Milwaukee Brewers Lose CC Sabathia to Yankees
Brewers Offseason Priorities Now on Finding a Starter and Closer
RHP Yovani Gallardo missed most of Milwaukee’s 2008 season in which they made the playoffs for the first time in his life. The 22 year-old right-hander performed tremendously after being called up in 2007, and he pitched miraculously well in late in 2008 (1.88 ERA) in a very high pressure atmosphere after coming off a season-long knee injury.
Yovani Gallardo Cancels Out Potential Loss of Ben Sheets
Gallardo pitches with the stuff of a young gun and the mental disposition of a surly veteran. He proved in 2007-08 that he can make the mental adjustments within a game to succeed in the MLB. All he has left to prove is that he can make adjustments game-to-game as teams analyze him on tape and change their approaches. If he does that, Gallardo will make up for the loss of Sheets.
Why the Brewers Can Contend in 2009 without CC Sabathia
Since Gallardo makes up for Sheets, the Brewers only have to find one strong pitcher to make up one half of a season of CC Sabathia. With many quality starters still on the market and Milwaukee’s deep pool of prospects to dangle in front of trade suitors, finding a “half-Sabathia” type pitcher is not impossible.
The Brewers have Gallardo, innings eaters RHP Jeff Suppan and RHP Dave Bush, and 26 year-old LHP Manny Parra who pitched brilliantly at times in 2008 and will only improve with experience. Many MLB clubs would love to have a four player base to their rotation that looked as favorable as Milwaukee’s.
Brewers Need Closer Too
Along with signing one more front-end of the rotation starter so that RHP Seth McClung and RHP Carlos Villanueva can remain in the bullpen and give the Brewers depth in case of an injury to a starter, Milwaukee needs to sign an experienced closer in order to contend in 2009.
As of December 11, 2008, the Brewers have added former closers RHP Jorge Julio and RHP Todd Coffey to their bullpen. But, Milwaukee would prefer that those players remain in the setup role due to past failures handling the final three outs in games.
New Milwaukee Manager Ken Macha worries about the need for a good closer.
“I always thought it was difficult to play an entire game and then get to the ninth inning and lose. I always thought the closer was very important,” Macha told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Brewers Options for New Closer Disappearing
With RHP Francisco Rodriguez (Mets), LHP J.J. Putz (Mets) and RHP Kerry Wood (Indians) off the market, the last big fish is Colorado free agent closer LHP Brian Fuentes who is seeking between 10 and 13 million dollars per season. That price tag is high, but Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin said the team is not interested in future Hall of Fame closer RHP Trevor Hoffman so Fuentes is being strongly considered.
Melvin seems to be of the philosophy that closers can just pop up out of nowhere from within the team because of Milwaukee’s past luck. In 2002 RHP Mike DeJean saved 27 games, between 2003-04 RHP Dan Kolb racked up 60 saves, in 2005-06 RHP Derrick Turnbow saved 63 games, in 2007 RHP Francisco Cordero saved 44 and in 2008 RHP Salomon Torres rescued the Brewers after the Gagne disaster by notching 28 saves.
Hoping to get lucky is a risky road to take, but history shows it can be done.
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