The Brewer Advent Calendar #11: Dave Bush

by BrewHaHeather on Feb 9, 2010 4:00 PM CST in Conversation Starters

Hiding behind today’s door we find starting rotation hopeful Dave Bush!

I know there are many of us here that would DFA Jeff Suppan before letting him get anywhere near the starting rotation. Unfortunately, many feel the same way about Dave Bush, and unfortunately, Bush is also in a battle between himself and Suppan’s $12 million salary for the final spot in the starting rotation. While Bush has been one of our more frustrating pitchers to watch, alternating between a good mid-rotation starter and just God-awful, he certainly is no Jeff Suppan. Infact, he has been pretty useful over they years.

Before the front office looks at quantity of contract over quality of pitching to decide the final spot in the rotation, perhaps they should look at Bush’s previous work. His numbers may look bad last year, but before getting hit by Hanley Ramirez in May of last year, Bush was holding opposing batters to a .229 batting average; afterwards a .336 BA. He also suffered from a bit of bad luck with a high BABIP of .327. In 27 games (25 starts) after his trip to the minors in 2008, Bush was able to hold batters to a .225 BA while sporting a 3.83 ERA, becoming one of our most reliable starters down the stretch. Over his career, Bush has a respectable 1.26 WHIP and has been durable, pitching at least 185 innings in all but one of his Brewer years.

Dave Bush also belongs in a very exclusive club in Brewers history; its only members are Bush, Mike Caldwell, Rollie Fingers, Moose Haas, Bob McClure, Jim Slaton, Don Sutton, and Pete Vuckovich. Give up? Bush is one of the select few Brewers to actually win a post-season game. If not for Bush, we would be hearing about how the Brewers haven’t won a post-season game in 20+ years.

Of course having Bush on the roster also comes with several questions Who will he pitch his next near no-no against? Will he go with the fu-Manchu or the Grizzly Adams beard? Just how many batters will he plunk? I for one hope we will get to find out.

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if you had seen Bush at On Deck

and if he keeps things the same, the answer to the facial hair question would be “none.” Hopefully the answer to the “will he pitch a no-hitter?” will be yes (because that means he’ll be in the rotation, and good.)

by morineko on Feb 9, 2010 4:11 PM CST reply actions

Please keep Dave

I really want Dave to be on the staff in 2010. He is a much better than Suppan to begin with then you toss in that this is a contract year for him and I think that he will have one hell of a season.

by Saberilliterate on Feb 9, 2010 4:50 PM CST reply actions

I agree. I really hope he's on the roster

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by Michael M on Feb 9, 2010 6:20 PM CST up reply actions

I concur

for whatever reason, he’s been one of my favorite players the last couple years, even through his inconsistency.

by theBrouhaha on Feb 9, 2010 7:14 PM CST up reply actions

My Fave Player

There’s something to be said about a guy who would plunk you as quick as he would give you a free pass to first.

And then of course there’s the high socks. Really, the guy’s overall appearance just hearkens back to the deadball era for me.

Chicks Dig The Long Ball.

by ILuvDaBush on Feb 10, 2010 6:21 AM CST up reply actions

I absolutely love Dave Bush

Honestly. I thought he was going to have the best year of his career last year, and if he hadn’t gotten drilled by that line drive, he might have.

I certainly hope he has a good year.

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~Doug Melvin

by Charlie Marlow on Feb 9, 2010 7:28 PM CST reply actions

I'd like to see

a return to the Grizzly Adams look. It increased his bad-ass quotient substantially.

I too am an unabashed fan of Dave Bush, 75% due to his NLDS performance. Best overall sports night of my life (to date, she said hopefully).

You've got a couple screws missin' up in your toolbox, if you think that you'll stop this man from hittin' moonshots.

by hawing on Feb 9, 2010 10:16 PM CST reply actions

I second the Grizz

I love sporting my Dave Bush jersey when I have the Grizz beard to match.

Chicks Dig The Long Ball.

by ILuvDaBush on Feb 10, 2010 6:22 AM CST up reply actions

He's a great #4 or #5 guy

He’ll pitch out of his mind one outing, then get touched the next. That’s saying something when we’re the team that wheeled out Jeff Suppan (who get’s touched all the time, and doesn’t call the police) on Opening Day last year

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by Bettman's Nightmare on Feb 9, 2010 11:22 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

Extention

I know it’s a bit early, but hypothetically, if the Brewers wanted to get Dave’s Herbie Hancock on a contract, what would be the going rate? 3 FA years for $18M?

Chicks Dig The Long Ball.

by ILuvDaBush on Feb 10, 2010 6:24 AM CST reply actions

I don't think it would be nearly that much.

They considered non-tendering him at $4+M this year. If he has a career year, then maybe we’d be getting into that neighborhood.

But given the market right now, he’d be lucky to get $3M a year if he were a FA now.

by Cheeseandcorn on Feb 10, 2010 7:29 AM CST up reply actions

He always winds up disappointing

To me, at least. Maybe my expectations have just been too high in the past. I’ll be happy if he keeps his ERA under 5.

by TheJay on Feb 10, 2010 7:18 AM CST reply actions

I'm with you, TheJay.

I think the game he pitched against Arizona last May captures the essences of The Dave Bush Experience:

Crew up 3-0, Bush is rolling. Then we come to the top of the 7th:

Homer by Mark Reynolds, followed immediately by a homer by Justin Upton. Two outs, then a tape measure job by Miguel Montero. Lead: gone.

As Homer is fond of saying: “It’s always something with Dave Bush.”

by Rubie Q on Feb 10, 2010 10:56 AM CST up reply actions

Haha, I was in the RF bleachers for that game

I remember yelling at Upton a lot.

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by tcyoung on Feb 10, 2010 11:22 AM CST up reply actions

There's that

But also the idea that his peripherals were good, blah blah blah, and then you’d look and see him at 4-8, 5.06.

by TheJay on Feb 10, 2010 11:49 AM CST up reply actions

It'll be disappointing if they choose Suppan over Parra or Bush

because it would clearly be a move to justify his salary. My concern is that he hasn’t appeared to hit his spots as much in the past two years, his groundball rate has declined and hitters aren’t taking as many swings on him as they used to. If he continues to give up home runs and walks at the rate that he has in the past two years, then it’s going to be hard for him to be much better than a mediocre fifth starter.

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I write for Beyond the Box Score and The Hardball Times Fantasy

by Satchel Price on Feb 10, 2010 8:37 AM CST reply actions

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