The Season of Giving...Curses?

by Kyle Lobner on Dec 25, 2010 10:00 AM CST in Conversation Starters

Editor's Note: This post is the third installment in a series, and if you haven't read the others it might not make sense.

Actually, even if you have read the others it might not make sense. - KL

It's the middle of the night, again, and you wake up, again, with the pull drawing you to Miller Park, again. Just like the other times you get dressed, get in the car and head over.

As you're entering the park, you stop for a moment to check out the new Zack Greinke jerseys. Someone messed up the spelling - the jerseys you can see through the window all say "Groinke" on them.

It's about this time when you realize you're hearing footsteps. You turn to look and see a man running full speed towards you! You duck into a dark corner just in time and the man runs past and keeps going, humming the Ultimate Warrior theme. Apparently Todd Coffey does his offseason training at night.

As you're climbing onto the field, you notice a light on in the bullpen. The gate is open, and as you step inside the shadowy figure emerges from the bullpen restroom. You smell something unusual: The scent of burning money.

"Today," the figure begins, "the curse continues via time travel. In this modest restroom I have opened portals to the signings of three of the worst contracts in Brewer history. You must pass through one portal, get both the player and his contract, and bring them back here to play for the 2011 Brewers."

Poll

You must select one of these three players (and their awful contract) to be a part of the 2011 Brewers. Which do you choose?

2008 Eric Gagne and his 1 year, $10 million deal.

351 votes

2001 Jeffrey Hammonds and his 3 year, $22.2 million deal.

113 votes

2007 Jeff Suppan and his 4 year, $42 million deal.

58 votes

522 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 26 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

No contest.

Gagne & it’s not even close.

by klwillis45 on Dec 25, 2010 10:04 AM CST reply actions

That was easy. Gagne should get 90% of the vote.

Greinke, Gallardo, Marcum, Wolf, Narv-Dog. Suck on THAT egg, a-holes!

by Dikembe Meiztombo on Dec 25, 2010 10:05 AM CST reply actions

Gagne

just one year, come on, easy

"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."

by Hyatt on Dec 25, 2010 10:26 AM CST reply actions

maybe

Change it to 2 years to make it a tougher choice.

by E Tyme on Dec 25, 2010 10:39 AM CST via mobile reply actions

No, these are real contracts.

Greinke, Gallardo, Marcum, Wolf, Narv-Dog. Suck on THAT egg, a-holes!

by Dikembe Meiztombo on Dec 25, 2010 10:40 AM CST up reply actions

understood

Just makes it a little more interesting. Who isn’t going to choose gagne here?

by E Tyme on Dec 25, 2010 10:44 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

although

I think Ganges deal would have to be like a 5 year,70million one for me to choose suppan over him.

by E Tyme on Dec 25, 2010 10:43 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

Should have had Riske's contract up there too

I seem to recall the main problem with Gagne wasn’t just that he was awful, but that he was awful because he was hurt. A $10 million contract on the DL is only hurting the club’s financials.

by morineko on Dec 25, 2010 10:51 AM CST reply actions

yeah, riske would've made a much more interesting choice

I might’ve voted differently

by Hyatt on Dec 25, 2010 4:35 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

Gagne’s worth it even just on the off chance that he buys everyone tickets to a game at the end of the year.

by drezdn on Dec 25, 2010 11:08 AM CST reply actions

Gagne

At least he was somewhat useful in 2008. And its only one year.

My goodness.

by BrewHaHeather on Dec 25, 2010 11:38 AM CST reply actions

What is the reasoning

for those 31% who didn’t vote Gagne?

by Braunstalker on Dec 25, 2010 12:22 PM CST reply actions

I voted for Hammonds

but it was a mix of a quick vote and an incomplete memory. I remembered Gagne being so terrible all season that he was completely unusable in any situation. I remembered Hammonds being bad, but able to be hidden. And ~7M per year isn’t so bad that he couldn’t be dealt for something on the strength of the previous season. By the time the Brewers got Gagne, I think everyone was assuming he was done. (I guess I was also assuming that these players are brought on with their own time periods.)

by dickie_thon on Dec 25, 2010 12:42 PM CST up reply actions

Actually Gagne was only terrible in the closer's role

I think then he got injured for a little while and came back as a decent middle reliever.

Overall, for just one season? He’d be the only one worth taking on. Suppan got beat up in every outing, SP or relief. Hammonds wouldn’t be bad if he was rotting on the bench, but he had injuries and I believe the year he played through the whole season was the 100 loss season. I’m not saying it was all his fault, but hey, baseball is all about superstition.

by jmeks23 on Dec 25, 2010 3:52 PM CST reply actions

Gagne's August and September were actually pretty good

still a terrible contract though

I only watch the games for Taiilgate Tips.

by jmag043 on Dec 25, 2010 4:14 PM CST reply actions

just looked and only september/oct were good, not even that great

I only watch the games for Taiilgate Tips.

by jmag043 on Dec 25, 2010 4:16 PM CST up reply actions

Hammonds

“To be a part of the Brewers” is the clincher for me. There’s no way someone is on the roster and doesn’t get into a game, and Gagne and Suppan both single-handedly cost us wins. I don’t care about the money, it’s not mine. I care about winning. I’m fine with Hammonds as an 8MM 4th outfielder.

by nullacct on Dec 25, 2010 6:04 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

Jeffrey Hammonds

was a great Brewer investment.

by Selig'sSluggers on Dec 25, 2010 6:09 PM CST reply actions

Wow, Gagne is winning?

I would rather pay Jeffrey Hammonds to sit on the DL and do nothing than pay Eric Gagne to actively cost the team games and traumatize anyone watching him pitch.

Ryan Braun: He loves it.

by SRB on Dec 26, 2010 12:59 AM CST reply actions 2 recs

Hammonds

I voted for Hammonds because it’s just for one year and he is the cheapest of the three per season. Also, we may need him to play CF should the Gomez/Dickerson experiment fails.

by brewman70 on Dec 26, 2010 7:26 AM CST reply actions

I don't think he meant it to be just for one year though

It was what contract would you like to add to this years team. basically meaning that we would have signed him this year to that 4 year contract starting this year.

For your health!

by menchkins on Dec 26, 2010 2:16 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

Three year contract

Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.

by sjlee on Dec 28, 2010 10:50 AM CST up reply actions

oops, yeah, 3

For your health!

by menchkins on Dec 28, 2010 11:55 AM CST up reply actions

This post

should be renamed “Pee flavored Cheerios part 2”

Celebrating the addition of Greinke and mourning the loss of my man crush Cain

by molitorfan on Dec 26, 2010 9:12 AM CST reply actions

you could make the argument for Hammonds

lower per year cost, second lowest overall cost, it’s easy to stash him on the bench without taking meaningful time away from anyone else (basically you just kick someone off the roster who would get a few PH opportunities and wouldn’t ever start). Whereas Gagne would be needed in situations where your closer has gone the past 3 days or your bullpen was otherwise fatigued, which is still a threat this year, even despite our starting rotation.

Still..went with Gagne

by PagsBrewCrew on Dec 26, 2010 12:16 PM CST reply actions

And when you chose Gagne

You chose to have him come into just one game all season, where he surrendered 23 runs in one-third of an inning, and gave up the loss… and we ended up losing the division by one game.

Gagne – Suppan – never

by nullacct on Dec 26, 2010 8:34 PM CST up reply actions

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