Brewers make offer to Sabathia

Nov 4, 2008 - 4:14 PM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The bidding for CC Sabathia, baseball's most sought-after free agent pitcher, has begun.

The Milwaukee Brewers announced Monday that they have made a formal offer to Sabathia, who helped lead them to their first postseason appearance since 1982.

Terms of the offer were not released, but the Brewers' web site reported that the deal is in the "neighborhood of $100 million."

"We're negotiating," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said. "It's not my responsibility to tell all the other teams what we're offering. There's no benefit to me to do that.

"We said that we've given him a proposal, and there won't be any other comments on length, dollars, anything."

Sabathia went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA over 17 starts for the Brewers, who acquired the former Cy Young Award winner from the Cleveland Indians on July 7.

The hefty southpaw helped lead Milwaukee to the National League wild card and a berth in the NL Division Series, where the Brewers were eliminated in four games by the eventual champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Sabathia has a record of 117-73 over his eight-year career. The 28-year-old won the Cy Young with Cleveland in 2007 after going 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA.

The Brewers have exclusive negotiating rights with Sabathia until November 13.