Sabathia trade proves Brewers serious about contending

Sure, acquiring ace pitcher CC Sabathia for what might amount to a three-month rental is a gamble.

Then again, it's a gamble each time Ben Sheets simply walks from the clubhouse to his car, given his medical dossier. Look out, Ben! Don't trip over that craaaaaate! Aaaarrrgh!

'I'd say we're going for it,' Doug Melvin says. (AP)

For the past 26 dry and laborious seasons, since that wild 1982 World Series ride, the simple act of waking up each morning has been a gamble if you're the Brewers.

A 13-0 start in 1987 is equalized by a 12-game losing streak later to put the ho-hum in another season. Once-promising starter Ben McDonald becomes a walking ice pack. The All-Star Game's arrival coincides with that of a massive thunderstorm, new Miller Park embarrassingly leaks like a sieve during the Home Run Derby and the game humiliatingly ends in a tie.

Ground balls devour Ryan Braun at third base in the final week of 2007 as the club blows its best postseason chance in 15 years.

So what's one more roll of the dice?

Particularly when, for once, the odds actually are stacked in Milwaukee's favor?

Believe it. There aren't many times in this game when you can say this with certainty, but this was the right deal at the right time in the right place.

If the Brewers, with a deep, sturdy foundation and a history of rolling over for a belly scratch, were ever going to make a bold, distinctive move, this was the one they had to make.

They're loaded with position players just entering their prime. They're growing more prospects in their fertile farm system than Chiquita is bananas. They have what it takes to compete with the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis in the NL Central.

And -- this is key here -- the NL West is taking its dinner out of Alpo cans this summer.

So the Brewers have two different and very attainable ways of winning this year: Either by taking their division, or the NL wild-card slot.

You can eliminate the dogs in the NL West from the wild-card pack right now. Which leaves Florida and the New York Mets (or Philadelphia, if the Phillies slip) as the realistic wild-card competitors with the Brewers and Cardinals (or the Cubs, if Chicago slips).