Brewers talking with Jeff Suppan

[Pack87Man]

I just want to add that I would love to get Suppan. I don't know that it's going to kill our payroll flexibility, because the kids won't be getting really expensive until after the deal ends, and in between that, some dollars are coming off the books (Jenkins, Mench). That's why I think the Brewers have the money to do this.

 

 

 

 

 

I also wanted the 500th post on the thread.

[patrickgpe]

what i don't like is Melvin is being more forward about his negotiations that ever before. When he made an offer to Schmidt, nobody knew about it until after he signed with LA. It could mean that he senses that the fans are getting frustrated with the lack of movement, and wants to give us something, even if he is unsuccessful at signing him . It doesn't seem though that this is a token offer, to say you made one though, like has been done in the past.

[Never Outhustled]

I just want to add that I would love to get Suppan. I don't know that it's going to kill our payroll flexibility, because the kids won't be getting really expensive until after the deal ends, and in between that, some dollars are coming off the books (Jenkins, Mench). That's why I think the Brewers have the money to do this.

 

I agree with all of this, and would just like to add that the teams payroll will likely increase $7-14 million next year. That should give the team plenty of flexability to keep the young talent.

[Team Canada]

If the Brewers are willing to put out (theoretically) 4/$40M for the Soup Can, is Zito worth the 4/$65 or whatever he's looking for, and would the Brew Crew be better off going in that direction?

 

I think the $$/value ratio would be much worse for Zito than for Suppan.

[Pack87Man]

I agree with Team Canada. Barry Zito is a #3 in our rotation, just like Jeff Suppan.

[rluzinski]

I agree with all of this, and would just like to add that the teams payroll will likely increase $7-14 million next year.

 

From prior comments by Mark A. I don't know if that can be assumed.

[dpapo]

If Suppan and his agent are going to wait until Zito signs with a team, then it might be a while before we know if Suppan is going to sign with Milwaukee or not.

The following was a quote by Zito in the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

"It's wide open," Zito said. "It's still early, very early; it's not even time for the decision-making process. I'm not just jumping in. I'm waiting for my instincts to kick in."

 

sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...N3O4G1.DTL

[AJAY]

Another interesting little blurb on CNNSI . . .

 

Jeff Suppan's agent, Scott Leventhal, may be right that his client is the best of the second tier of pitchers (those not named Zito or Schmidt). The Mets do like Suppan after he shut them down in the NLCS but he is strictly a backup plan to Zito, and San Francisco appears to be taking a similar approach. Suppan also appears to be strongly considering Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, which may or may not indicate that New York isn't his speed. But Leventhal insisted, "He and his wife Dana love the city. The thought of New York has definitely piqued his interest."

[GAME05]

If I were Suppan I'd wait another month, too, if it meant SF or NYM would jump into the bidding.

 

But I wonder how tight Attanasio's pocketbook will be if he feels at all desperate to bring a better player in and make some sort of splash in this offseason (not counting our new catcher). Maybe he'll be ready to duke it out with another big spender.

 

I'd applaud a Suppan signing. For as good as NL Central lineups have gotten, we'd at least be able to counter with an awesome starting rotation.

[TooLiveBrew]

and, in doing so, adhere to the tried but true "Good pitching beats good hitting"

[danzig6767]

Quote:

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While I don't know the exact level of involvement from Mark A., it's pretty clear to me that it's been increasing over the last 6 months or so. I don't think it's a cooincidence that Melvin pursuing Pierre and Roberts cooincided with Mark A. making public statements about needing more team speed and less strikeouts (something to that effect, at least). Same goes for Mark A. wanting a better bench and Melvin aquiring Counsell.

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Melvin has talked about wanting to lower the team strikeouts quite often since he's been our GM and i do think he likes the thought of adding speed to the lineup.

 

Listening to Melvin over the years,he doesn't strike me as a saber fanatic.I don't doubt he uses available statistical data,but i also see him as a type that still puts value in things like batting average,RBI's,and strikeouts for hitters more than the stat crunchers do.

