Weaver Signing Explained

According to Tom Haudricourt (and confirmed by Gord Ash on the radio this morning), the Brewers have signed Jeff Weaver. For those of you not familiar with Weaver's work, he finished with a 7-13 record for the Mariners last year with a sporty 6.20 ERA.

With such a fine season on his resume, it's surprising that the Cubs didn't give him a 3 year $21 million deal in the off-season, but the Brewers were able to snap him up for an incentive-laden deal. Why might Milwaukee want him?

Here's the best guesses of the brain trust at Chuckie Hacks:

1. He has experience hitting in the #8 spot in the order from his days in St. Louis.
2. The Brewers are buttering up Scott Boras (Weaver's agent) to get him to agree to a long-term deal for Prince.
3. Needed someone to lose 16 consecutive starts with Capuano on the DL.
4. Trying to lock up the AAA championship in Nashville with some Game 7 World Series experience.
5. Lack of mullets on the current roster.
6. Needed someone to replace Vargas' 5.50 ERA this season.
7. Mike Maddux can identify with Jeff's sibling rivalry with his more talented brother Jered.
8. With Suppan and now Weaver, they're trying to bring the band back together for the 2006 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation.
9. Corey Hart's hair stylist recommended him.
10. Doug Melvin just wants to show how far the Brewers have come since he took over - Weaver would have been the #2 starter on the staff Melvin inherited.
11. The Brewers are trying to set the bar even higher for ridiculous comments on the Journal Sentinel's Brewers blog.
12. Ned Yost wanted someone to make Dave Bush look good so he could keep him in the rotation.

While we don't exactly have direct access to the Brewers front office, we think that it's reasonable to think that Jeff Weaver is a Milwaukee Brewer for all of the above reasons. In Doug we trust.