Doug Davis returning to Milwaukee, 1 yr. $5.25 with mutual option

[battlekow]

Davis was better than only 13 qualified pitchers in baseball in tRA+ last year. Fortunately, and sadly, two of those 13 combined to throw 356.1 innings for the Brewers last year.

[sheetswannabe]

Thanks trwi,

[PrinceEatMeat]

I think the big question now is whether or not Gallardo will give up his #49 to Davis.

[Oldcity]

They needed someone better than Doug Davis.

 

If you wanted them to buy a $300,000 house when they only had $150,000, you were going to be disappointed no matter what. What the Brewers did do was get a $200,000 house for their $150,000. They really needed a house, so I can't be too upset.

 

Keeping up with the analogy, I'd argue they bought a 150,000 house in an old suburb when some great new condos in a hip area were going for a similar price. Or something? Basically, they could have done better for similar money. Is Sheets really going to get much more than 5.25 mil? We could have had Sheets or Bedard instead of Davis and Hawkins.

[TheCrew]

Sheets hasn't thrown over 200 innings since 2004 - he missed the entire season last year, and 2 out of the 3 years prior he missed significant time. That and he wants $10 million or more plus incentives. Let's also not ignore the fact that Sheets probably doesn't even want to come back to Milwaukee with the way things ended.

 

Bedard has never hit 200 innings and hasn't even hit 100 innings in either of the past 2 seasons.

 

Both have durability issues - Davis doesn't, only significant time the guy missed over the past 6 seasons was due to cancer. With the limited payroll, they can't be putting money out there that has a good chance of ending up on the DL. Davis is a better signing than either of those guys.

[danzig6767]

They needed someone better than Doug Davis.

 

If you wanted them to buy a $300,000 house when they only had $150,000, you were going to be disappointed no matter what. What the Brewers did do was get a $200,000 house for their $150,000. They really needed a house, so I can't be too upset.

 

Keeping up with the analogy, I'd argue they bought a 150,000 house in an old suburb when some great new condos in a hip area were going for a similar price. Or something? Basically, they could have done better for similar money. Is Sheets really going to get much more than 5.25 mil? We could have had Sheets or Bedard instead of Davis and Hawkins.

What is there to believe at all that Ben Sheets would be interested in pitching here again unless he had no other options?

[Ennder]

It is unlikely that Sheets or Bedard are actually an upgrade over Davis when you talk full season value. When you consider who will make up the extra innings missed by them it is even less likely.

[naivin]

At that money...total no-brainer for the Brewers.

[JohnBriggs12]

Boy, there's an awful lot of enthusiasm for a guy who's gone 4 straight seasons with a WHIP of at least 1.5. I don't hate the move as the price wasn't steep, but I would have preferred either Garland or Washburn. Washburn has never had a WHIP over 1.5 and Garland has just once.

 

As for the rotation, I see it as Gallardo, Wolf, Bush, Davis, and Narveson. I see Parra being traded in ST. Bush would have been in jeopardy if they had signed a right hander but he's now needed to balance things out. They just cannot have Parra and Davis in the same rotation unless they want to boost beer sales. I see Narveson getting the 5th because he's under control in future seasons, and as long as they are going to have 3 lefties in the rotation, it make sense for them to have a righthanded long man in Suppan. Plus if anyone falters they can always insert a veteran in Suppan.

[RobDeer 45]

I don't think Sheets is an option for us. We can't make a high risk move here or we end up with Soup back in the rotation for half the year. I think getting a solid vet in Davis is a great move. Now if we want to try somone one like Mulder and put him in the minors we have the guys to start the season. If he comes a long we can make moves. Of course I don't know if we will bring in anymore guys but I finally feel at ease that we have a solid rotation. It's not going to blow people away but if our offense continues to produce we should be able to grow on last year.

[JohnBriggs12]

Very little time elapsed between the Brewers seeing Mulder "throw" and Davis being signed. Reading between the lines, I don't think Mulder blew them away.

