How much longer for Jeff Suppan? -- Latest: Suppan signs with STL, starts 6/15

[RockCoCougars]

Enough is enough. I cannot believe that Suppan still has apologists on this board. Attanasio, if you are reading this, I don't care if Suppan is your business partner, wine drinking buddy, etc.- cut the cord. This is ridiculous, and there is no doubt in my mind it's Attanasio's call. Any sane baseball executive would have cut Suppan in spring training, if not last year.

 

Personally, I won't be attending any more games until Suppan is gone- not stashed on the D.L.- gone. I encourage the fans who do attend the games to boo this clown out of Milwaukee. This is easily one of the worst blunders in Wisconsin history, and I'm tired of seeing politics and/or pride causing it to perpetuate.

[kramnoj]

I'm eager to have Suppan be replaced by a better pitcher, but so far pitchers have been brought up to do so, and some have not succeeded. There's no reason to think that Attanasio or Melvin have any ties to Suppan when there haven't been enough pitchers that have taken on the task of showing they are clearly better than Suppan.

 

On June 17, 2009, the Brewers were in 1st place, and Suppan had a winning record with an ERA under 4.5 Suppan was able to lower his ERA to that level even though he had two awful games at the beginning of the year last year.

 

Suppan has been basically inconsequential to the Brewers this year. In his one loss as a starter, the offense scored one run. The Brewers are going to lose the vast majority of the games in which they score one run. In the loss yesterday, Suppan gave up the same number of runs as Braddock and pitched longer. Other than those games, Suppan has either done his job coming in to pitch an inning in a win, or has pitched in a loss, sometimes ok, sometimes not.

 

My guess is that if Loe continues to do well in the starts he has left with Nashville, and if Braddock pitches like he usually does, than Loe will come to the Brewers by his callup date, and Suppan gets cut.

[Yeti73]

The guy has to have a negative WAR. It is unreal how easy it is for the opposing players to get hits. I guess I got to see his last decent performance last year on July 3rd in Chicago. He held the Scrubs to 4 hits in 7 innings.

 

I also wish the guy would come out and say something along the lines of what Wolf said last week when he stunk. I feel like Soup, while getting the 'classy' reputation from the press, hasn't done anything to show that he's trying to get better. He's just loving his money and walking out there every few days for tee ball. Good riddance. Bring back Jamey Wright.

[markedman5]

Suppan is bad but he has plenty of company.

 

This staff has just zapped all of the fun out of watching Brewer baseball in 2010.

 

2009 wasn't fun either now that I think about it.

[AdvantageSchneider]

After the last two games I don't see how anyone can call for his relase. He might be bad, but we don't appear to have anyone better than him.

 

Estrada is not the answer.

[LouisEly]

When Gamel, Riske, or Hawkins have to be activated I hope they finally DFA him or like Peavey said, put him on the DL with some kind of "injury". So I would say within a month or so Suppan should be gone. At least I hope.

Good point about Riske and Hawkins. Coupled with Loe, we can cut ties with Suppan and have some spaghetti to throw at the wall to see if anything sticks. After a great first outing, Estrada has been awful since so he needs to take what he's learned and make the necessary adjustments in AAA. Loe can replace Suppan right now on the 25 and 40, and if he isn't any better then they still have Riske and Hawkins to replace him and Estrada. Heck, what Chris Smith did last year in the majors is leaps and bounds better than what Estrada and Suppan have given them, so I'd take him right now.

 

Point being is they have options in Loe, Hawkins, Riske, and Smith to try in hopes of being better than Suppan. They can put Zaun on the 60 or DFA/outright Luis Cruz or Heether, which coupled with the release of Suppan gives them up to 4 spots on the 40.

[jeffy]

Right now is our 13th best pitcher a better option than Suppan? I would guess not, so it makes no sense to get rid of him. If he were making $400,000 per year, I think few would care as much as the do.

[logan82]

I would also like to point out that fans often times care about more than a win/loss record. If my team is losing but makings smart moves and trying to get better, I can tolerate that. If my team is losing and continues to trot guys like Suppan out to the mound and expects me to believe that they are making an honest effort to win, it makes me angry.

 

I really doubt a team making a move on a mop up guy is going to make any difference in attendance.

 

 

Even if Estrada is worse than Suppan I'd rather keep him and see what we have.

