You don't have to tell me that CC Sabathia is a terrific pitcher.  For years, he tormented the Chicago White Sox, piling up a 14-2 record against them as a member of the Cleveland Indians.  From there, he  put the Milwaukee Brewers on his husky shoulders and carried them into the playoffs for the first time since 1982.  I live in and around Milwaukee and witnessed it for myself.   He's a gamer, a stopper, a true big time pitcher, no question.

The question is could he help the Chicago White Sox?

That's right, Yahoo's Tim Brown reports that the Sox may be trying to pare some payroll to be able to bring Sabathia under the tent.

Wow.  But how and who? 

Nick Swisher for starters.  Hopefully Javy Vazquez.  Possibly Bobby Jenks, although I don't endorse it.  Paul Konerko or Jermaine Dye if the Sox can find a buyer.  After that, there are few if any moves Kenny can make.  And you wonder, is it worth it?

The Sox already have at least three solid starters in Mark Buehrle, John Danks and Gavin Floyd.  Javy Vazquez eats innings but has some character flaws that cause him to dropkick big games.  Clayton Richard, a rookie in 2008 will most likely be the fifth starter in 2009 if the Sox don't sign a veteran. You can take out a fork and poke Jose Contreras, because given his age and injury a return to pitching, let alone pitching well enough to win consistently is probably out of the question.  Especially when you consider that coming back from leg injuries in pitchers usually causes arm injuries.

So all of this begs the question, is Sabathia worth it?  From the standpoint of being able to put up a lot of innings and win a lot of games, absolutely.  Can you imagine a Sox rotation of Buehrle, Danks, Floyd, Richard and Sabathia, with Floyd being the only righty?  You'd have to use your righty platoon players 80% of the time against the Sox.  And, with Sabathia and Buehrle's ability to get into the eigth inning, it would be less taxing on your bullpen's arms like Scott Linebrink and Octavio Dotel. 

Add to all of this the fact that Sabathia is a great clubhouse guy and you have the makings of something very interesting.  It's a Sox fans fantasy.

I cannot imagine the Sox shelling out $140 million for five years of Sabathia.  It goes against everything Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf stands for.  It's a pitcher.  It's a long term contract.  It's a pitcher.  It's way over market value.  It's a pitcher.  Reinsdorf would just assume sell his world series final out baseball to Lou Piniella than tick off his fellow owners.

Even if Sabathia is willing to take less, he's probably not on the Sox financial radar unless there is a drastic reduction.  Are the Sox willing to give up power for pitching? 

And, in case you haven't heard, the player's union is encouraging Sabathia to sell himself to the highest bidder to drive player values back up.  The question remains if he wants to pitch for the Yankees.  In a perfect world, he'd re-sign with the Brewers with whom he enjoyed playing.  However in the baseball world, he most likely will wind up in Yankee pinstripes or Dodger blue.

In the end, although it would be intriguing, I would be shocked if it happened.  Of course, one never knows with Kenny Williams, do they?