Today In Brewer History: Happy Anniversary, Jeff Suppan

by Kyle Lobner on Dec 24, 2011 6:00 AM CST in History

In 40+ years of Brewer franchise history, Christmas Eve has almost always been a quiet day. They've acquired exactly one player on December 24, and he turned out to be a guy they probably wished they could stuff back into their stockings. On this day in 2006 the Brewers signed Jeff Suppan to a four year deal.

Suppan was scheduled to turn 32 before his first Opening Day as a Brewer, was a veteran of 13 major league seasons and had already been a part of five organizations when the Brewers gave him a four year, $42 million deal. The $6.25 million he made in 2007 was more than he'd ever made in a single season, but he more than doubled it by pocketing $12.75 million in 2009 and 2010.

Meanwhile, Suppan's performance declined steadily each season in Milwaukee:

Season	ERA	IP	WHIP	BB/9	K/9
2007	4.62	206.2	1.505	3	5
2008	4.96	177.2	1.542	3.4	4.6
2009	5.29	161.2	1.695	4.1	4.5
2010	7.84	31	2.000	3.5	5.2

Mercifully, on June 7, 2010 the Brewers finally gave up and let Suppan go. He finished the season in the majors with the Cardinals, but spent the entire 2011 season in the minors with the Royals.

With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to 2000-02 Brewer Jamey Wright. He turns 37.

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bah humbug

by airfigaro on Dec 24, 2011 10:03 AM CST reply actions 1 recs

Jeff Suppan and Jamey Wright.

And I’m at work on Christmas Eve. You’re all conspiring against me.

by mpbMKE on Dec 24, 2011 11:39 AM CST reply actions

This is inappropriate.

Worst Christmas gift ever.

My goodness.

by BrewHaHeather on Dec 24, 2011 3:32 PM CST reply actions

Agree- if you're referring to the event past

But, as this isn’t a “gift” for Christmas 2011, let’s be thankful that this can’t happen a second time!

Merry Christmas, one and all!

It wasn't the best of times, it wasn't the worst of times, but all in all 2011 season was a pretty damn good time

by PlusorMinusThree on Dec 24, 2011 6:00 PM CST up reply actions

what was the general consensus in Brewers nation at the time of the Suppan signing?

Go ahead, make my day.

by ilikeburritos on Dec 24, 2011 4:01 PM CST via mobile reply actions

I didn't think it was a great signing

But at the time he was signed the Brewers weren’t a team that you thought coudl/would sign a valuable free agent. They hadn’t had a winning season in 15 years, and seemed willing to take the bargain solution on filling roster spots. It turned out to be a fairly bad contract, but it showed a willingness to shell out money for players. It was encouraging for that reason.

Mark Attanasio is the best.

by nullacct on Dec 24, 2011 6:48 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

Yeah

I’ve thought all along they paid a premium just to get him to come to a small market on a bad team. Then he underperformed even that.

Nice guy. Bad pitcher.

by ecocd on Dec 24, 2011 8:41 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

I was excited

But my vision was largely colored by the fact that signficant Brewer FA signings were rare. I look at this the same way I look at the Jose Hernandez deal – it shouldn’t have been the biggest Brewer move of the winter, but it was and that attached an undue level of excitement to it.

Now that's great tasting chicken!

by Kyle Lobner on Dec 25, 2011 10:26 AM CST up reply actions

I expected him to play soemwhere close to career averages.

Which at the time were modest, but better than any other alternatives, in-house or FA. So, I was okay with it from that standpoint. I thought it was 1 year too long and the dollar amount made me flush a little bit, which makes me realize now just how far along this franchise has come.

by mpbMKE on Dec 26, 2011 3:18 PM CST up reply actions

I was a new fan of baseball at the time.

2006 was the first season I really payed attention to the Brewers. I thought this was a bad signing. I took one look and his stats and asked “Why the hell are they paying this guy that much money?”

My goodness.

by BrewHaHeather on Dec 26, 2011 5:16 PM CST up reply actions

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