Friday afternoon ArmChair GM

Frequent Hacker "D'Amicos one good year" posed several questions in the comment section of the previous post. Since we're arguably going into the most boring weekend series of the year v the Nationals, I'd figure I'd give the answers a shot. Bear in mind 2 things: these answers are just my opinion, and I am never wrong.

Q: Is Jeff Suppan an appreciable upgrade over Doug Davis or Tomo Ohka?
My Answer: The word "appreciable" is slightly ambiguous given the context, but I'll give it a shot. To start, I would say Suppan is an upgrade over Mr. Tomo Ohka, who isn't even pitching in the big leagues anymore. Ohka was hurt half the time (his entire career). He also wanted a much bigger contract (if my memory serves me correctly) after his pedestrian 2006 season with the crew. He made 4.5M that year. The crew let him go FA, and he ended up signing with the Jays at 1.5M for 1 year. HA! He sucked, got released, got picked up again by the Cardianls, sucked again, and finally got released for the last time and is probably holed up in a massage parlor somewhere in Kyoto. So, Suppan is better then Ohka.
As far as being better then Davis, that is more tricky to answer. Don't forget we traded Davis to fill other needs (ie...Catcher). We ended up getting the Rat that was Johnny Estrada, and 1 servicable year from Claudio Vargas (we also got Greg Aquino...but let's just not worry about that). You could argue the value of that trade in a separate thread, but I basically consider it a wash. Here are the numbers for Suppan & Davis for 07 and 08:

Davis: 2007 (33 starts, 192 innings, ERA 4.25, WHIP 1.58, salary: 5.5M)
2008 (16 starts, 90 innings, ERA 4.28, WHIP 1.46, salary: 7.75M)
Suppan: 2007 (34 starts, 206 innings, ERA 4.62, WHIP 1.51, salary: 6.25M)
2008 (22 starts, 122 innings, ERA 4.7, WHIP 1.55, salary: 8.25M)

So for like an extra 1.25M, we got a guy that has pitched a few more games, at essentially the same level. The problem with Suppan is the next two years when we pay him 12M or something like that. Both Davis and Suppan are durable veterans that take the ball every 5th day. In baseball economics, these guys are overpaid but it's all relative from teams like the Diamondbacks and Brewers who want veterans in the rotation (3rd or 4th starter) that can hopefully not crap their pants in a playoff push. Let's see Suppan earn his money in September. The guys are a wash in my book, but I'll ride the Suppan train.

Question: Would the Brewers been better off re-signing Cirillo as a utility player this past off-season in retrospect?
Answer: Uhhh...no. Joe Dillon was basically a bust, but Yost made it clear that the utility player this year would have less of an impact, since he expected his young infield to get most of the starts. His right handed bat was replaced by the chipotle eating Gabe Kapler, and he's the man. Utility wise: Craig Counsell is doing...well...he's there. I don't mind having Craig out there every now and again I suppose.

Question: Will Capuano pitch for them again?
Answer: We've already said our good-bye's to Cappy. He's done. He'll be DFA'd as soon as his contract is done.

Question: And finally, why is it every time I look at Jason Kendall I think of the Billy-Bob Thornton guy from Slingblade? Mmmm, Biscuits!
Answer: I like me dem fried taters...mmm..hmmm...

Some indirect good news?

Would we rather have Francisco Cordero this year than Eric Gagne. Sure!
Would we like to have Cordero for 3 more years after this one? Ehhhh....not so sure.

From Fire Joe Morgan today:
Zach Rastall (Marinette, WI): Hi Joe you're awesome. What should the Brew Crew do about there horredous relief pitching?

Joe Morgan: There's not much they can do. They invested a lot of money in Eric Gagne, and if he doesn't work his way out of his problems, it will be a disaster. It hough they should have re-signed Cordero, but they lost him to Cincinnati. They'll have to live with that decision. Very few general managers will admit their mistakes. Gagne can turn it around, but who knows?

Ken Tremendous: Here's the thing, man:

No, actually, here's the things:

They didn't invest a lot of money in Gagne, relatively speaking. It's one year, $10m. Now that's obviously not cheap, especially for an homme who suces as mal as he does, but they can cut him if they want to and next year, it's back to the drawing board (in a good way). Frankie Cordero, on the other hand, got $46m for four years from the dumbass Reds. He is 33 years old as of last Sunday, and he has walked 11 guys in 15 IP this year. The Reds are going to be paying this guy $10.5m when he is 36 and on the shelf with his eleventh TJ surgery. (Yeah -- eleventh. A lot happens to Cordero in the next few years.) And you think the Brewers should have signed him? And you think they're having a hard time living with the decision not to?

Gagne stinks, and he's not their closer anymore. They took a risk on a short-term contract and it didn't pay off. At least it's not a hamstringingly bad 4 year deal for a mediocre 33 year-old.

MY REACT:
I find Joe Morgan pretty comical. In Joe Morgan's "answer" he didn't make a single reference to Mota, Torres, Riske, Shouse, or Stetter. These are the other guys in the Brewer bullpen besides Gag-me. There isn't much they can do? I think those guys would have something to say about that.
I also find it comical that somebody gave Cordero that contract. Right now Doug Melvin is rubbing his hands together and laughing in his lair, happy with the fact he was able to drive up Cordero's market value even though he had no intention of ever resigning him to a deal that long.

Gagne Makes a Statement About Nothing

Eric Gagne apologized today for being a "distraction" and said that he's just looking forward to helping the Brewers to get to the World Series and the playoffs.

He did not guarantee a World Series championship, however.

He made two statements to the press, one in English and another in French. You can find the statement in English here. I didn't bother looking for the one in French.

He never mentioned the Mitchell Report in his English statement although he did so in the French statement, according to Adam McCalvy.

I'm guessing that he was so guarded in his comments because his lawyers told him to be careful - he doesn't want to face possible suspension from Air Bud for admitting to using HGH. However, he has clearly found a loophole in the MLB rules, in that any statement made in French cannot be used against him.*

*I made this up.