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Stop me if this sounds familiar: The 2009 Brewers projected to be a pretty good offensive team, but there were questions about whether or not they had enough pitching. Multiple members of the previous year's rotation had departed via free agency, leaving a lot of gaps to fill and no surefire candidates to fill them. Despite a relatively clear need, Doug Melvin said the team was done spending for the winter.
Then, four years ago today, they went out and signed Braden Looper. It didn't end well.
Looper led the NL in both earned runs allowed and home runs in his lone season in Milwaukee, setting a Brewer franchise record by allowing 39 long balls. He somehow won 14 games despite posting a 5.22 ERA, and hasn't been seen in the majors since.
But hey, at least he gave us this moment, a "key milestone" on the road to the Brewers' first division championship in decades.
With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to 2010 Brewer Adam Stern. He turns 33.
Today is also the third anniversary of Corey Hart winning his 2010 arbitration case and a $4.8 million salary. We covered that event in this space last year.