Brewers talking with Jeff Suppan

[AJAY]

This was a little note in the USA Today . . .

Free agent starter Jeff Suppan has at least one offer on the table, but agent Scott Leventhal said they are still talking with the San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Mets.

 

I don't know how much Suppan would cost, but it would be awesome if we never had to face him again. That would be good for about 4-5 wins alone.

[pogokat]

if he signs for anything less than 4/ 40 million, then he got robbed in this market...

 

i wouldn't give him more than i would give doug davis...so i think 3/22-24 is the absolute max i'd go with suppan...

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm sooooo temmmmppttteddd....

 

Please someone tell me why I want to pay this man so much money....

 

There's just something about him that screams to me "Exactly the arm that solidifies the Milwaukee Brewer starting rotation"....

 

I know he's a little pricey, but I feel like a kid in the shoe store, asking for the cool shoes, not the ones that will wear longer --

 

"It only costs a little bit more, come onnnnn....Please!"

[trwi7]

Umm if we actually do sign him and sign him to a long term (4 years or more) big $$$ contract ($32 million or more) then he better post an ERA under 3 for the time he's here.

[AJAY]

I am naturally worried about the price tag, and I also find it interesting that the Cardinals are not making an effort to keep him. Having said that, it would be really nice to add another solid starter. Suppan also brings veteran postseason experience.

 

I agree that this seems like the type of guy who would solidify the rotation. Part of me also would like to steal away some players from our division rivals, especially guys who always give us trouble.

[DHonks]

I would be intrigued by Suppan. He doesn't give up too many homers, his hits/IP aren't terrible. In fact the only real concern I have is that he walks 60-70 per year, which obviously isn't far from Capuano territory. I like that he's been relatively healthy, and for the amount of starts he's made, he hasn't been logging 230 innings every year. He could easily be counted on for 190-210 innings with Ned, as he's much more trusting of his starters than the micro-managing expert LaRussa. Also, his ERA's (and ERA+) have been much better than I would have expected, and not just in the last 3-4 years. He's really been a solid 2 or 3 starter since about 1999.

I think a 3 year $21 million deal might be a steal, with $9-11 million per year being a far better bargain than most of the other signings we've seen. For some reason people have been more enamored with people who have far less production. I think my perceptions of Suppan were wrong, because I assumed as a journeyman that he was no better than a 4 or 5 starter.

[trwi7]

Guy on realgm says the Brewers have a 4 year $38 million offer for Suppan, KC and Pittsburgh have the same offers on the table, NY has 4 years $36 million offer for him and Colorado has a 4 year $40+ million offer for him.

 

Take it for what it's worth but that's what he's saying.

[sbrylski]

No thanks, especially at the cost he will demand.

 

Vargas beat him on K/9 and BB/9 over the past two years, and had a better WHIP last year.

[Foofty]

" Vargas beat him on K/9 and BB/9 over the past two years, and had a better WHIP last year. "

 

there is more to baseball than stats... If the opposing line up looks at who's to be the expected SP for that game and they see J.Suppan, I am 100% sure they will have a little more intimidation going into the game than if they read Vargas... hehe, I bet some of the younger players are going to say... who?

[dadofandrew]

Suppan has been the guy I would have chased from Day 1. He's not a stud, but he gives you 180+ innings annually. He's a guy that will rarely shut you down, but rarely get knocked out before the 6th.

 

I'd go get him. He's worth more than Lilly & Meche, and since he's not a hard thrower, his decline should be minimal.

[AJAY]

Assuming those reports on RealGM are legit, the Brewers are going to have to increase their offer if they really want him. Suppan would probably be better off going to the Mets and being in a pitcher's park with a contending team instead of coming here.

 

There is no incentive to come to Milwaukee based on those figures.

[Rickie23Weeks]

get him...perfect rotation

 

Sheets

Capuano

Bush

Suppan

Vargas

 

then in emergency

 

Villanueva

Gallardo

 

that is a lot better depth than we had last year by far!

