The Brewers took their shot, but they couldn’t compete with the big dollars that lured CC Sabathia to the Big Apple.

Sabathia spurned what would have been a club record-shattering contract offer from the Brewers and instead set the new gold standard for Major League pitchers when he agreed Wednesday morning to sign with the New York Yankees.

Sabathia’s agent, Greg Genske, informed Brewers general manager Doug Melvin via telephone early Wednesday morning that while, “there are a lot of things to do yet, it looks like it’s going to take place.”

Sabathia will earn $160 million over seven years, blowing away the Brewers’ initial proposal of five years and $100 million.

“Once the Yankees got involved, we knew what we were up against,” Melvin said. “We were hoping that maybe we were close enough that [Sabathia] might have reconsidered, but he got a very good deal. That would have been hard for him to walk away from.”

Melvin, who made the only other known offer to Sabathia, woke up in the middle of the night and saw the news scroll across the bottom of the television screen. A few hours later, he received the call from Genske.

Melvin confirmed that the Brewers made a five-year offer to Sabathia for about $100 million, and said he had “considered” adding a sixth year to the offer. The Brewers never formally made that offer, but on Tuesday were trying to set up another meeting with Sabathia’s representatives.

In the end, given the disparity between offers from the Brewers and Yankees, “the sixth year wouldn’t have made a difference,” Melvin said.

Melvin said the Brewers were also considering Sabathia’s request for an opt-out clause that would have allowed him to be a free agent after the first three years of the deal. Sabathia reportedly got a similar clause from the Yankees.

“We knew they were going to ask for that,” Melvin said.

When news came of the agreement between Sabathia and the Yankees, Melvin knew why Genske never responded to the request for another meeting.

“When players get to free agency, we know the chances of keeping these guys are slim,” Melvin said. “But we also made a very substantial offer to a special player. It wasn’t enough.

“We were happy for CC because that’s a pretty good deal, and the Yankees got themselves a pretty good pitcher. We had a good time with CC during the summer. He brought a lot of fun to our organization and our city, and that’s the way we feel about it.”

Melvin knew the Brewers couldn’t offer the kind of dough Yanks GM Brian Cashman was putting on the table, but he was banking that Sabathia’s second-half experience in Milwaukee would play a role in luring him back. Sabathia was 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts after a July trade from Cleveland and helped pitch Milwaukee to the postseason for the first time in 26 years.

The Brewers’ offer to Sabathia was by far the richest extended by the franchise. Jeff Suppan’s four-year, $42 million contract is the biggest in club history for a free agent, and it was the richest in team history before Ryan Braun inked a seven-year extension in May that will pay between $45 million-$51 million.

Now the Brewers must shift their focus to other available arms. Melvin has been clear that Sabathia was a “special case,” and the Brewers do not intend simply to shift the money they would have spent on Sabathia to another top free-agent pitcher. That means they instead will have to kick the tires on lower-priced free agents or part with one of their young hitters in a trade.

“At least we know now,” Melvin said. “We’ll take a look and see what pitching there is [available] and we’ll make a determination if we can get any of these guys.”

Today, Milwaukee could put together a rotation of right-handers Yovani Gallardo, Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan and Seth McClung and left-hander Manny Parra with little depth beyond that to guard against injuries unless the team is willing to move Carlos Villanueva back to the rotation. A club official said Tuesday that Villanueva is not completely out of the question if such a move becomes necessary, but that would open yet another hole in what today is a thin bullpen.

Sabathia, 28, had control of the free-agent market thanks to his fabulous second half in Milwaukee and a long track record of durability. He made starting on three days’ rest a routine over the final two weeks of the 2008 regular season, pitching a complete game to beat the Cubs in the regular-season finale to position Milwaukee to win the National League Wild Card. It was the team’s first postseason trip since 1982.

The Brewers were bounced by the eventual World Series champion Phillies in the National League Division Series, but Milwaukee officials never regretted the decision to part with four prospects — including top hitter Matt LaPorta — to land Sabathia in a July 7 trade. Sabathia completed seven of his 17 Brewers starts, including three shutouts.

Including his first half in Cleveland, Sabathia was 17-10 with a 2.70 ERA in 2008. He led Major League Baseball with 35 starts and 253 innings, ranked second with 251 strikeouts and tied for fourth among starters with a 1.11 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched).

For Sabathia, it was a solid follow-up to 2007, when he went 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA in Cleveland and won the American League Cy Young Award. In eight big league seasons since his 2001 debut, Sabathia is 117-73 with a 3.66 ERA in 254 starts. He has only been on the disabled list twice, both times with a strained right oblique muscle.

Hookscenter.com wire report (McCalvy).