Suppan to the bullpen; Narveson to start

[bklynbrewcrew]

Melvin just loves the soft tossing gritty veteran pitcher.

[jeffy]

logan3825 wrote: Wonderful, Parra looks good as a reliever over a few outings and he becomes the reliever. Nothing like using a small sample.

But don't we have a pretty good size sample of Parra not living up to his supposed potential as a starter?

[logan82]

Sure if we ignore the previous year and all his minor league number when he was pretty good. Parra had one bad year, last year, and now he somehow isn't living up to his potential?

[The Truth]

Macha and Melvin's inability to figure this out coming out of spring training is among the reasons I want them both gone

[Mr QL]

Suppan needs to be DFA'd. Just bite the bullet already. I said this last year too tho.

 

Would prefer Parra too.

[jeffy]

Sure if we ignore the previous year and all his minor league number when he was pretty good. Parra had one bad year, last year, and now he somehow isn't living up to his potential?

Minor leagues would be where he would have shown his potential, MLB is where he would live up to it...has he? Seems like he has been given a lot of opportunities, but has mostly been disappointing, so I don't object to giving someone else a shot. However, I also would not have objected to Parra being named the starter.

[monty57]

Parra or Narveson, I don't care, as both of them are better options than Suppan. My only worry now is that we've gone from three lefties in the pen to one. It's assured now that Parra will be the LOOGY, and will not be ready when it comes time for him to be called back to the rotation. Get rid of Suppan, bring Stetter up to be the LOOGY, and let Parra be an effective multi-inning middle reliever / long man. Days like today, where the Cubs were up nine runs in the 4th, Parra could come in and pitch 4-5 innings and stay stretched out.

[logan82]

One disappointing year and one pretty good year where he faded at the end when his innings were increased by more than they should have been. I completely disagree that he has been mostly disappointing because it is based on only one bad year. I think some people are way to down on Manny over last year.

[joepepsi]

Narveson instead of Suppan is a step in the right direction, but I'm confused by the justification that since Parra has pitched well he needs to stay in the pen. So, if Parra had tanked it in the pen like Narveson, would he have won the spot in the rotation?

[monty57]

Joepepsi, don't you understand? It's Macha logic. Just like the fact that having played in the league for multiple years automatically makes you much better than someone younger :-)

[Flood Pants]

I'm all in favor of Narveson to the rotation. This gives them a chance to get a good look at him as a starter. They likely have a better idea of Parra's upside than Narveson's, so this should help them make pitching decisions into the future.

 

 

It's unlikely that Parra will stay in the bullpen all year, but if he's doing well there and Narveson's getting blown up, why not leave Parra in for now and get Narveson out? Until this team is out of contention, they should make the best short-term decision regardless of whether it hurts Parra's development. Parra might do better in then rotation than Narveson, but the combination of Narveson in

the rotation and Parra in the bullpen might be better for the team than

the other way around.

[RayKingsForemanGrill]

Tempted to put this in blue, but I think there might be some weight to it:

 

Thanks to the Cubs for throwing Zambrano in the pen even with his monster contract. I think it probably, to an extent, gave the Brewers the courage of their convictions to do the same thing...

[bklynbrewcrew]

I love the quotes from Suppan from the js blog. When Suppan was asked if he was disappointed in his results he responded with "Theres many different ways you can look at results" I feel like I made a lot of good pitches in my two games. And my bad pitches , they cost me runs. I feel like from where I started at, I made a lot of improvements." Not only is Suppan an awful pitcher he is also completely delusional. Please just DFA the scrub and get Stetter back on the roster.

[endaround]

Until Butler is back and pitching Suppan won't be going anywhere.

[bklynbrewcrew]

Until Butler is back and pitching Suppan won't be going anywhere.

We have at least 7 or 8 better starting options than Suppan. Besides Parra and Narveson I would rather see Estrada or Lofgren start before Suppan.

[DHonks]

I assume that Narveson and Suppan switched because neither is excelling in their current roles. Parra has been good and learning to attack hitters for the first time...why mess with it? He can always become a starter again later

[thablingster]

The way I see this is that they're giving Narveson a chance to stay with the club. If he flops as a starter it is likely he'll be gone as he hasn't done well out of the bullpen so far this year. The organization has more faith in Parra and they want to keep him around, so at this point they're trying to fish or cut bait on Narveson. If he fails, they then insert Parra into the rotation and get a guy like Stetter/Braddock back to the majors. If he succeeds, they then at some point will be forced to make a decision on Suppan.

