Rotation Battle 2.0 -- Latest: Suppan Named 5th Starter

[chuckiehacks]

Rotoworld weighs in with today's blurb on Marco Estrada:

 

Marco Estrada pitched seven innings of two-hit ball Thursday for Triple-A Nashville.

Estrada, who was claimed off waivers from the Nationals in February, has opened the season with 13 scoreless innings for Nashville. He'd be a logical choice to come up and pitch in middle relief after the Brewers release Jeff Suppan and add Manny Parra or Chris Narveson to the rotation.

[Patrick425]

Sometimes I pitch BP for my son's baseball team, and there a couple of kids that can hit the ball hard enough into my gravitational field, that I have a hard time getting my head or legs out of the way. If I stay inside they pull the ball, outside most of them go to RF or just swing and miss -- but every once in awhile I get way too much of the plate, and I know it the second I let go of the ball. Then I frantically pray "pleasedonthititupthemiddlepleasepleasepleaseplease" -- I suspect Suppan can relate to that feeling.

 

 

Wow, I can relate to this. Of course, I generally have to pitch from 40 feet away or even closer for them to get the full benefit of my "fast ball". I'm much more comfortable when we are practicing indoors and I have a screen to protect me.

[TooLiveBrew]

Rotoworld weighs in with today's blurb on Marco Estrada:

 

Marco Estrada pitched seven innings of two-hit ball Thursday for Triple-A Nashville.

Estrada, who was claimed off waivers from the Nationals in February, has opened the season with 13 scoreless innings for Nashville. He'd be a logical choice to come up and pitch in middle relief after the Brewers release Jeff Suppan and add Manny Parra or Chris Narveson to the rotation.

Well that sure is interesting. That's the first time I've seen Suppan's release being discussed as inevitable. I wonder what their source was in that regard.

[sbrylski]

Rotoworld weighs in with today's blurb on Marco Estrada:

 

Marco Estrada pitched seven innings of two-hit ball Thursday for Triple-A Nashville.

Estrada, who was claimed off waivers from the Nationals in February, has opened the season with 13 scoreless innings for Nashville. He'd be a logical choice to come up and pitch in middle relief after the Brewers release Jeff Suppan and add Manny Parra or Chris Narveson to the rotation.

Well that sure is interesting. That's the first time I've seen Suppan's release being discussed as inevitable. I wonder what their source was in that regard.

There wasn't one. Pure speculation.

[JoeHova]

I wonder what their source was in that regard.

Logic, rationality, common sense, sanity, etc.

[craigharmann]

I wonder what their source was in that regard.

Suppan not being good?

[TooLiveBrew]

Hah -- yeah, I know what you guys mean. It was just stated so definitively.

Logic, rationality, common sense, sanity, etc.

You're in Macha's world. These do not exist.

[Oldcity]

Actually, this decision is in Melvin's world.

[logan82]

I think we are in a bizzaro world where Suppan got Parra's spot in the rotation and Parra got Suppan's spot in the bullpen.

[RobDeer 45]

OK I was going to start a new thread but thought I'd throw this in here. Forgive me if this has already been discussed.

 

Do you think Macha using Narveson all the time is a hinting towards him being the next starter to get a shot or him trying to keep him short for season long bullpen use?

 

And then the opposite with Manny, him not being used much hinting at anything?

[TooLiveBrew]

The only thing I think that last one hints at is that Macha doesn't like Parra

[Flood Pants]

my thought on Narveson was actually that they were using him so much so they could gauge his skills better, deciding if they want to keep him or release him. I hope I'm wrong about that, though.

[AJAY]

I can't take this anymore . . . .

 

I honestly feel like driving to Miller Park right now and giving Doug Melvin and Ken Macha an earful. Even the casual fan can see how TERRIBLE and HORRENDOUS Jeff Suppan is. The guy has absolutely no life on his pitches. No velocity, no movement, no nothing. He was terrible last year, He was terrible this spring, and he is terrible right now.

 

Everytime Suppan takes the mound, fans in Wisconsin just cringe and feel sick to their stomach. Everytime Suppan throws a pitch, I hold my breath and have the look of fear and death on my face.

 

But somehow, the guys who have spent a lifetime in baseball and are being paid to be the experts still haven't figured out that Suppan has no business being on this team. What in the name of Ned Yost is going on out there? I don't understand how our front office can be so clueless.

 

Do Melvin, Macha, and Attanasio understand how much Brewers fans hate losing to the Cubs? It's like they are giving our most hated rival a free welcome gift and giving us Brewers fans the finger. This is absolute garbage.

 

Where is that venting thread?

[monty57]

I'm hoping and praying that Parra is getting some extra innings tonight to get him stretched out to start in five days, but I know it's a pipe dream.

[RockCoCougars]

But somehow, the guys who have spent a lifetime in baseball and are being paid to be the experts still haven't figured out that Suppan has no business being on this team. What in the name of Ned Yost is going on out there? I don't understand how our front office can be so clueless.

