Joined: 10 Aug 2006
Posts: 788
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:59 pm Post subject: Suppan to the Brewers
Sorry, David.
Quote:
Jeff Suppan-S-Cardinals Dec. 24 - 4:04 pm et
The Brewers and free agent Jeff Suppan have agreed to a four-year, $42 million contract, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Agent Scott Leventhal confirmed the deal, which includes an option for a fifth year. "The city was right, the team was right and the deal was right," he said. "It worked for 'Soup' and (wife) Dana on all three levels." Since he made the right choice to stay in the NL, Suppan figures to remain a solid pitcher. Still, there's little chance of him justifying this kind of salary. His peripherals seem to get a little weaker every year, and he finished last year with a 1.45 WHIP.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Joined: 10 Aug 2006
Posts: 788
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:09 pm Post subject:
More.
Quote:
Jeff Suppan-S-Brewers Dec. 24 - 5:31 pm et
Brewers agreed to terms with RHP Jeff Suppan, who had been with the Cardinals, on a four-year, $42 million contract with a club option for 2011. A contract that was impossible to envision when Suppan's ERA was over 5.00 for the majority of last season. Suppan is durable, but he still fell short of 200 innings in each of his three seasons in St. Louis. Last year, he gave up 100 runs and struck out 104 batters in 190 innings. The Brewers are committing an awfully big chunk of their payroll to a guy who might not be anything more than a fourth starter. Still, while we'd like to argue that the money would have been better spent on a center fielder, it's not like the guys in the same price range -- Juan Pierre and Gary Matthews Jr. -- were better investments.
The Brewers are gambling a ton of money here. Bad decision in my opinion. Hard to believe this is the same Brewers team who traded Doug Davis to the Diamondbacks. There was talk at the time that they weren't sure they could resign him when he became a free agent next year. They could have if they really wanted to do so as the contract they agreed to with Suppan indicates. Maybe they really wanted Estrada badly, and maybe they don't rate Davis all that highly.
Before the playoffs, Suppan was the one Cardinals pitcher that they were going to pursue.... but he priced himself out of St. Louis during the post season.
It's way too expensive a price to pay for a league average pitcher. He's a good guy (and better gamble than Russ Ortiz was), but not worth this kind of money.
_________________
Old School Reviews
This is an interesting signing on so many levels. As Tucson Dback fan points out, they could have kept Doug Davis at that price, so it's a matter of them liking Suppan better. There's really not a lot in Sup's peripherals to get excited about (but he's always been a Brewer killer, so at least he won't be pitching against them for a few years), so the consensus in the organization must have been that Davis had peaked, and his downhill might be fairly steep.
It helps the rotation definitely, and probably hurts the rotation of the team they're trying to catch (the Cards), but does it help it $10+ M a year worth? I guess four years from now $10 M for a third or fourth starter might not look too bad. But four years from now Suppan's K's might fall off the table and his WHIP might go through the roof.
It'll probably force St Louis to seriously consider keeping Mulder, which should be good news to Dback fans.
I guess I'm ok with this. The Brewers had the money now to go out and improve the team and there really weren't a whole lot of starting pitching options out there. While you can argue the degree to which Suppan makes Milwaukee's starting pitching better, it does indeed improve it. And even if the signing is a bust, I don't think the Brewers will be financially crippled by it.
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