The Sabathia Trade
I’ll take a bit of a break from reviewing the top 100 prospects to talk about the prospects involved in the big trade. If you’ve been living under a rock, the Indians traded CC Sabathia to the Brewers for OF Matt LaPorta, RHSP Rob Bryson, LHP Zach Jackson and a PTBNL which will almost certainly turn out to Taylor Green. The Indians have generally been one of the better organizations in baseball, so let’s see how they made out on this one!
Rob Bryson may be the most intriguing player in the deal. He has a very good low-mid 90’s fastball sitting in the ~93 range and a decent breaking ball. Scouts suggest that he is very raw, but the dominating production suggests otherwise. Bryson has faced 453 batters in his professional career. The results:
143 K
32 BB
5 HR
All three of those are elite numbers. Bryson is still far from the majors, but if his production and potential continue to match, he could be an excellent grab for the Indians.
Zach Jackson is a name familiar to Jays fans; he was their supplemental 1st round pick in 2004 and was traded to the Brewers in the Overbay deal. He’s done nothing but struggle, striking out very few and being hit all over the park. He’s been moved to the bullpen, so perhaps the Indians see him as a potential fringe reliever or even a LOOGY, but I wouldn’t expect very much from him.
Taylor Green, along with another Brewers prospect Mat Gamel, were both considered for the pre-season top 100 but were left off for similar reasons. Green was a small 3B who wasn’t really a 3B, as he was pretty bad defensively. He’s been moved to 2B, and the Indians want to see how he does there before accepting him as the fourth player in the deal. Offensively, he’s one of those excellent-approach guys with some power. If he can stick at 2B, he should be well above average at the position.
LaPorta is, of course, the real gem of this deal. Consider this his year in review. I had him ranked at #11 before the season started, but he certainly won’t be there next time; he’ll be higher. I’ve loved LaPorta since he was draft-eligible in 2006. Due to signability concerns he dropped and went back to college, where he continued to make baseball look easy. Drafted 7th overall by the Brewers, he continued to do the same thing in pro-ball, with a career 1.011 OPS.
Without taking position into account, I believe LaPorta has the best bat of any prospect in baseball. He really just doesn’t have any weaknesses. With 62 strikeouts and 44 walks in 359 PAs, the plate approach ranks right up there with anybody, and with 45 XBH including 20 HR, the power isn’t exactly a concern.
The Brewers obviously got their money’s worth, but the Indians got a ton here. For a half-season of a player in a non-contending season, the Tribe got one of the absolute top prospects in baseball. If it stopped there it would be a fine deal, but there’s plenty of value to be found in the rest of the prospects as well. Great job by both teams, as usual.
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[…] 11. 1B/OF Matt LaPorta (Cleveland Indians) Year In Review: I’ve already broken down LaPorta’s year here. […]