[PrinceEatMeat]

The way I see this is that they're giving Narveson a chance to stay with the club. If he flops as a starter it is likely he'll be gone as he hasn't done well out of the bullpen so far this year. The organization has more faith in Parra and they want to keep him around, so at this point they're trying to fish or cut bait on Narveson. If he fails, they then insert Parra into the rotation and get a guy like Stetter/Braddock back to the majors. If he succeeds, they then at some point will be forced to make a decision on Suppan.

Sounds about right to me. I think Suppan will be the odd man out when push comes to shove though. They need to bring Stetter back sooner rather than later. Parra is not gonna be the answer in that kinda role. He can be effective in the pen, but I don't seem him as a loggy by any means.

[twobrewers]

The way I see this is that they're giving Narveson a chance to stay with the club. If he flops as a starter it is likely he'll be gone as he hasn't done well out of the bullpen so far this year.

That was my thought when I heard the news as well. Good for Narveson. Hopefully moving back to the rotation with get him back on track. He had a great Spring Training - but so did Greg Zaun.

 

Braddock, Stetter, Axford and Chris Smith are all better options that Suppan out of the bullpen. That said, we should have a very effective bullpen already. Todays game is a perfect example of when to use Suppan. I'm happy to keep him around to mop up 10 run losses and save our other relief pitchers. I would not want that role for Braddock, Stetter, Axford or Smith.

[Flood Pants]

Todays game is a perfect example of when to use Suppan. I'm happy to keep him around to mop up 10 run losses and save our other relief pitchers. I would not want that role for Braddock, Stetter, Axford or Smith.

this is something I've never gotten, though. It seems that every team is supposed to have a "mop-up" type guy, and we expect this guy to not be very good and only pitch when the game isn't on the line. I just don't get it. Isn't it better to have 12 quality pitchers than 11 quality pitchers and one inning-eater scrub?

 

My point is, the Brewers could cut Suppan and promote Stetter or Braddock to make the bullpen stronger. Then they still have Parra as a long man who doesn't suck. If Narveson doesn't work out, then he and Parra simply switch spots. We pretty much know that Suppan isn't a capable replacement even in the event of multiple injuries, so keeping him on the roster is only hurting the team.

 

 

[Baldkin]

He had a great Spring Training - but so did Greg Zaun.

And Prince Fielder.

[Invader3K]

I like the move. Personally I have liked seeing Parra come out of the bullpen and look strong. I just get the feeling with Narveson that he needs more of a defined role, and hopefully pitching every fifth day as a starter will cause him to be more effective.

[southpaw121505]

this is something I've never gotten, though. It seems that every team is supposed to have a "mop-up" type guy, and we expect this guy to not be very good and only pitch when the game isn't on the line. I just don't get it. Isn't it better to have 12 quality pitchers than 11 quality pitchers and one inning-eater scrub?

 

My point is, the Brewers could cut Suppan and promote Stetter or Braddock to make the bullpen stronger. Then they still have Parra as a long man who doesn't suck. If Narveson doesn't work out, then he and Parra simply switch spots. We pretty much know that Suppan isn't a capable replacement even in the event of multiple injuries, so keeping him on the roster is only hurting the team.

Why waste service time for a guy to pitch meaningless innings?

 

 

[1992casey]

southpaw121505, which part of Flood Pants' post are you addressing? FP mentions that Stetter and/or Braddock would make the bullpen stronger; service time wouldn't be wasted in those cases. Parra and Narveson are out of options; in their cases, service time will be used no matter what roles they're assigned. In the case of the 12th man, why would service time automatically be an issue? And if 12th man is actually good, how can that hurt?

[young guns]

We are just trying to be like the Cubs, they sent their ace from last year to the bullpen, so so did we.

 

I'm excited for Narveson, I hope he can return to pitching like he did last year and in spring training now that he is going to be in a more familiar role, in starting. I wonder if they are going to tweak the rotation at all. They shouldn't have to though since, iirc, Wolf and Davis are more soft tossers and Narveson is more of a harder thrower and he is between Wolf and Davis taking Soups spot.