Bringing Back Suppan: Yea or Nay?

We have a ton of options that could not just replace, but probably outperform Suppan. A minor league deal with an invite to ST is probably the most I’d give him.

he clearly showed that he’s not the same soup that we saw in 06… and even then, he was throwing 87, 88 tops. we can easily replace soup.

MAYBE, offer him a minor league deal, no more. I’d as soon see Lynn or someone else from Memphis make emergency starts next year.

after some hard thought and anyalsis, my calm and collected response is FUCK NO

or to be politically correct – “nay”

Suppan is what he is- a crappy back (way back) of the rotation starter. He’s a last-ditch or insurance signing who should not make any difference to a good major league team this season. We already have a fifth starter, our bullpen is full of better pitchers minus lefty relief. We have PJ Walters, we have Lance Lynn, we have Kyle McClellan, we have Hawksworth, Boggs, Kenshin Kawakami is available and Ken Takahashi is a free agent and Chad Gaudin is still alive. Suppan should be a last-ditch signing or injury insurance picked up at league minimum late in spring training and put on the AA roster. Cliff Lee hasn’t even signed yet- why are we talking about one of the worst starters on the market when we can still speculate about where the best one will end up (bold prediction: not here)?

There a HELL NO!!!!!! option I missed?

As Bullpen coach.

The guy was part of the problem last year, barely making it out of the fifth inning at best. That stretches your ‘pen out and, let’s face it, ‘pen guys are out there because they’re by definition not starters. ’Pen guys throwing big innings is almost never a recipe for success.

so the choice at the end of spring training will be to include a Suppan or Hawksworth as the long man in the bullpen. Suppan would have to sign a deal that allows him to be sent to Memphis until the all star break or so, otherwise signing Suppan would mean releasing a very similar pitcher, less expensive Hawksworth.

Think about it, guys. If the price were right, would it honestly be worse than giving that type of role to Blake Hawksworth or PJ Walters again?

No, it would be exactly the same as giving that type of role to Blake Hawksworth or PJ Walters again. Hence it’s not really worth spending any money on.

the dude just is not very good. Brad Thompson would be better than Jeff Suppan.

… If Suppan is an improvement on this team in any way, then we have no chance of making the playoffs.

it will only be at a Minor League Contract with an invite to ST. This should not happen unless Kyle Lohse decides to waive his no trade clause and the Pirates/Nationals trade nothing to get him but eat his salary (that would be a dream come true). You have a guy named Lance Lynn sitting in the minors who projects to be a 5th starter. He should be the person you look to in order to fill the role, not an old man hanging on to memories of a postseason that earned him millions of dollars.

Suppan, after a superficially decent last couple of months for the Cardinals (with a sub-5.00 ERA) might want to have one last season as a starting pitcher. If that’s the case, you’d think he’s more likely to sign for a bad team needing a cheap 5th starter for the league minimum (Pittsburgh, Arizona, Cleveland etc.) than to sign for us to be a long reliever or on a minor-league deal.

If you are signing him to be a spot starter/long relief, makes sense to me. Some of the non-suppan crap we threw out there last year was just awful. i think he fills a niche. He’s the perfect guy to throw 3-4 innings when one of your starters gets blown out or to start the 12th inning of what seems to be a lot of long duration games as well as the occasional double-header start.

If you are signing him to compete for a fifth spot, I say no.

Generally his numbers are not that good but he had a prolonged time period in Milwaukee where he didn’t throw much before he hooked on here. I think he showed signs that he can give you a 5-6 inning start 10-15 times a year at replacement to above replacement level.

He won’t cost anything if he’s a free agent, but is he a free agent or does he have another year left on his other contract?

I’d much rather have someone in the 6th starter role who at least has the potential to be better than mediocre.