 

If Billy Beane was the GM i might buy that our owner was pressuring Melvin to do things like lower the strikeouts or add speed.I've just heard Melvin allude to things like lowering K's to many times for me to think he doesn't believe it isn't important.

[endaround]

Given that is the past Melvin has gone out of his way to acquire high K players (Branyan anyone?) I doubt Melvin ever really cared. And I highly doubt he cares about RBIs at all.

[Invader3K]

Did he really "go out of his way" to acquire Branyan? I figured that was more of a "we can't afford anything more than gritty scrapper guys" type thing.

[berniebrewer4life]

Well, i was worried that being gone for 10 days, i might miss some big news. Looks like i won't have to worry about that, atleast with Jeff Soupcan.

[brewcrewnation]

I am starting to get a little worried. The longer this drags out the worst it is for us. What does everyone thing the % of us signing Suppan,

[dadofandrew]

I would agree that the longer it goes, the more likely someone is to make him a Meche offer.

[BREWCREW5]

Quote:What does everyone thing the % of us signing Suppan,

 

Probably at about 20%. This is based off of mere speculation.

[Frisbee Slider]

Listening to Melvin over the years,he doesn't strike me as a saber fanatic.I don't doubt he uses available statistical data,but i also see him as a type that still puts value in things like batting average,RBI's,and strikeouts for hitters more than the stat crunchers do.

 

In 1983, Doug Melvin crunched and compiled statistical data (full-time) for the New York Yankees (Source: The Numbers Game - book).

 

Melvin has mentioned stat guys before, too, I thought.

[reillymcshane]

For everyone waiting for something to happen, don't hold your breath.

 

Zito may not even decide before the year is out, and it's very likely Suppan will wait until Zito has decided.

 

story

 

I believe Boros kept Beltran into mid January a couple of years ago until he got maximum $$$$, so I don't think it's a bluff.

[rluzinski]

I can't remember Melvin placing much emphasis ever on reducing strikeouts. Any quotes (not from the last few months) that you could link to?

[DHonks]

Melvin has always stated he'd like to reduce the strikeouts, but I think people are misreading things. Some people are viewing strikeouts as a byproduct of success, and that is totally false. Good players that strike out a lot will yield both success and strikeouts. Bad/mediocre players that strikeout will yield mediocre play and lots of strikeouts. A team of brewerfan.net users would strike out at record rates. Would we have success?

 

So I think some people view Melvin's critique of strikeouts the wrong way.

[reillymcshane]

Quote:

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I can't remember Melvin placing much emphasis ever on reducing strikeouts. Any quotes (not from the last few months) that you could link to?

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This after the Estrada trade.

 

"Reducing our strikeouts is one of our off-season criteria," Melvin said.

 

Article

 

From before 2005 season:

We have to cut down on our high strikeout totals. We can't have that this year. If everybody can cut 15 to 18 strikeouts off their total, we'll score more runs.

 

Link

[aracko]

Quote:

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We have to cut down on our high strikeout totals. We can't have that this year. If everybody can cut 15 to 18 strikeouts off their total, we'll score more runs.

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Not to be smart but if every player can hit 2-3 more HRs this season we will score more runs. Finding the meduim in your heart of the order guys is the key and the Brewers because of their youth are directly on pace to do so.

[rluzinski]

Thanks for that pre-off season quote. I knew he had said that stuff with regard to Estrada but couldn't really remember him talking about it before then.

 

That's a really silly comment by Melvin. It's like saying, "If everyone gets more hits, we'll score more runs. Strikeouts are a by product of trying to do something good. If you try NOT to strikeout, you have to be sacrificing something else. It's obviously a risk/reward type thing.

[Never Outhustled]

I wouldn't mind if melvin said he wanted to reduce strikeouts, but only if he said he was also hellbent on reducing lazy flyballs, slowrollers to the SS, and infield pop-ups.