In the offseason, the Brewers signed left handed pitcher Randy Wolf to a 3 year $29.75 million dollar contract. At first I was pretty excited about this because we desperately needed quality pitching. The 9 Brewers starters that were used in 2009 combined for a National League worst 5.37 ERA. I thought that the Baltimore Orioles were worse than us, but further review shows they also had a starters ERA of 5.37. So congratulations 2009 Milwaukee Brewers starters - you were officially the worst group of pitchers in the entire League. So Brewers GM Doug Melvin was forced to do whatever he possibly could do to correct that problem. Even if it meant overpaying for Randy Wolf. It will take 3 years to get the final results to see if Wolf was worth it, but in the wake of losing players like Fielder, Weeks and Hart, Melvin had no choice but to try and fill the biggest hole on the team and make a push to return back to the playoffs.Baseball is currently trending towards young cheap talent. Superstars will still get the big bucks, but there's a reason that players like Braden Looper still don't have a job. No one wants to pay veterans large amounts of money if they aren't guaranteed to perform at a high level. Wolf was coming off his best year since 2003, and he was the 2nd best free agent starter on the market to John Lackey, who signed with the Boston Red Sox for 5 years, $82.5 million. I like the Wolf signing if he gives us a low 4 / high 3 ERA. Any higher than 4.4 and it has the symptoms of turning into overpaying a veteran who is no better than the #5 starter. Like Jeff Suppan. The nice thing about Wolf is that he is a lefty and has a career ERA of 4.13. So even if he plays at his career average, he should still throw 190 innings and give up 4 or less runs per game. And that's fine with me.
Wolf is going to be counted on to provide a stabilzing force in the starting rotation. Gallardo is going to be the #1 pitcher and will perform up to the expectations of that. We know exactly what we are going to get from the #3 pitcher, the reacquired Doug Davis, but the last 2 spots in the starting rotation have yet to be determined from a group of pitchers including Jeff Suppan, Manny Parra, Dave Bush and Chris Narveson. Regardless of who occupies those spots, Wolf must have a good year and be on par with #2/3 pitchers of opposing teams or else we're gonna be in trouble. I hate to put too much pressure on a single player, but Randy Wolf has to remain steady all year if we are going to contend for a Division Title or the Wild Card. I can't say it enough, and I'm sure this won't be the last time you hear it from me, but pitching and defense is the recipe for success. And adding Randy Wolf to that mix should certainly sweeten that pot. He will be one of the players I will be keeping a watchful eye upon because like I said, the last thing that we need is another Suppan.I'll get into the Suppan contract when I write my entry about him, but basically we gave him over $10 million a year for 4 years and it has really come back to bite us in the ass. In no way, shape or form has Suppan earned a dime of that money. We'll probably always remember how bad "Soup" burned us, but Randy Wolf can help alleviate that pain by picking right up where he left off last year. It's going to be a challenge since he will pitch the majority of his games at Miller Park, which certainly allows more homeruns than Dodger Stadium where he pitched last year. To be honest with you I'm getting tired of speculating on the future and I'm getting all antsy for the season to start so that we can see how everything shakes out.
The most exciting thing about the Randy Wolf signing is that I now have a new quasi-sexual phrase to yell out at Miller Park that won't get me in trouble - WOLF MAKES ME RANDY!!! Last year the Loge Level probably had enough of me shouting JJ MAKES ME HARDY!! because I did it whenever the opportunity presented itself. But near the end of the year when Hardy lost playing time to Alcides Escobar and Craig Counsell, I had to resort to yelling other suggestive things that weren't as hilarious. The Wolf signing also got me excited because I had another opportunity to bring attention to myself and get back on TV. I was really looking forward to the 2010 season because I was going to start the Wolf Pack. I had this really great idea to get a group of guys together, go to all the games that Randy Wolf pitched, wear wolf masks and gloves and howl whenever he struck out a batter. I thought that it was the greatest idea ever. As I made preparations, I told one of my friends about this idea. He humored me for a minute then said, "Kind of like what the fans did in Philadelphia?" I stared blankly at him while he told me that this was not an original idea. I didn't believe it until I Googled it. For some reason reading about it on the Internet made it seem more real. So my idea was shot because I didn't want to come off as a cheap imitation. But that still won't stop me from wearing my sombrero at every game and howling towards the moon when Wolf strikes out a batter. I'm pretty sure that has never been done before. Now just don't try and steal my idea.
But about 2 weeks ago I didn't have to purchase a wolf mask because I was well on my way to being a wolf. I was growing out my beard and hair in an effort to be cast in Teen Wolf 3: Fat Teen Wolf. One drunken night I recorded an episode of the Pookcast where I laid out my entire plan. I have since shaved off the beard because the movie studios were not interested in my movie idea. It probably would have helped it I wrote up a script as well, but I never got out of the development and initial casting phase. What does that have to do with Randy Wolf? Nothing, but I needed an excuse to post this picture somewhere. Randy Wolf looks nothing like a wolf, but he can be hungry like one and prey upon the opposing batters if he puts up a stat line like the one that I am predicting for 2010:3.85 ERA, 13-10 record, 203 innings pitched, 152 strikeouts, 1 howl from me for every strikeout.
The 2010 season won't be made or broken by the performance of Randy Wolf. That distinction goes to players like Rickie Weeks, Corey Hart and Manny Parra. But Randy Wolf will have a big say in deciding the Brewers overall fate. By the career stats that he has put up, he most certainly is better than any of the pitchers (with the exception of Gallardo) that we had on the team last year. If he performs like he should, he will slot nicely in the #2 or #3 spot in the starting rotation. For now he will be taking the ball for the first time (when it counts) in the second game of the season on April 6th against the Colorado Rockies, because the #3 spot belongs to newly reacquired pitcher Doug Davis. Davis pitched for the Brewers from 2004 - 2006 then was sent to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a trade that in retrospect should have never happened. I always liked Doug Davis and I am glad that he is back in a Brewers uniform, even if he adds another left arm into a rotation that is already lefty-heavy. But that my friends, is a topic that will be covered tomorrow. Brewers! Brewers! Keep Turnin' Up the Heat!
- pookon -
www.pookon.com
email: pookondotcom@gmail.com
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