The Brewer Advent Calendar #18: Jeff Suppan

by Kyle Lobner on Jan 26, 2009 12:00 PM CST Comment 21 comments

Another day, another door. Behind today's door on the Brewer Advent Calendar is...Jeff Suppan!

Jeff Suppan has started 366 career games, which is a lot more than any of his 2009 Brewer teammates. Unfortunately, he hasn't won a lot of them.

In fact, he's almost lapped the field for least career wins by a pitcher with 366 or more starts (since 1961):

Pitcher	GS	Wins
Jeff Suppan	366	128
Jim Clancy	381	140
Mike Morgan	411	141
Bobby Witt	397	142
Kevin Gross	368	142

Now, that's not entirely fair, almost all of the pitchers I'm comparing Suppan to in that chart had more than 366 starts. But, since 1961, Suppan also has the 14th lowest winning percentage among pitchers with at least 366 starts:

Pitcher	W	L	%
Mike Morgan	141	186	43.1
Jim Clancy	140	167	45.6
Kevin Gross	142	158	47.3
Steve Trachsel	143	159	47.4
Bobby Witt	142	157	47.5
Mike Moore	161	176	47.8
Tom Candiotti	151	164	47.9
Danny Darwin	171	182	48.4
Bob Knepper	146	155	48.5
Charlie Hough	216	216	50.0
Claude Osteen	196	194	50.3
Frank Tanana	240	236	50.4
Rick Wise	188	181	50.9
Jeff Suppan	128	123	51.0

Note: Suppan is the only active pitcher on that list signed for 2009. Steve Trachsel hasn't officially retired, but is still a free agent. Assuming Trachsel and Kenny Rogers are retiring, here's the active leaderboard:

Pitcher	W	L	%
Jeff Suppan	128	123	51.0
Livan Hernandez	147	139	51.4
Tim Wakefield	178	157	53.1
Jamie Moyer	246	185	57.1
John Smoltz	210	147	58.8

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Comments

I thought wins were now regarded as a ridiculous stat with virtually no value?

Not that I’m upset with anyone pointing out that Suppan’s major accomplishments as a pitcher are generally limited to his ability to take the ball every 5 days.

I have an unreasonable dislike of Bill Hall.

by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Jan 26, 2009 12:11 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I didn't promise meaningful statistics in every calendar page

Just statistics. :-)

I don't specifically articulate my motives, because that wouldn't travel as well as a boo does.

by Kyle Lobner on Jan 26, 2009 2:24 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

First the contract was pissing me off

now that picture is just giving me a migraine. Please post something else so I don’t have to look at it.

I just sit back and root for the taser

by Hyatt on Jan 26, 2009 12:55 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

You just don't know the context

This was part of an interview where the interviewer asked “Jeff Suppan, which finger did you use to tickle the sphincter of Doug Melvin when inducing him to hand out a ridiculously bloated contract to a pitcher whose skills are rapidly declining?”

"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"

by roguejim on Jan 26, 2009 2:10 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I can't reply to that appropriately

without getting in trouble w/ KL. Sorry

I just sit back and root for the taser

by Hyatt on Jan 26, 2009 2:50 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

If you look

at the smile on Suppan’s face in the picture, you can tell that he’s thinking, “yup, it was my left thumb, but it was totally worth it.”

"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"

by roguejim on Jan 26, 2009 2:53 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm just a huge fan of his shirt with the epaulets

It says, I’m stealing money, but it’s ok, because you should’ve known better. C’mon, I have evil beady eyes. If you want, I’ll shift them back and foreth for you.

I just sit back and root for the taser

by Hyatt on Jan 26, 2009 3:38 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Dude.

I have an unreasonable dislike of Bill Hall.

by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Jan 26, 2009 8:37 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I just can't think of anything to say

by Charlie Marlow on Jan 26, 2009 1:11 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I wish that was him in a Brewers uniform, rolling around on the ground.

