Milwaukee Brewers 2011 - 25 in 25 - Randy Wolf (12 of 25)

There's not a whole lot that I can say about Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Randy Wolf, so once again get ready for a novel chronicling his up and down 2010 season and his future as a member of the starting rotation. One had every right to worry that Wolf was the second coming of Jeff Suppan, or maybe even Suppan put on a wolf mask and "played Wolf" if you will. His 3 year contract at a little over $9 million a season was looking really bad in the first half of the season. How bad? Just about as bad as Wolf's t-shirt in this picture. Seriously, where the hell did he pick that shit up? I hope he didn't get it at Spencer's Gifts at the mall because that would make me put him in the same category as a preteen that thinks beer is a laughing matter. He probably bought it then hung out at the food court with his buddies, eating an Auntie Annie's pretzel and drinking an Orange Julius while waiting for his Mom to come pick him up. You might be assuming that I was talking about Wolf when he was 13 years old and this shirt still fits him as an adult because he is in excellent physical shape. Nope. This happened last fall when the 34 year was back home during the offseason. He's still getting rides from his mother and he's not allowed to stay out past 9pm on a school night. I remember watching him awkwardly interacting with girls when I chaperoned his 8th grade dance last year. I wanted to be the wise mentor and give him some pointers, but it was too much fun watching him trying to figure out where to put his hands on the girls during the slow dances. Eventually he figured it out, but every time she winced when he stepped on her toes Pat Finley and I had a good belly chuckle.

Randy Wolf was signed to be the veteran presence that would eat innings and provide stability in the rotation. Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, we heard it about every single veteran pitcher that we have ever signed. And for the most part, none of them have worked out. And although Wolf struggled mightily during the middle parts of the season he rebounded quite nicely and finished with a 4.13 ERA and 215 innings pitched. Sure it's not nearly as nice as the 3.23 ERA that he had in 2009 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but then again Miller Park is hardly the pitcher's park that Dodger Stadium is. It's not even close, but you can expect that ERA to climb a little bit when he pitches the majority of his games in a hitter friendly ballpark which Miller Park is known to be. Your expectations of Randy Wolf in 2010 shouldn't have been very high. If they were then you were kidding yourself and you probably did the same thing with Jeff Suppan.

And that's why you hate yourself and you cry in your bed alone at night. It's not Wolf and Suppan's fault that your wife/girlfriend left you, it's yours. If you are pointing figures, point it at the man in the mirror and I'm not talking about Michael Jackson. Michael's not into you even though you think that you are hot. Are you a 9 year old boy? If you are you definitely shouldn't be reading this shit. Go to school or go to bed you little bastard. And why are we even worried about Michael Jackson? That dude is dead. I don't care if he came back as a Zombie in the Thriller music video. That was a work of fiction and it is not real, despite how real director John Landis made it look. But why the hell are we talking about that? Because it's 7:49 AM on St. Patrick's Day and I've already started drinking despite the fact that I have to go to work today? Nope, despite that it is the truth. No I did it because John Landis has a connection with Wolves, which is somehow a way to connect that last derailment with Wolves of the Randy persuasion.

Landis directed the fantastic 1981 horror / comedy flick "An American Werewolf in London" which is one of the quintessential 80's classics. But once again, what the hell does that have to do with Randy Wolf? His followers have been known as the Wolfpack and I suppose that I would call myself a member of that pack. Kevin and I wanted to don wolf masks and howl whenever he struck out an opposing batter, but the sombrero thing ultimately won out. We could have done both, but sometimes it's just not right to look like a hot mess of randomness. If I happen to find a cheap wolf mask at Bartz's or some other costume store I will think about picking one up and wearing it in the leftfield bleachers on the days when Wolf is starting. I know that Kevin will join me but I doubt that it will catch on despite the fact that he had wolfpack members when he pitched for Philadelphia. Now the sombrero on the other hand, is an item that will sweep through the Miller Park leftfield bleachers before rapidly consuming every man, woman and child in this world. They can try to fight it but in the end it will be futile to resist.

My wolfpack changes from time to time as members of it grow up and start wolfpacks of their own. I used to consider Aaron and Mike as members of said wolfpack but their have branched out and married women and created babies to strengthen their numbers in the fight against all other rivals that threaten our existence. So where my wolfpack used to be greater it stands now at 4. I know that cousin Kevin is by my side and Timmy and Colleen will run with me if they are not out running errands. But for this video I asked my friend Aaron to join me in discussing Randy Wolf because his opinion on the Brewers #3/4 starter is a hell of a lot different than mine is. Let's just say that he likes Randy Wolf just about as much as I like sobriety.



I will let everybody have a say on topics like this which is why I encourage all of you to sit down with me and discuss the 25 players on the Brewers Opening Day roster. It's obvious by my love for the Brewers that I am a total homer and I overvalue all of our players, leading to some ridiculous predictions for the 2011 season. Sometimes reality has to step in the form of a friend who doesn't think as highly as I do. Aaron for one doesn't care for Randy Wolf and thinks that he will only win 6 games this year. He's going to at least double that because now he is pitching in the spot of the rotation where he should have pitched last year but couldn't because of the lack of talent in front of him. Randy Wolf is not a #2 pitcher, despite the fact that he pitched in that spot in the 2010 rotation. With the acquisition of Greinke and Marcum he can be dropped down to where he belongs at #4 although he might pitch in the #3 spot if manager Ron Roenicke wants to split up his lefties (with the other lefthander being Chris Narveson).

No matter if he is the #3 or #4 starter (with Greinke missing the first few weeks of the season Wolf will start the 3rd and final game in the series against the Cincinnati Reds) Wolf will have a solid year. I'm not looking for him to set the world on fire but I am asking him to be consistent and basically be a .500 starter. Because that is all that we need him to be and in essence that is the reason why we signed him in the first place. So it will be no big shocker to me when he puts up these kind of stats in 2011:

4.11 ERA, 11-10 record, 207 innings pitched, 149 strikeouts, best Brewers player of the late 90's/early 2000's, 3 time NFL MVP, Superbowl Champion and future Hall of Famer. Like the Blessed Holy Trinity of Christianity, Randy Wolf is Three people in one.

Randy Wolf may have been bumped down to where he belongs in the starting rotation with the additions of Greinke and Marcum, but Chris Narveson is back where he has been and should be - the #5 staaaaaartaaarrr. I like Narveson a lot because if you say it like a pirate would you would emphasize the arrrrr and growl a lot when you say it. Which is exactly like I did when I made the video talking about him. Hopefully you have enjoyed the videos that I have made thus far, but I guarantee you it doesn't get any better than the one about Chris Narveson. After many rum punches I thought it would be a good idea to commandeer a playground structure and waive a pirate flag. And it really was a great idea. You're gonna love my video about Narveson, but you have to come back tomorrow to check that shit out. I wish that I could talk like a pirate every day and be accepted by my peers, But that my friends, is a topic that will be covered tomorrow. Roll out the Barrel! We'll have a Barrel of Fun!

- pookon -

www.pookon.com
email: pookondotcom@gmail.com

25 Brewers in 25 Days : Randy Wolf

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