CLEVELAND - CC Sabathia matured from a teenager who didn't know the basics of pitching to an American League Cy Young Award winner with the Cleveland Indians.

The big left-hander helped the Cleveland Indians get to one game shy of the World Series last year. But a frustrating, injury-marred season prompted the club to deal Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers for prospects on Monday.

The Indians, who have gone from 96 wins in 2007 to last place in the AL Central, will start over without Sabathia.

It'll be a new experience: He was 17 when he signed with the team 10 years ago.

"I remember he didn't know how to grip the baseball or stand on the rubber when we first got him," Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said.

Sabathia departs as the first reigning Cy Young winner to be traded since the Toronto Blue Jays sent Roger Clemens to the New York Yankees after he won the award in 1998.

In exchange, the Indians received four minor leaguers, including power-hitting outfielder/first baseman Matt LaPorta, who's expected to help Cleveland's anemic offense.

LaPorta, a first-round draft pick last year, hit .288 with 20 homers and 66 RBIs in 84 games for Double-A Huntsville. He will report to Double-A Akron.

LaPorta, 23, will play in the Futures Game for Team USA on Sunday.

Cleveland also got 20-year-old Rob Bryson, a Class-A right-hander with a strong arm; and left-hander Zach Jackson, who could help the Indians get through this season.

The Indians have until the end of the season to select the final piece of the deal -- a player to be chosen who isn't just a throw-in. The club has two Brewers minor leaguers to choose from, Shapiro said.

The team that watched Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Albert Belle leave in free agency decided it couldn't do the same thing with Sabathia, the first Cleveland pitcher to win the Cy Young Award since Gaylord Perry in 1972.

Sabathia had turned down the club's offer for a $72 million, four-year extension during spring training.

A first-round draft pick in 1998, he shot through the Indians' minor league system, joining the team's pitching rotation in 2001.

Sabathia compiled a 106-71 record over the last decade as the Indians restocked their rotation with prospects such as Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona.

NOTE: CC Sabathia no longer wants periods after the initials he uses for his first name. From here on out, Carsten Charles Sabathia is just "CC" Sabathia -- not "C.C."

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