Well, it happened. It had to, really.

The Brewers put up a good fight, apparently even better than was reported. In the end, though, the Yankee's just weren't going to be denied. There doesn't seem to be a lot of shock amongst Brewer fans, even though many reports that came out yesterday made it sound like the Brewers had moved toward the front of the line in the pursuit of CC. Part of that is because it was largely accepted at the time of the trade that Sabathia was nothing more than a rent-a-player, though even the most sober of analysts toyed with scenarios where it might be possible to keep him past 2008. Deep down, I think just about everyone knew it was too good to last.

The question moving forward is, what to do next? Thus far, the Brewers have limited their off-season moves to picking up minor leaguers and signing cheap role players like Jorge Julio, Todd Coffey and Mike Lamb. While the Brewers were waiting to hear from CC they had to minimize the kind of commitments they were getting into, which actually goes a long way towards demonstrating the kind of constricting effect his salary would have had on their ability to make moves to improve the team. Now that is out of the way and the team is apparently going full steam ahead in their search for a closer.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a Jayson Stark column where he talked about the glut of closers on both the free agent and trade market this off-season. Since then, Fransisco Rodriguez signed a 3 year deal for 37 million, though there was speculation he was looking for 5 plus years at 15 million per year coming off his record setting season. Now Kerry Wood seems on the brink of signing a deal with the Indians that is much lower than what he was looking for with the Cubs before they let him go. So the price for the closer market seems to be falling into line with the notion that there is more supply than demand. It is important that Melvin take this into account in his dealings with the agents for these guys, and that he doesn't overpay. If that means walking away from a few guys before finding the right deal, so be it. Closer is one place the Brewers shouldn't overpay, pretty much ever but especially this year.

At this point the number one priority for Melvin probably should be building the depth of the starting rotation anyway, not trying to find a closer. Seth McClung is currently the only player on the roster who could reasonably fill the last spot in the rotation, and he is probably better served by being used in the bullpen, possibly as a closer should his performance warrant it. In this day and age, teams really need at least 6 and really 7 credible starting options. There are rumors that the Brewers are talking to Chris Capuano's agent about possibly coming back on a reduced deal, which would provide some depth later in the year at a reasonable price. That shouldn't be the first option, though.

The most important general rule right now for the Brewers is that they don't go out and try to make up for the disappointment of losing CC by overpaying (either in dollars or players) to improve the roster by adding a splashy name. Every GM and agent out there is going to be looking at the Brewers right now knowing that they might be under some added pressure to do something, and as a result they're probably not going to step forth with their best offer very easily. Caution is important when dealing with major roster decisions anyway, and it's especially important right now.