And had just shattered his pitching shoulder, forcing him to retire and forfeit the remaining money on his contract.
It bothers me that Suppan gets 12M a year, while the Crew, in this off season, could get Jon Garland, Randy Wolf, and Braden Looper all for about 15M total.

How far will this one fly?

by Rendezvous on Jan 26, 2009 1:44 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

There are worse contracts than Suppan...

Having to go into Free agency for pitching always sucks. Have a look at the 2007 class from which we signed the Soup and there were worse ideas.

Gil Meche 28 KCR 5 $55,000,000 (2,39) 172%
J. Marquis 28 CHC 3 $21,000,000 (2,15.2) 109%
Randy Wolf 30 LAD 1 $8,000,000 (1,6.9) 86
Jeff Suppan 32 MIL 4 $42,000,000 (2,10.5) 49%
M. Batista 36 SEA 3 $25,000,000 (2,3.5) 21%
Kip Wells 30 STL 1 $4,000,000 (1,3.2) 80%
Barry Zito 29 SFG 7 $126,000,000 (2,13.7) 38%
V. Padilla 29 TEX 3 $33,750,000 (2, 11.6) 52%
Jeff Weaver 30 SEA 1 $8,325,000 (1,3.9) 46%
J. Schmidt 34 LAD 3 $47,000,000 (2,0.2) 0%
Mark Mulder 29 STL 2 $13,000,000 (2,-1.8) 0%

The figures in the parentheses are the actual “value” dollar wise that these guys brought to the table over the life (or part thereof) of their contracts. After smoothing the contracts (i.e. assuming that Suppan earns 10.25 per year) gives the percentages (i.e. of what they have been paid, what have they been worth).

Realistically only the Marquis and particularly the Meche contract make any sense in hindsight. All this suggests is that it sucks to go into the FA market for starting pitching. But it had to be done at the time and fortunately we didn’t end up with Schmidt or Zito or Batista…

This kind of stuff is why I would be totally willing to trade a young position player for a young pitcher.

Also, this is a good reason to think that having spare cash to go after Garland, Wolf or Looper would constitute a mixed blessing.

by Braun Holio on Jan 26, 2009 9:44 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

“He gives us a big-game pitcher, he’s shown that last year,” Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said on a conference call.

Year Round Tm Opp WLser G GS ERA W L SV CG IP H ER BB SO
—————-—-—-——-—-—-—————————-—-—-—-—-
2008 NLDS MIL PHI L 1 1 15.00 0 1 0 0 3 6 5 2 3

However, he does lead the league in SCS* per 9 innings.

(*SCS – stem cells saved)

by rob deer's moustache will destroy us all on Jan 26, 2009 2:33 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Maybe by big game

he means pitching again boars and lions and stuff.

"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"

by roguejim on Jan 26, 2009 2:39 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Bring on Detroit!

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Jan 26, 2009 4:08 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

It's weird to me he was in the majors two years after being drafted out of HS

Sure, he’s got the fewest wins among 366+ start pitchers, but he also hasn’t had a losing season since 2002. So there.

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Jan 26, 2009 4:07 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

That's accurate

As long as you don’t count playoff starts.

I don't specifically articulate my motives, because that wouldn't travel as well as a boo does.

by Kyle Lobner on Jan 26, 2009 4:16 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Eric Gagne DL time: May 23-June 29 Brewers record in that span: 20-9

by NoahJ on Jan 26, 2009 4:19 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

In defense of Soup....maybe??

Suppan has been unbelievably painful to watch in most of his Brewers starts, and we are obviously overpaying him, but the W/L with 366+ starts stat is misleading. You have to remember the only pitchers with 366+ starts are those that have been good enough to stick around – which means we are comparing him to good pitchers (pitchers that have stuck around for longer than him). I’m not saying he’s a good pitcher, but you’ve got to expect him to be near the bottom of that list since he has been average and we are comparing him primarily good pitchers. To be honest, the fact that he is over .500 on his career was better than I expected, granted he played a lot for the Cardinals when they had a good offense.

by ajoconnor on Jan 26, 2009 6:34 PM CST reply actions 0 recs