[Rickie23Weeks]

or a CF

[1992casey]

I'm having a hard time coping with $40 million for 'average', but I guess that's the going rate. One thing I see is that his numbers from year to year don't vary by much, so I guess we can consider predictability an asset.

[DHonks]

There is no incentive to come to Milwaukee based on those figures

 

AJAY, I was thinking they meant the Yankees, not the Mets, but I guess both need pitchers. If the difference is $2 million, that's a lot. Wisconsin has very high property taxes, but remember they also do not have very high income or sales taxes. The $2 million more to come to Milwaukee may actually be more like $5 million over the life of the contract, unless you factor in his playoff shares as a Yankee/Met. He's never had that huge contract, so there's a good chance he may go to the highest bidder. I would think he's smart enough to avoid Colorado.

[BREWCREW5]

the other benefit to signing him would be that we would no longer be looking for a starter for either Mench or Jenkins. We might be able to get a couple of nice relievers and some prospects. Get some. Pay the man. Mark A., open up the wallet.

[trwi7]

Well the past 4 years at Miller Park Suppan has pitched 51 innings with an ERA of 1.76 and WHIP of 1.02. Now the Brewers have to decide if he loves pitching at Miller Park or if he just loves pitching against the Brewers.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[DHonks]

To be honest, I would think our rotation would suddenly change a lot. It's debatable where Suppan would slot, however, the case could be made that he'd be our #2 all the way to our #4.

 

I would think that on paper (perhaps not in practice), our rotation would suddenly feature a #1, 2 #2/3's, a #3/4 (Bush), and a #4/5 (Vargas).

 

Additionally, signing Suppan would cause a dramatic shift in the depth, as suddenly we'd have Villanueva as the emergency option, with Jackson and Gallardo as the potential impact callups. The problem without Suppan is that if Villanueva struggles, then we are turning to Jackson, who showed little other than poise. That would in turn likely lead to us promoting Gallardo too soon.

 

Suppan makes a lot of sense for us, and I hope something will happen soon. I figure he could sign by Monday, as he's in demand, and likely will want to be introduced by Christmas, which means by next Thurs.

[trwi7]

I could understand it but damn if we sign him I hope he's not our $10 million puzzle piece.

 

I would like the depth though.

 

Sheets

Capuano

Suppan

Bush

Vargas

------------------

Villanueva

Gallardo

Jackson

[Klements Bratwurst]

I really like the idea that Melvin has been talking to him. He is a solid veteran that has started 30+ games all the way back to the 1999 season. He is not an overpowering guy as has been stated, but the kind of guy that seems to have the right intangibles to win.

 

What I think is interesting is that he is a pitcher that has blossomed later in his career kind of like his St. Louis counterpart in Chris Carpenter. By no way do I say that he is as good as Carpenter, but he is a solid #3, maybe a #2 on the Brewers.

 

Take a look at the stats of Carpenter and Suppan

 

Chris Carpenter

 

Jeff Suppan

 

Both of these pitchers seemed to have the best years over the last three years since joining the Cardinals. Obviously, they were playing with good teams, but statistically speaking, it is as if they both figured out how to get it done on the major league level more consistently. It is kind of like they both came out of nowhere and became some of the better pitchers in the NL.

 

Now with all of this said, plugging him into our rotation would make me extremely excited for the 2007 season. We would have a veteran pitcher with playoff experience on the team, that would improve the #3 spot in our rotation from the 2006 Doug Davis version. If he is slotted for #4 behind Dave Bush, he would be a huge upgrade of Tomo Ohka from last year.

 

Bottom line- In my opinion, a signing of Suppan, could greatly help our chances at competing for the division this year. Plus as DHonks stated, it opens up more trade possibilities to unload Mench/Jenkins/Clark for bullpen arms or a cheaper righthanded platoon partner for whomever is leftover in the outfield either Jenks or more likely Gross.

[Frisbee Slider]

Suppan is 6-1 against the Brewers since 2004.

 

At Miller Park: 1.29 ERA in six starts (since '04).

 

This free agent market is crazy, so I guess I would be indifferent to the signing. In a world without money, Suppan would make the team better, though.