Attanasio hans't spent a lifetime if baseball. There's no doubt in my mind that Suppan getting these starts is a mandate from him- say what you want about Macha and/or Melvin, they aren't that stupid. He will get a couple of more starts, stink up the joint, and then go on the D.L. again after 'tweaking his neck', then when he comes back in June or so he will be buried in the bullpen. I've basically accepted the fact that this team doesn't have the cajones to DFA him.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I really, really don't believe that Suppan playing is a "mandate" from Attanasio. Attanasio is a levelheaded guy. He's said time and time again he lets the "baseball people" do the baseball. He doesn't micromanage. Suppan is out there because Doug Melvin and Ken Macha are allowing it.

 

They are killing this team by trotting him out there. You can't just white flag 1/5 of your schedule. Make it 2/5 with the way Doug Davis is looking.

[AJAY]

If you consider that Suppan never gets past the 4th or 5th inning, he is also killing our bullpen. That affects the team even in games when Suppan does not pitch. It's much worse than just waiving a white flag once every five games.

[Schlitz001]

I wouldn't call Parra's performance thus far quite as dominant as his numbers say it is, but both him and Narveson have looked much better than Suppan. There is no doubt in my mind that one of the two of them will make the next start in Suppans place (likely Narveson). This has to be assumed, right? There is no way Macha/Melvin can justify another start for Suppan.

[logan82]

Over 6 starts the difference between Suppan and Parra is probably only 3 runs.(assuming Parra at a 4.50 ERA and Suppan at 5.25, if we assume Parra at 4.25 and Suppan at 5.75, 6 runs) I think Suppan in the rotation and Parra/Narveson in the bullpen is colossally stupid but it isn't really a big deal until we get about 10 starts for Suppan in.(5 or 10 runs at that point)

[brewmann04]

He just can't getanything on his pitches and.needs to be put in the pen for Long Long relief . Let see what Parra can do in the Rotation.Suppan salary should not get him any more time as a starter.

[bork]

I'm guessing Suppan gets one more start on the 28th, then he gets skipped on the off day May 3rd. The 5th starter would only be needed on May 8th and May 18th, so they've got some time to decide what to do.

[NYChez]

6.8 Billion people in the world, and he was the one most qualified to do this job?

[sgtcluels]

Why so much hate for Suppan? He is, never was, or ever will be an awesome pitcher. He is old, he is fading and was when we signed him. If my boss offered to pay me a crap ton of money to do my job, I sure as heck would sign the dotted line. So while Suppan does indeed suck at baseball, it's not his fault he's on the team. And it's not his fault that he is allowed to pitch every 5 games. Shouldn't our anger at this situation be at the people that subject us to such vile and hateful things such as going to a Brewers game when Suppan starts.

[AJAY]

For those of us who remember the Chad Moeller or Glendon Rusch era, it is very obvious that Jeff Suppan is going to be released at some point later this year. This whole situation has the exact same rotten stench that we have already experienced before.

 

On the day Suppan gets released, everyone is going to say "We all knew he stunk a long time ago so why didn't the front office cut him sooner? What took them so long to figure it out?"

 

If the Brewers management wants to avoid similar criticism and win more games in the process, they should study their own history and learn something from it. Just cut Suppan now and quit wasting time. I am not interested in giving Suppan a few more starts so he can get lit up and blow more games. It's gotten past that point now.

 

I want the Brewers to be proactive rather than reactive. It's getting very late.

[Menace II Sobriety]

Why so much hate for Suppan? He is, never was, or ever will be an awesome pitcher. He is old, he is fading and was when we signed him. If my boss offered to pay me a crap ton of money to do my job, I sure as heck would sign the dotted line. So while Suppan does indeed suck at baseball, it's not his fault he's on the team. And it's not his fault that he is allowed to pitch every 5 games. Shouldn't our anger at this situation be at the people that subject us to such vile and hateful things such as going to a Brewers game when Suppan starts.

Sounds great in theory. When does the PAYING crowd get to boo the manager or the coach in the middle of the game. Suppan isn't allowed to pitch every 5 days he was given 2 weeks off to start the season and an 8 day breather in between and still hasn't performed. How long would you keep your job working twice in a month at a rate twice below the median?

 

I agree Suppan took the best deal on the market and we are stuck with it and it could be worse, looking at Big Z and Soriano in Chicago. But if you are willing to make 12 million a year you better be willing to take the criticism that comes along with it as you are cashing those checks, once again it is in not in any way fair to compare a 12MM a year job with a 40-60k a year job, the criteria are different. If you showed up to work and under-performed on any task given to you because of your inability to do your job, both you and your boss would receive criticism too.

 

Another valid point is a very simple one. If Soup was making 300k, 1.2 MM or 4MM this season he would not be starting. So why should fans watch a pitcher who at best case scenario would be league average (if lucky) when better options are clearly available. At this point the signing is not worth debating, he is getting paid either way but with a sunk cost at least the team can move on. This is like last year where the team is willing to eat half of Halls' contract so they play him for a while so the wasted contract doesn't seem as bad.