 

That makes no sense to me. If he is worse why should we spend more money? We already spent the money on Suppan there is no reason to spend more money on a guy who is not going to be better.

 

I understand the outrage over Suppan. He sucks. He is a sunk cost. Don't go spending more money on another guy just because he is different. If we had a realistic chance at the playoffs I would cut Suppan in an instant. At this point we have no chance at the playoffs. We might as well bring guys up and down to see what we have instead of turning over our whole pen and paying more guys to fill out our roster.

 

To be honest we all know Suppan sucks and I really see little point in discussing him until after the trade deadline.

[danzig6767]

Right now is our 13th best pitcher a better option than Suppan? I would guess not, so it makes no sense to get rid of him. If he were making $400,000 per year, I think few would care as much as the do.

I understand what you're saying, but i do think in a situation like this Melvin/Attanasio need to also consider the PR factor involving Suppan.

 

When he enters games at Miller Park, it creates a toxic environment for Suppan, Macha, and the fans. There have been numerous threads as to whether it is ok for fans to boo their own players, but the fact of the matter is most Brewer fans who attend the games can't stand Suppan the pitcher and look for even the slightest reason to voice their displeasure with him being in a game. The Brewers could be down 10 runs and if Macha puts Suppan in a game, the crowd will start attacking him from the first hit or walk he gives up. If Jeff starts getting jacked around which he certainly is prone to doing, things will get ugly as it did on Sunday. Personally, i find it hard to watch because Suppan seems to be a genuinely good man.

 

If he can't perform any better than say a random scrubby AAA/fringe major league pitcher, it's better IMO to remove Suppan from the roster just for PR reasons so we don't have to continue seeing stuff like happened Sunday at Miller Park. I see no way that vicious booing won't be the norm each time he pitches in Miller Park except for times he manages to not give up runs. He could throw two innings where he only gives up one run which isn't a terrible outing for a relief pitcher and the crowd would still be all over him while he gives up that run. Then you factor in that Suppan generally has the mop up role job which can force Macha to keep him in games even if he's giving up bullets all over the ballpark, it could lead to more toxic environments at MP where Macha has to leave Suppan in games in which boos and worse are loudly raining down from the home crowd. Are situations like that worth keeping him on the team given how unproductive he is with a 7.22 ERA and 1.92 WHIP?

[treego]

It's sadness to be committed to paying 12.5 million dollars to someone who cannot help you win.

It's madness to be committed to paying 12.5 million dollars to someone you choose to help you lose.

Sadness is having to pay him.

Madness is playing him.

[JohnBriggs12]

At this point, I'm more disappointed in Suppan the man than Suppan the pitcher. Suppan is stealing money now and he knows it. For a guy who's been very public with his strong religious convictions, that he would not voluntarily walk away is hypocritical.

[RockCoCougars]

I'm tired of this '13th man' nonsense. If the goal is to win games, you should be able to count on every player on the roster to play at a major league level. You don't just keep a guy stashed away for garbage time, especially with this rotation. If I'm a lame duck like Macha, as long as management insists on keeping Suppan around, I'd run him out there in situations like yesterday, let him embarrass himself, and send a message. For heaven's sake, for as much criticism as the Seligs and Bando/Taylor took, they were even willing to part with high paid garbage like Hammonds and Navarro at this point in the season.

[jeffy]

At this point, I'm more disappointed in Suppan the man than Suppan the pitcher. Suppan is stealing money now and he knows it. For a guy who's been very public with his strong religious convictions, that he would not voluntarily walk away is hypocritical.

He is not stealing anything. The team and he agreed to a contract. If Suppan had pitched much better than was expected at the time of the signing would the team be morally obligated to pay him more money, in your view?

Is the team "stealing" from Ryan Braun? Because in his case the terms of the contract seem to be working out to give the team more than they paid for.

[Funketown]

At this point, I'm more disappointed in Suppan the man than Suppan the pitcher. Suppan is stealing money now and he knows it. For a guy who's been very public with his strong religious convictions, that he would not voluntarily walk away is hypocritical.

I don't want to get into this whole stealing money thing (seriously, if anyone is "stealing money" by this definition, the owners ought to be in prison for life), but I think it's really unfair to say that he is contradicting his religious convictions by not voluntarily walking away from the contract. Professional athletes are often a bit delusional about their abilities. For all we know, Suppan truly believes he can still be an effective pitcher, and that he would be letting down his team if he were to walk away.

