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Should C.C. take his crooked hat elsewhere?

The Cleveland Indians may win the World Series in 2008, or they may not. What is for sure, however, is that the Tribe will not be willing to pay unrestricted free agent (and oh by the way, Cy Young award winner) C.C. Sabathia the kind of cash that's going to be thrown his way on the free market at the end of the season.

This presents a dilemma for the team that came within one game of the World Series last year: do they keep C.C. the entire season and hope he can be the difference maker on the way to the World Series and then try but surely fail to sign him after that, or, do they see how much they can get for him now, knowing that whoever they get in return will also be available to help the team this year and perhaps for years to come? (There is a third option, trading him at mid-season if they're hopelessly out of the race, but that's not likely and they'd get less for him then than what they can get now.)

Keep in mind that even if Cleveland returns to the post season this year, C.C.'s numbers in the playoffs last year were not Chan Ho Park worthy, much less Cy Young worthy: 1-2 record, 8.80 ERA and 13 walks.

That doesn't mean that he wouldn't do better this year in the playoffs (assuming the Tribe makes it that far), but it could be an indication of things to come. If so, C.C. wouldn't be the first major leaguer to post Hall of Fame numbers in the regular season only to mostly fail in the post season.

If you assume, however, that in return for Sabathia Cleveland can get at least one starting pitcher plus another solid pitching prospect or two, as well as a corner outfielder or third baseman with some pop, and you add these pieces to what the Indians already have, including a deep pitching staff, a very strong case can be made that they'd be just as likely to repeat as Central Division champs as they will if they don't make a trade. Certainly the chances may not be any less, plus they get 3-4 players in return, possibly strengthening the team even more at one position to allow another trade to be made later in the year to acquire a specific need.

When you factor in the risk (or likelihood) of Sabathia getting injured and missing most or all of the year, and then not being able to get nearly as much for him in a trade, or not being able to trade him at all before he becomes a free agent, and the "trade him now" argument becomes stronger still.

Of course it's never easy for a team to trade a popular super star, and I'm not saying I want to see C.C.'s large belly and crooked hat go elsewhere, especially to another American League team (which may well happen if he becomes a free agent), but this is one of those situations where a team can still have just as good a chance to win their division without him, and just as importantly collect a few more good players at the same time, that this dilemma should actually be seen as an opportunity to act.

Take the opportunity, Cleveland. It may not be popular at first, but it's by far a better choice than risk losing him for absolutely nothing in return later.

Tags: cc sabathia, cleveland indians