[milwaukeesportsfan]

I think the main thing that this move does is protects us from having to use the injury replacement scrubs we trotted out there last year. My rotation would probably be something like Gallardo, Wolf, Davis, Bush, and Parra with Suppan and Narveson as the 6th and 7th starters/injury replacements. Depth is a beautiful thing. It would be great if we didn't have to use Suppan or Narveson at all as starters (even though I think Narveson could be solid as a starter), chances are we are going to have to use both of them at some point in the season. I don't see how that's not an upgrade over some combination of Burns, McClung, and Villaneuva. (I just threw up in my mouth a little bit typing that).

[tigerbrew]

Just read about the DD signing news and I'm fine with it. I think the price is good, glad it's only a one year deal with a mutual option.

 

I think the rotation, the bullpen and the SP depth has improved from last year. With Wolf, DD, Parra, Narveson and Cappy, I think having more lefties in the rotation this year is a good thing. I'm not too worried about the offense, I think it will be as good as last year.

[Invader3K]

Very little time elapsed between the Brewers seeing Mulder "throw" and Davis being signed. Reading between the lines, I don't think Mulder blew them away.

Did you get confused and mean Sheets? As far as Mulder, he isn't throwing off a mound yet. They probably will still sign him to a minor league deal, but if he actually makes it to the majors this season, it's gravy at this point.

[pretendastronaut]

Very little time elapsed between the Brewers seeing Mulder "throw" and Davis being signed. Reading between the lines, I don't think Mulder blew them away.

 

Mulder didn't throw off the mound for them yet, he was just long tossing. It still sounds like once they see him throw, they'll give him a contract.

Edit: Invader posted the same I see, but also, it occurs to me you maybe indicated that with the quotations around throw already.

[Hate those Rodents]

People screaming for a harder thrower, strikeout pitcher should also realize that we've been active in trade talks at the deadline each of the past few seasons. As active as any team in baseball. If we are in the thick of things and need to get a power arm, our prospects are going to be much closer to the majors this season than they were last season, and we'll be able to swing a deal if it is needed.

[Milltownhooker]

With this signing estimated payroll is somewhere near 84-85 Million mark. How does the insurance on Riske work with his 4.5 Million. He won't be ready by opening day, but is it an all or nothing proposition? Say he can't pitch until September. Do the crew get a partial payment? Does rehab time counts as playing time coming off a major surgery?

[Invader3K]

I thought I had read Riske could be ready very early in the season? I might be wrong...

[Milltownhooker]

I thought I read best case scenario early June.

[Funketown]

Boy, there's an awful lot of enthusiasm for a guy who's gone 4 straight seasons with a WHIP of at least 1.5. I don't hate the move as the price wasn't steep, but I would have preferred either Garland or Washburn. Washburn has never had a WHIP over 1.5 and Garland has just once.

It really isn't reasonable to use WHIP to compare Washburn to Davis. The fatal flaw with WHIP is that it values a walk the same as a single, double, triple, or a home run, when a walk is the least detrimental of the lot. It typically underrates pitchers like Davis, who walk a lot of batters but do a decent job of keeping the ball on the ground, and overrates pitchers like Washburn (or Looper for that matter, who also had a lower WHIP last year than Davis), who tend to give up fewer walks but painful amounts of gopherballs.

 

Washburn is a year older than Davis and has a career xFIP nearly half a run higher. He has benefitted from playing in two parks that tend to give up fewer home runs than either Miller Park or the BoB.

 

As for Garland, do we really need to get into that again?

[sheethead]

Good signing. While it doesn't excite me, it soooooooooothes me. Runners are going to have a tough time swiping bases against the Brewers this year.

[Oldcity]

If we are in the thick of things and need to get a power arm, our prospects are going to be much closer to the majors this season than they were last season, and we'll be able to swing a deal if it is needed.

 

There's also a good chance they won't have the room to add salary during the season due to this Davis signing.

[And That]

Davis isn't a world beater, but he's going to make the Brewers' rotation better and barring major injury will more than likely outperform his contract over the next two years. It's a good deal, and depth the Brewers needed.

[BREWCREW5]

Stevo, it appears you are seriously trying to find anything/everything wrong with this deal. Do you honestly not think the crew is better than it was before the DD signing?

 

I also guarantee you that once the season starts, Mark A will say, as he always does, that there is money there at the deadline to add an impact player if we need one and are going for it.

 

Come on bro, seriously. Just enjoy it.

[1992casey]

Milltownhooker, I believe Tom Haudricourt reported that Riske's contract wasn't insured.