 

Yeah, he is no longer a good baseball player. I want to see him gone too, and it would be refreshing to hear him say how much he has sucked.

[RayKingsForemanGrill]

These are men being paid handsomely to play a child's game. While I expect some accountability, you also can't expect the man to give up money that is contractually obligated to him.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

This is America. People are compensated based on what the market will bear. No one held a gun to the Brewers to give him that contract, and there were likely some other teams not far below them. He has a valid legal contract and isn't stealing from anyone. To say so is utterly ridiculous.

[DuWayne Steurer]

At this point, I'm more disappointed in Suppan the man than Suppan the pitcher. Suppan is stealing money now and he knows it. For a guy who's been very public with his strong religious convictions, that he would not voluntarily walk away is hypocritical.

Seriously?

 

He didn't sign a contract agreeing to a certain level of productiveness. He agreed to a contract to play baseball for 4 years for the Brewers.

 

This "stealing money" nonsense is getting ridiculous around here.

[DougJones43]

This "stealing money" nonsense is getting ridiculous around here.

It would be one thing if Suppan signed the contract and then showed up out of shape or stopped giving maximum effort. I don't see this to be the case. At the very least, Suppan seems like he has always been a prepared, hard-working individual. He's just not a good pitcher. And it's the fault of Brewer management for not realizing this would be the case before making such a large offer.

[RayKingsForemanGrill]

He hit his wall. That's all.

 

The booing really bothers me. But I know nothing I say will change anyone's mind on that. I guess we all have different ideas of civility.

[Invader3K]

I don't blame Suppan for taking his money and trying his best (at least he seems to be). The Brewers signed him, coming off a good season, and he has simply regressed with age. It's up to the team to cut ties with a player when he's no longer good. How often do you ever hear of a player retiring or giving back money when they're still under contract? Pretty much never. I can't blame Suppan for that.

[JohnBriggs12]

At this point, I'm more disappointed in Suppan the man than Suppan the pitcher. Suppan is stealing money now and he knows it. For a guy who's been very public with his strong religious convictions, that he would not voluntarily walk away is hypocritical.

Seriously?

 

He didn't sign a contract agreeing to a certain level of productiveness. He agreed to a contract to play baseball for 4 years for the Brewers.

 

This "stealing money" nonsense is getting ridiculous around here.

Yes seriously. I understand all the justifications (primarily that he earned his contract by what he did prior to signing it) he has for not quitting and he has every legal right to continue and that's what we expect in this "get it all while you can" culture.. But this is a guy who has very openly set a high standard for himself (for which I applaud him) and when you no longer possess the ability to "play baseball" to even the minimum level required of a major league player to continue to collect a paycheck for doing so is dishonest. That's my opinion.

[TooLiveBrew]

But this is a guy who has very openly set a high standard for himself (for which I applaud him) and when you no longer possess the ability to "play baseball" to even the minimum level required of a major league player to continue to collect a paycheck for doing so is dishonest.

 

It's not even close to dishonest. It's a guaranteed contract that's the Brewers' mistake.

[honuswagner21]

---

But this is a guy who has very openly set a high standard for himself (for which I applaud him) and when you no longer possess the ability to "play baseball" to even the minimum level required of a major league player to continue to collect a paycheck for doing so is dishonest. That's my opinion.

By this logic wouldn't it be dishonest for the Brewers to be paying Braun only $1mm this year when his play justifies something much bigger? Nobody would walk away from $12.5mm that they are owed legally. Are you suggesting that you would? I am more irritated with Brewers management than Suppan at this point over this contract. And I am really cringing at the thought of having a similar thread going in a year or two with the name changed from Suppan to Wolf.

[joepepsi]

Perhaps the Brewers are stealing money from its fans for producing such a shoddy team.

[naivin]

The suggestion that Suppan is dishonest, or whatever you want to call it is just plain ridiculous. Its funny because I was just thinking about this over the weekend. When he finally is released, I will be very surprised if he doesn't offer up some sort of gesture (buying a bunch of tickets, making some large donation, etc.), probably at a pretty hefty price tag, as a 'thank you' on his way out of town. To question his ethics in any manner is crazy. He chose baseball as a career, and baseball chose him. He deserves every penny he is being paid because that is what the team agreed to pay him. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that he is loafing or not trying, which might be a different story, but it is a risk/reward system that works out well at times, and not so well at others.