Brewers sign Doug Davis...so what now?

trade suppan for some prospects and a player with a similar salary a team is trying to release. I don’t know who would take him, maybe washington or KC? who knows but some team may need suppan and we should take whatever we can get for him!

the release of vargas was almost immediately followed by the realization you can’t have too many starters. bush probably gets pushed into the bullpen for a swingman role. then, if manny or soup struggles, he takes that spot. (manny, i think could get sent down in that case, while soup could go cook wings while on “rehab”.)

Coming into the offseason, the organization said the only pitchers guaranteed a spot in the 2010 rotation were Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra.

… I just don’t remember who said it, and when. Do you have the quote?

Hard to say. But if they’re looking to eat a lower amount of salary, don’t they just cut RIske loose and stash someone else in the ‘pen? Or Smith (who’s leverage index was extremely low anyway)?

If they’re unwilling to stash a guy (I’d personally think Parra, due to guys like Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman, Brandon Phillips, Derrek Lee, Geovany Soto, etc etc) in the ’pen, then cutting Bush seems most likely.

that the team keeps bush. I have always liked him, and he shows at times that he can be an above average pitcher. He was great last year until he got hurt in florida, then he royally sucked. I think Rick Peterson could help him the most out of any of the pitchers that we have. I think it would definitely be a mistake to not keep bush, especially with Parra and Suppan on the team.

It happened last year with the oblique, and, IIRC, he got dumped on the DL with some vague injury right after we acquired CC in ’08.

Yes — I found it. "Joint irritation" landed Soup on the DL immediately after we traded for Sabathia.

You missed the 1% chance that Suppan becomes a viable +1 WAR starter for the Brewers this season pulling out a Contract Year Miracle.

I’m also upset that you’re putting 3:1 odds on one of our 5 starters leaving spring training with a legitimate injury and an overall 40% chance that there’s an injury legitimate or no. I’m not disputing your numbers, but they’re upsetting me with their pessimism.

I seem to remember that for as bad as Suppan was last year, the “6th Starters” who filled in throughout the season were worse.

Of course, there’s always the dream of getting “Effective Capuano” back.

And really, what’s the point of cutting Bush? You gain about $3.5 MM in payroll flexibility, but what are you going to do with that flexibility? Pick up A starter when somebody goes down? If that’s the case, why didn’t you just hang onto him in the first place?

Who attributed much of Bush’s 2009 swoon to the residual effects of being hit in the elbow by a line drive?

Look at the stats:

Before getting hit:
4.38 ERA, 1.19 WHIP in 63.2 IP

After:
8.88 ERA, 1.82 WHIP in 50.2 IP

Couldn’t at least some of this be attributed to the fact that the man caught a screamer to the pitching elbow in between those two splits? And couldn’t some of that have been resolved with an offseason to fully rest and rehab it?

If Suppan continues to suck, I can completely see the team just cutting him. I mean, they did the exact same thing last year with Hall (and he wasn’t even on the level of Suppan-awful). I just have a feeling the “let them compete for the last two spots” line means “let’s see if Suppan is still atrocious”

Also, for those implying that having three left handed starters is a bad idea:
2009 NL AVG against RHP: .300
2009 NL AVG against LHP: .295

Yeah, there are guys like Pujols in our division, but you can build a rotation around the fear of one or a handful of players. As a whole (we play the entire NL, remember?) NL hitters actually tend to do worse against lefties.

I think they keep Bush around. I wouldn’t worry about saving Chris Smith or Chris Narveson a spot on the roster. Going from Bush to Davis would be an upgrade, but an important part of that upgrade is that Bush (or Suppan, if they’re willing to put him in the pen) to step in when an injury happens. Because it will.

a little late to the party. I was watching all of DD’s starts from last year and I didn’t have a fast forward button on the remote.

Bush has more of an upside than Suppan, he is younger, his FIP has been waaayyyy lower than Soups the last couple years, and if he replicates his 2008 season, then that would be pretty damn good for a fifth starter.

Suppan is a sunk cost anyways. His WAR has been in the negatives the last two seasons—the Brewers would get more value by cutting him then by having him actually on the roster. Unless they are really banking on a career year from the Soup.

In which case Doug will probably reward him with a 3 year, $30MM deal.

does bush or parra have remaining options?

Also “All told, it’s pretty astonishing to think the Brewers got Davis this offseason for less than what they paid Braden Looper at this time last year.”

I actually think it’s astonishing that Davis is guaranteed at least 5.5M, will likely get 6.5 (when has a Brewers pitcher not met most of the incentives) and could even get 12M. For a 4ERA pitcher? no thanks.

I’m not a fan of 2 moves this offseason in particular. $5.5M for DD and $3.5M for LaTroy. 2 marginal players with little chance to outperform guys already on the roster, while at the same time creating a roster crunch forcing us to cut cheaper younger alternatives. That $9M would have bagged us 1 yr of Sheets or Bedard, with payroll flexibility next year if they tank.
THIS is how you kill a midmarket team, by spending all your payroll and roster space on replacement-level guys.