It’s now quite clear. The Milwaukee Brewers front office is putting its confidence in younger arms. Four years and $42M later, the club releases starting pitcher Jeff Suppan in favor of some farm system hopefuls and anyone whose names begin with Chris, John, Kameron or Zach.
The Brewers organization will pay Jeff Suppan upwards of $10M not to play. That’s including a $2M buyout of a 2011 club option. Milwaukee is paying Suppan more to go home and watch the game than pitching legend Warren Spahn reportedly earned throughout his lifetime career.
So why release Suppan now? It could have been done as early as spring training. However, Doug Melvin told reporters Monday it took some time to feel more comfortable with John Axford, Zach Braddock and Kameron Loe. Melvin & Co.’s comfort level with youngsters seems to have edged toward Lazy-Boy Recliner comfy with the move and contract purchase of AAA reliever Chris Smith. Smith is sporting a 1.71 ERA with 21 innings pitched, 29K’s and 16 saves on the season in Nashville.
The tipping point seems to have been Melvin’s inability to envision Suppan ever returning to the starting rotation. Melvin said he also believes he can rely upon Marco Estrada, Chris Capuano and David Riske, who is coming back from the DL this week.
Suppan got canned via phone, although Melvin said he was professional as always about the decision. Apparently Suppan admitted the guys coming up the AAA pipeline are already pretty good.
Free agency certainly appears to be a learning experience for most MLB ballclubs. After all, one month Barry Zito is hot and outpitching Tim Lincecum, the next he’s tanking someone’s fantasy team. During August of 2008, Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush went 9-0 collectively to contribute to the team’s playoff berth. Suppan went 10-10 with a 4.96 ERA that season and started Game 4 of the NLDS.
Unfortunately, fans remember the painful suffering more vividly than the mid-summer hot streaks. Game 4 became a curse for Suppan with six hits, three homers and five runs in three innings from which the Brewers were eliminated from the playoffs. This season, Suppan started on the DL, was removed from the starting rotation after two outings and took over KP as they call it in the Army. His ERA ballooned to 7.84 and he allowed 50 hits in 31 innings, 27 of which were earned.
The Brewers have had a strange plethora of pitchers available to them this season, although a majority have either been considered mediocre or below average. Suddenly here, the bullpen has cleared out fast, with Vargas, Coffey and Suppan all gone or DL’d. The Milwaukee Brewers released Claudio Vargas last week and put Todd Coffey on the DL over the weekend for an injured right thumb.
Jeff Suppan says he doesn’t care to do any interviews on this but released this statement Monday:
“I want to thank Mark Attanasio and Doug Melvin for all they have done for my family and me, especially how they handled this situation. Ive played with a number of organizations and the Brewers are one of the classiest.”
“When I signed in 2007, I was committed to winning and to this day I still am. Nobody is more disappointed with how things have turned out. I enjoyed my time here in Milwaukee, as both a player and a member of the community. As such, I will continue my involvement with the Brewers Charities for the remainder of the 2010 season. My commitment to this cause and the people it serves is unwavering.”
“I wish the current organization, its fans and especially my teammates all the best.”
It proves that while Suppan may have some emotionally-charged thoughts behind closed doors about this season, he is committed to presenting a sophisticated and professional relationship with ballclubs and fans regardless of the situation. And that, my friends, you can’t argue with. Jeff Suppan, thank you. Now fare thee well.