Brewers offer Suppan contract

StylesÃ‚â„¢ · 12-21-2006, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ESPN

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Milwaukee Brewers have offered a four-year contract to free-agent pitcher Jeff Suppan.

Suppan

General manager Doug Melvin said Brewers officials met with Suppan and his agent, Scott Leventhal, Tuesday in the Los Angeles area and made a formal offer on Wednesday.

"We stepped up and felt it was important to be known,'' Melvin said Thursday in a telephone interview, without revealing terms of Milwaukee's proposal.

The offer was first reported Thursday on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Web site.

Suppan and Leventhal met Wednesday with New York Mets officials, who dined the previous night with Barry Zito and his agent, Scott Boras. Zito is likely to reach an agreement before Suppan.

"My gut feeling is, they're going to wait until Zito,'' Melvin said.

Suppan, a 31-year-old right-hander, was 12-7 with a 4.12 ERA for St. Louis last season and was 1-1 in four postseason starts. He had an 0.60 ERA against the Mets in the NL Championship Series, earning MVP of the seven-game playoff.

Thus far during the offseason, Milwaukee agreed to a $6 million, two-year contract with second baseman Craig Counsell and to salary arbitration with infielder Tony Graffanino.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

If the brewers can land him it well help them a lot. With only 4 teams getting in each side of the league, it's still going to be hard to compete with the Cardinals, Cubs, & Reds for the Central Division among the teams in the other divisions, but this will help them a lot if they could land him...

Thoughts?

nyfanmets7 · 12-21-2006, 04:03 PM

the mets also met with him i think he gonna either go back to stl or land with a contending team like the mets who are playoff bound

joeytheking23 · 12-21-2006, 04:42 PM

You think everyone will go to the Mets....he will go to an American league team imo...maybe even the Royals

StylesÃ‚â„¢ · 12-21-2006, 07:47 PM

lol the Mets have talking to Zito and have a little interest in Suppan, not much though...he won't be going to the mets unless they fork some cash up and can't land Zito...

Killswitch · 12-21-2006, 08:09 PM

This would be a huge pick-up by the brewers if they can land him. The Brewers staff is a bit weak but adding him would secure a solid #3 starter which would make 'em look tougher in a 3 game series or pheraphs the playoffs. I'd like to see him go to the Brewers sense I like 'em.

nyfanmets7 · 12-22-2006, 01:24 PM

well thats cuz i am a mets fan lol duh but like i said zito will come to the mets and what does everyone think about the world champion cardianls i think they have no shot of repeating

StylesÃ‚â„¢ · 12-22-2006, 01:31 PM

umm I think that if your going to want to talk about the cardinals perhaps you make a thread as this thread is to talk about Suppan and who he may go to and updates and such, not about how will the Cardinals do...

StylesÃ‚â„¢ · 12-24-2006, 06:14 PM

Milwaukee signs Suppan!

Quote:

MILWAUKEE -- Jeff Suppan, the MVP of the NL Championship Series for the St. Louis Cardinals this season, has signed a four-year free agent contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.

According to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the deal is worth $42 million.

The Brewers said Sunday they also have an option for a fifth year.

The 31-year-old right-hander went 12-7 with a 4.12 ERA for St. Louis last season, and was 1-1 in four postseason starts -- including a win in Game 3 and seven solid innings in Game 7 of the NLCS against the New York Mets.

"He gives us a big-game pitcher, he's shown that last year," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said on a conference call.

Suppan has pitched for Boston (1995-97, 2003), Arizona (1998), Kansas City (1998-2002), Pittsburgh (2003) and St. Louis (2004-06). He has reached double figures in wins seven times.

Suppan was one of the best pitchers available on the free-agent market. He will join a Brewers starting rotation that includes lefty Chris Capuano and right-handers Ben Sheets, Dave Bush and Claudio Vargas, who was acquired in a Nov. 25 trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Brewers went 75-87 last season and finished fourth in the NL Central. Melvin said the team went into the offseason hoping to make improvements.

"This obviously will be the largest improvement, adding a pitcher of this stature," Melvin said.

Suppan went 6-2 with a 2.39 ERA in 15 starts after the All-Star break this past season. He is 44-26 with a 3.95 ERA over the last three seasons, tying for ninth in the majors in wins during that span.

In the NLCS, Suppan pitched eight shutout innings for the victory in Game 3, then allowed one run over seven innings in Game 7, which the Cardinals went on to win 3-1 on Yadier Molina's two-run homer in the ninth.

Attanasio said that kind of performance was important to him as he tries to make the Brewers a "perennially competitive" team.

"What you want to do is add a winner," he said.

He described the deal as "a very significant commitment for our team."

Suppan's agent, Scott Leventhal, said the pitcher saw the Brewers as a team with potential.

"I think he feels like it's a team that has tremendous talent, it's got a mix of young guys and veterans, all with talent," he said.

Leventhal said Suppan was at a Christmas Eve Mass and could not be reached for comment.

Suppan generated some controversy during the World Series when he appeared in a television commercial and a print ad opposing a Missouri amendment to permit embryonic stem cell research. The amendment passed by a narrow margin.

Attanasio invited the pitcher and his agent to dinner at his home last week.

"It was a very relaxed evening," Attanasio said. "There was a lot of give and take, I got to know Jeff. I came away impressed."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

This helps their starters out a lot, but don't expect him to be the Ace...Ben Sheets has that job locked up...expect Carlos Villanueva to be dropped off the rotation...being the rookie, it's tough luck, even though he's pretty good...

Thoughts?

The Dynasty · 12-25-2006, 12:13 AM

Huge pick up for the Brewers. I don't see St. Louis making it to the world series again next year.

dust247 · 12-25-2006, 03:58 AM

I agree, I don't even see the Cardinals making the playoffs unless it's through the Wild Card.

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Brewers offer Suppan contract

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