Looper to Brewers on a 1-year Deal

[apete6]

They could do worse, I guess.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/39323727.html

[TruffleShuffle]

what's better than having jeff suppan? having TWO jeff suppans.

[Ball And Glove]

Meh...at least this one's cheap. It should also keep Seth McClung out of the rotation, where he'd probably be even worse than Suppan. Pretty much just a depth move...if they get anything substantial out of him like the Cards did last year I'll be surprised.

[erik316wttn]

This is confirmed now per ESPN.

[E.J.]

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=516315

The Brewers and righthanded pitcher Braden Looper have agreed to the terms of a one-year deal plus an option for 2010, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

 

The terms of the option are unclear, and the financial terms of the deal were not reported. However, Looper is expected to get a deal worth about $5 million guaranteed this season, based on the deal that lefthander Randy Wolf signed and Looper's 2008 salary of $5.5 million, according to the newspaper.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Looper is gonna hate pitching in Miller Park with the Brewers defense behind him.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

So the Brewers replace Sheets and Sabathia with Looper?

 

I have to say, while I think our team may not be as good next season, I think pretty much the whole division has taken more steps back than we.

[erik316wttn]

So the Brewers replace Sheets and Sabathia with Looper?

 

I have to say, while I think our team may not be as good next season, I think pretty much the whole division has taken more steps back than we.

 

Yay! We had the least crappy offseason!!

 

Although I do agree....

[bcl412]

So the Brewers replace Sheets and Sabathia with Looper?

 

I have to say, while I think our team may not be as good next season, I think pretty much the whole division has taken more steps back than we.

 

Yay! We had the least crappy offseason!!

 

Although I do agree....

 

We're the Cubs and I might regret saying this but we should win the division again.

[Ball And Glove]

It might be overly simplistic to say that the Brewers are replacing Sheets and Sabathia with Looper. All Looper really does is make sure Seth McClung isn't the #5 starter, IMO.

 

It does seem like the entire division took some huge steps backward this offseason. The Brewers lost the Sabathia/Sheets combo (although the Opening Day 2009 team will look similar to the pre-Sabathia Brewers, with Gallardo replacing Sheets), the Cubs lost some valuable role players and (at least to me) have some pretty serious depth issues if injuries start piling up, the Cards just sat on their hands all winter, the Pirates made a couple minor signings but should still stink, the Astros didn't improve and may have a tough situation on their hands with Tejada, and the Reds are banking on young talent.

 

I'd be tempted to say that teams like the Brewers and Reds might end up being better than they look on paper due to young players continuing to improve, but you can't count on that happening because strange things happen with young players. J.J. Hardy was supposed to be a weak-hitting shortstop and Rickie Weeks was supposed to be an All-Star by now. Corey Hart, for whatever reason, went months without taking a walk to end the year on a horrible slump after showing decent discipline up to that point. Homer Bailey was supposed to be what Tim Lincecum is.

 

It's still the Cubs' division to lose, but the entire division took about three steps back this winter.

[The Other 15]

It might be overly simplistic to say that the Brewers are replacing Sheets and Sabathia with Looper. All Looper really does is make sure Seth McClung isn't the #5 starter, IMO.

 

It does seem like the entire division took some huge steps backward this offseason. The Brewers lost the Sabathia/Sheets combo (although the Opening Day 2009 team will look similar to the pre-Sabathia Brewers, with Gallardo replacing Sheets), the Cubs lost some valuable role players and (at least to me) have some pretty serious depth issues if injuries start piling up, the Cards just sat on their hands all winter, the Pirates made a couple minor signings but should still stink, the Astros didn't improve and may have a tough situation on their hands with Tejada, and the Reds are banking on young talent.

 

I'd be tempted to say that teams like the Brewers and Reds might end up being better than they look on paper due to young players continuing to improve, but you can't count on that happening because strange things happen with young players. J.J. Hardy was supposed to be a weak-hitting shortstop and Rickie Weeks was supposed to be an All-Star by now. Corey Hart, for whatever reason, went months without taking a walk to end the year on a horrible slump after showing decent discipline up to that point. Homer Bailey was supposed to be what Tim Lincecum is.

 

It's still the Cubs' division to lose, but the entire division took about three steps back this winter.

the Cubs lost some valuable role players and (at least to me) have some pretty serious depth issues if injuries start piling up,

Is there a team that can survive injuries piling up?