Melvin: Recent play encouraged him to make the deal. Make sure we have the best opportunity to make the postseason. This doesn't get done without all the people helping us put fans in the seats.
Message for LaPorta last night, spoke to him this morning, really hard giving him up. Wish I knew how to quit you.
Having the confidence in Jack, Dick, and Reid allowed us to do this. If we didn't have other projects in the wings, this deal probably wouldn't have been done.
Biggest deal I've done at the trade deadline. Puts us in a position to realize our beginning of the season goal.
Gord and I worked on the deal the past 3-4 days, didn't see much of game yesterday to finish the deal.
The Indians are getting a very good young player.
Mark Attansio allowing us to make this deal and move forward is huge. Sometimes these deals can be delayed because of ownership, but he has shown us confidence to make this deal.
Attansio: I feel great, not only for CC, but everything to this point. There are more than 25 guys, probably 35 guys between Milwaukee and Nashville to get to the playoffs.
Ned and his staff are the unsung heroes. Jim Skaalen's birthday was yesterday, and he's gangsta.
It has been weeks since they came to me, but Melvin was the spearhead for the trade. They are very good at looking to improve both clubs in a trade, going back to the Carlos Lee trade with the White Sox.
If we didn't have a deep farm system, we couldn't have done this. This is a calculated risk.
We are giving up a terrific player who would have been here for six years, but the farm system depth enabled this risk.
The business side, it's a great experience to come to the park, unique sponsorships provide the dollars to make this trade.
The fans have been wonderful, 9th or 10th in attendance, they put us in a position to make this move. We want to give back.
Schlesinger: We will have CC t-shirts for tonight. "CC surge" already in force. Sales goals have been increased.
It is very exciting of getting a player of this caliber, extra energy all around, I see dollar signs.
Melvin: I talked to CC last night, doesn't want days at home, wants to be in dugout tonight. It's very encouraging. He knows a few of our players, Riske, who said there's a guy in Cleveland that may be available. I can only listen because of tampering.
(taking questions)
We plan on him pitching tomorrow & Sunday.
We all want the drought to end. We're going for it, but a lot of baseball left. We don't want to just sit back, that's not the way it happens. A huge boost to the fans, maybe they never thought this type of thing could happen.
Don't want to get into the PTBNL list. Couple of dates for decision on PTBNL.
We didn't feel the Plan B pitching list was going to take us to a level we wanted to be at. Other clubs got involved, we knew from day one it would cost us a premium player. I wasn't going to short change Shapiro or wiggle with lesser players, aggressive from day one. He was holding the cards, so we had to expand the deal to a certain level.
Matt was an untouchable a few weeks ago. We have some very talented players at Huntsville.
Attanasio: I just was looking at what was right and best for the team at this moment. Sacrifice for the future.
Melvin: I told CC yesterday to come here and have fun, enjoy being a Brewer, worry about the end of the year at the end of the year. Most players in July are going to be rentals, same thing about the Carlos Lee trade to Texas. Our focus is the rest of the season.
I'm always looking, always happy. Chuckles. The biggest thing from here on until the end of the year is injury. We've been fortunate we have only lost Gallardo, too early to say if he can return this season.
We're trying to get four starts out of him before the break. Chuckles. It's nice to know that he and Sheets going into a three game series. It is a lot more comforting with both there.
First talked with Shapiro 2-3 weeks ago, be respectful about other teams' suckitude. We were through this with Lee to Texas trade, had to make a decision. Indians have a ton of injuries, very unfortunate. We had to be prepared.
I have a lot of confidence in Jack and his staff in the player development field. If LaPorta were still in Single A, he wouldn't be the prospect he would be considered today. We still have many good players in the minors, some may be here in September.
No roster move yet.
Obviously Sheets' situation came into mind, I'll worry about next year at the end of this season. I know you need pitching depth at the end of the season. Moreso now than next year.
Attanasio: I thought of us as buyers since I've come in. I was taken aback at first about the possibility of a trade for Sabathia. Every now and then you have to be a seller to be smart, like Cleveland is doing right now. Top to bottom I think this organization is focused on winning, and so is the city.
Melvin: We're going for it, that's the mentality we want, can't worry about other teams. The fans want this.
Attanasio: Targets for payroll are interesting, you don't want to lock in on a target. Could go up to $90mm, never had that number in mind years ago. Numbers sometimes dictate your actions, must do what's smart for the franchise. We don't have anywhere near that kind of money, might be at a loss this year, but it's because of the fans we can do it.
We have clever financial guys, we can make it work. We have been prudent financially and player-wise, so we can do this.
Melvin: 3-4 days of haggling to get it done.
Always risk with any trade, risk involved with him not in rotation, more risk involved not having Sabathia. LaPorta is going to be a good big league player, I have no doubt about it.
We did have a scout watching his last three starts just to prevent a glaring injury.
I felt we needed the extra piece.
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The questions are getting redundant and I need to go. Enjoy my two readers, enjoy!
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