Last fall, the Cleveland Indians were one win away from the World Series. Nine months later, they have traded 2007 Cy Young Award winner C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Even more surprising than Cleveland’s fall is that Sabathia landed in Milwaukee, the team with the smallest television market in baseball. More often than not, premium pitchers and impact players dealt in July join big-market clubs, often those in New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Yet, Sabathia will hook up with the Brewers, who posted their first winning season in 15 years in 2007.

The game has changed in that time. More teams tend to value their prospects and draft picks. As FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal notes in a piece about today’s trade, prospects = power.

Thanks to Scouting Director Jack Zduriencik, the Brewers have a loaded farm system, which allows them to trade veterans, as they have plenty of young talent to fill holes. Or they can acquire a veteran such as Sabathia with that talent.

It’s widely perceived that the Brewers have no intention of re-signing either staff ace, Sabathia or Ben Sheets, both of whom become free agents at the end of the season. The Brewers would get four top draft picks if both walk. That would be the same approach taken by Milwaukee when it traded three minor league pitchers to the Padres for reliever Scott Linebrink last July, then took the two draft choices when he signed with the White Sox in November.

The cost of acquiring Sabathia wasn’t particularly steep for the Brewers, either. The key player moving to Cleveland is a terrific hitting prospect, Matt LaPorta, who doesn’t have much going for him on the defensive side. Milwaukee’s first-round pick in 2007 is a much better fit for the American League, plus the 23-year-old outfielder would find it hard to break into the Brewers lineup with Ryan Braun and Corey Hart playing the outfield corners.

Making LaPorta the cornerstone of a trade is clearly a case of Milwaukee dealing its surplus. And if Sabathia departs, the Brewers acquire two more draft picks, with Zduriencik prepared to add more assets to an already-rich minor league system.

Even in acquiring Sabathia, the Brewers stand to get richer -- in their case, not in terms of revenue streams, but in stockpiling young talent.