit for consistency — ever since the Colon deal, he's always been willing to take a PR black-eye when he thinks he can get better value for the team.  A few voices within the industry are saying they think the Indians could have done better — and that may well be the case.  But it's hard to really make a judgment on that until the Indians pick that second guy, and according to Shapiro, they have a ful two months (the end of the minor league season) to do that.

We'll have more on Bryson and Jackson later today.

Traded LHP CC Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers for 1B/OF Matt LaPorta (AA), two unnamed prospects, and a PTBNL

Trading Sabathia was not a difficult decision to make. Sabathia has been pretty steadfast in his willingness to test the free agent market, and even if the Indians are still interested in signing him, there was no point in keeping him around to pitch for a last-place team when there were impact prospects to be had. The one real advantage to keeping a free agent through the end of the season is that you can get early-round draft picks, but if you're out of the race and the player's good enough, you might as well deal him for a more advanced prospect or three. Keep in mind that Brad Snyder and Adam Miller, the prospects the indians drafted with the compensatory picks from losing Jim Thome, still haven't spent one day on the major-league roster; they were drafted five years ago. 

Those who've followed the Indians know how valuable a pitcher CC Sabathia is. He's always been a durable pitcher (at least 28 starts every season since 2001), but in the past 3-4 seasons, he's become a dominant one. Last season, he refined his command, which did two things: it allowed him to go deeper into games, and upped his strikeout rates. He's a godsend for a team with a shallow bullpen, and makes a team with a good bullpen almost unbeatable on that given day. He's had zero arm problems in his career, and is now well past the injury nexus for young pitchers. Unlike Barry Zito, Sabathia is getting better heading into free agency. Whoever signs him will be getting four or five seasons of the best pitcher in baseball.

But even with such a valuable player to trade, you still have to find a team with both the motivation to deal and the prospects you want. Unlike the Dodgers, who had prospects but other priorities, or Philadelphia, who wanted Sabathia but didn't have the prospects, the Brewers filled both requirements. Brewers GM Doug Melvin has made it perfectly clear that he views 2008 as a real opportunity for his team to win it all. Staff ace and oft-injured Ben Sheets is healthy, but in the last year of his contract. For a small-market team, it's difficult to gather and keep a talented core together, and Melvin has decided to use his deep farm system to win now.

But even a team with a deep system would normally be reluctant to trade a prospect like Matt LaPorta. The Brewers drafted LaPorta in the first round (7th overall) of the 2007 draft, and Matt's done nothing but hit, and hit, and hit. He started his first full professional season in AA Huntsville, and he's put up a .988 OPS with 43 extra-base hits in 296 at-bats. Keep in mind he ended 2007 in the South Atlantic League. The way I see it, he looks like he'll be ready for the majors by early 2009 at the latest. The major reason an advanced hitting prospect like LaPorta was even made available is the logjam ahead of him. The Brewers (and probably the Indians as well) view him as a first baseman, and in the Brewer organization, that means he's blocked by Prince Fielder. The Indians' organization is deep on pitching prospects but very thin in high-level hitting prospects. And there's more of speed bump (Ryan Garko) than a road block at first base. If the Indians feel that LaPorta is really an outfielder, there is effectively nothing preventing him playing in the majors this season.

Now that these crucial pieces were in place, just the details remained in order to complete the deal. The Brewers understandably wanted to finalize the trade as soon as possible in order to get as many starts for Sabathia possible before the end of the year. And with Sabathia due to pitch on Tuesday, Sunday night became a de facto deadline for both teams: for the Indians, to maximize the return on the deal, and for the Brewers, to get two Sabathia starts in before the All-Star Break.

So, in review, how did this trade get done so quickly?

The Indians were committed to trading CC Sabathia

The Brewers were committed to winning now, and had position prospects to trade.

The Indians need position prospects.

Top prospect Matt LaPorta was very close to the majors, but blocked at first base by Prince Fielder.

A de facto deadline of Sunday evening was in place because of Sabathia's pitching schedule.

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal's Tom Haudricourt:

I just spoke with general manager Doug Melvin who told me he's waiting to see if the Cleveland Indians will accept his trade proposal for left-hander C.C. Sabathia.

"Mark said he'd be in touch with me," said Melvin, referring to Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro. "I'm sure they've got to think through everything."

[snip]

Several names have been included in trade rumors involving the Brewers but their offer is thought to center on outfielder Matt LaPorta, their top minor-league prospect. LaPorta, currently playing at Class AA Huntsville, was the Brewers' first-round draft pick in 2007.

[UPDATE]: Buster Olney with more information on the talks:

The Brewers and Indians have had extensive talks about Sabathia, and if a deal is made, it is likely that Double-A outfielder Matt LaPorta, who has 20 homers for Huntsville, would be in the middle of the package sent to Cleveland. According to sources, the Brewers have been reluctant to part with two of their best prospects, preferring the Indians fill out the trade from a group of players not considered to be at LaPorta's level. The Brewers' Double-A team at Huntsville is loaded, from shortstop Alcides Escobar to third baseman Mat Gamel to catcher Angel Salome.

[UPDATE II]: More from Haudricourt (7-6-08):

FYI, nothing new on the C.C. Sabathia front but I get the impression the Brewers are expecting an answer today, one way or the other. If the deal isn’t done today, it would be almost impossible to get two starts out of Sabathia before the all-star break, which is what the Brewers have in mind.

(hat tip: APV)