 

Sheets

Capuano

Suppan

Bush

Villanueva (deserves the # 5 spot)

 

-------

Vargas

Gallardo

Jackson

[valpocrewsader]

Quote:

---

get him...perfect rotation

 

Sheets

Capuano

Bush

Suppan

Vargas

 

then in emergency

 

Villanueva

Gallardo

 

that is a lot better depth than we had last year by far!

---

 

Hmm, I gotta disagree with that. I think even with a Suppan signing, our depth at SP is still worse than last year. Last year we came into the year with Sheets-Davis-Cappy-Ohka-Bush and a pretty solid 6th man in Helling, followed by Eveland, Hendrickson, De La Rosa, and Jackson. I'd say that a rotation of Sheets-Cappy-Suppan-Bush-Vargas with a 6th man of Villanueva followed by Jackson (too soon for Yo) is a bit worse. Not that it's a bad way to go into '07, but we were "hooked up phat" when we came into '06 with a ton of SP depth.

 

The young arms will be a year older, but that's about all you can say about depth increasing for next year. So yeah, in my opinion, signing Suppan doesn't make our depth any better than last year, but it sure would make our depth better than it is right now.

[PeaveyFury]

Not that it's a bad way to go into '07, but we were "hooked up phat" when we came into '06 with a ton of SP depth.

 

Having bodies there does not equal depth. Having Hendrickson, Eveland, de la Rosa, and even Jackson at that point didn't provide depth, it provided struggles and losses.

 

Helling is a bit of another story, but counting on him to stay healthy after a fluke-ish 2005 was probably not a good idea, and didn't really provide any depth at all in 2006. I think we're a ton better off with CV as our backup than Helling ten times out of ten.

[valpocrewsader]

If our 6-10 coming into 2006 was...

 

Helling

Hendrickson

Eveland

De La Rosa

Jackson

 

And -- with a Suppan or other SP signing -- our 6-10 going into 2007 is....

 

Villy

Jackson

Sarfate?

Hendrickson

Yo?

 

...I can't agree we'd be deeper in 2007. I'm super excited about Villanueva, but for a #6 innings eater, I like Helling's status coming into 2006 better. Hendrickson, we assumed, had to finally click in the Majors and bring his good stats with him, a pretty solid #7. Eveland had some solid big league experience from 2005, a perfectly fine #8. Some were just itching to give Jorge a shot at a start -- great stuff and maybe RP just wasn't a good fit -- not a bad option. Folks were saying Jackson was moments away from being a major league starter when he came over from Toronto ... not bad for the 5th-best emergency fill option.

 

Conversely, even with the Crew signing an SP, we'd have someone mostly unproven as our #1 fill-in (but like I said, I'm excited about him). Our seventh man would be our tenth man from the year before. I can't really comment on Sarfate, but most are of the opinion that he should stick to RP as a Brewer. Then Hendrickson at number 9, someone that pretty much no one here wants getting the ball again. And a guy who would need to be rushed below that?

 

It's really not a huge deal one way or another, I just couldn't understand the opinion that a Suppan signing made us deeper than (or far better than, as said) ... or even as good as ... how we looked entering 2006. Not with Hendrickson being proven worthless; Eveland gone; JDLR getting his chance, failing, and leaving town. Vargas plus a FA SP just washed Davis and Ohka. Then, to me, the rest isn't as deep. Different opinions, I guess.

[Nader Raider Tim]

This would be good, signing. Suppan is a quality pitcher, who eats innings. The only real problem that I have with trading Doug Davis is the increase in workload that our bullpen would have to deal with. Suppan is/and should continue to be an innings eater.

 

The other way to look at this deal is that he is proven to be a decent/good pitcher. He may/does not have the upside that a Padilla/Meche, has but he also dosen't have the downside.

 

I really think that Suppan would be a very nice addition. Plus a player like Suppan is likely to keep solid value, making him a very tradable commodity. If the Brewers aren't going to compete they would be able to unload his contract easily and get back value.

 

Suppan is a tru #3-4 starter, and is likely to maintain #3-4 value for the next couple years, baring unforeseen injuries