For much, much less than $10 million, the Milwaukee Brewers could possibly see Eric Gagne throwing in Miller Park again this year.  They signed him to a minor league deal, and he will be used as insurance in case of injury.  Gagne had a rough go of it last year, going 4-3 with a mediocre 5.44 ERA.  What the numbers don’t say is how well the man turned it around in the final stretches of the season.  In September, Gagne had a 3.09 ERA, and in the Postseason, all he gave up was 1 hit in 2.0 innings pitched, so he certainly showed the capability of being a solid middle reliever.  As long as he accepts the fact that his 98MPH fastball is not coming back, this deal could prove to be very valuable for Milwaukee in the stretch run.

The Milwaukee Brewers officially signed free agent starter Braden Looper on Thursday, February 12, 2009.  The deal is for one year and $4.75 million, with a mutual option for the 2010 season.  Looper has been a reliever and closer for most of his career, but for the past two years in a Cardinals uniform, he has made the transition to starter.  In 2007, he went 12-12 with a 4.94 ERA and in 2008, he finished with a 12-14 record, but a much-improved 4.16 ERA.  He will add much needed quality depth to the Milwaukee pitching staff, most likely allowing Seth McClung to move back to the pen.  His 199 innings logged last season would have been first among Brewers starting pitchers in 2008.

Prince Fielder is about to become even a richer man as he is expected to sign a new two-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. Fielder is expected to take a physical and once that comes back ok he will sign his name on a new contract that will pay him $6.5 million in 2009 and $11.5 million in 2010. It would also include a $1 million signing bonus.

Also the team is close to bringing back Craig Counsell. Counsell is from the Milwaukee area and would love to come back and play for the Brewers. Both deals could be announced Friday or Saturday.

The new deal would buy out the first two years of arbitration that Fielder would normally have so in the long haul this deal will probably save them money if they keep Fielder for long term.

The Milwaukee Brewers and J.J. Hardy have agreed on a one-year deal as both sides chose to avoid salary arbitration. Hardy will be making a salary of $4.65 million in 2009 compared to the $2.65 million that he made in the 2008 season.

Nice bump in salary for Hardy, hopefully he can still hit 25-30 home runs while knocking in 80-100 rbi for the team to justify the salary bump.

Brewers Blog

The Milwaukee Brewers have finally done something this offseason as they have signed Trevor Hoffman to a one year deal with a option for second year. The team will not announced the signing until Hoffman passes his physical but everything points to Hoffman being the closer for the Brewers in 2009.

Hoffman is expected to be paid $6 million and also have another $1.5 million in incentives that he can reach.

Brewers Blog

Free agents CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets and Brian Shouse were offered salary arbitration Monday by the Brewers, ensuring Milwaukee will receive compensatory picks in next year’s amateur draft if they sign elsewhere.

Sabathia and Sheets are Type A free agents. Milwaukee would receive two draft picks if they sign with another club.

Shouse is a Type B free agent. Milwaukee would receive one supplemental draft pick if the left-hander leaves.

All three players have until Sunday to accept the offers.

Milwaukee declined to offer arbitration to right-hander Eric Gagne, who signed a $10 million, one-year deal before last season.

Former Oakland Athletics manager Ken Macha has been hired by the Milwaukee Brewers to take over the managers position for the 2009 season. Macha had previously coached the A’s and took them to a pair of American League West titles while going 368-260.

Macha signed a two year contract with the Brewers. Macha was considered the lead candidate to become Brewers manager six years ago when Melvin became GM, but Macha was promoted from bench coach to manager in Oakland.

Macha was chosen over Willie Randolph and Bob Brenly for the managers position.

Brewers Transactions

Jeff Suppan was roughed up for 5 runs in 3.0 innings of work, not exactly living up to his playoff hero billing.  Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a home-run, Pat Burrell hit a 3-run blast in the 3rd, and Jayson Werth hit one of his own right after, giving the Phils an insurmountable 5-0 lead.  The Brewers offense did next to nothing against Joe Blanton, and Prince Fielder’s solo blast in the 7th (Milwaukee’s only round-tripper of the Post Season) and Ryan Braun’s RBI single in the 8th provided the only runs.  Ever the battlers throughout 2008, the Brewers’ hopes finally died on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park before an energetic, but obviously stunned, crowd 43,934.  CC Sabathia made likely his last appearance in a Brewers’ uniform, pinch-hitting in the 3rd inning and striking out.  Burrell hit another off of Guillermo Mota in the 8th, putting any hope of a Milwaukee comeback to rest.  Brad Lidge didn’t earn a save, but shut down the Crew in the 9th, sending his club to the NLCS.

Offensive MVP: Phillies LF Pat Burrell (3-4/2R/2HR/4RBI/0BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: Phillies SP Joe Blanton (6.0IP/5H/1ER/0BB/7SO/1HR/Win-1st)

Alex’s Take:

This was an ugly game, but 2008 was a tremendous step forward for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club.  Jeff Suppan should shoulder a lot of the blame for the loss, but the offense had been hand-cuffed all series long, and couldn’t come through when they needed to.  The Crew is a very young team, though, so there is a good amount of hope on the horizon, providing the starting pitching, which should be very young, comes through.

The Dave Bush-led Brewers were believed by 100% of TBS analysts to be swept by the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday evening in Milwaukee.  Good thing they’re analysts and not prophets.  The Brewers jumped out to a 1st inning 2-0 lead thanks to some tremendous patience at the plate against the 45-year-old Jamie Moyer.  Mike Cameron and Bill Hall walked to start things off and took 2nd and 3rd on a wild pitch.  Ryan Braun struck out, but Prince Fielder drove in Cameron with a sac fly.  With two gone, J.J. Hardy ripped a single into left that gave the Crew another run.  Braun hit a sac fly in the 5th to make it 3-0, but his offense stranded the bases loaded in that frame.

Bush threw 5.1 innings, yielding 5 hits, no walks, struck out 3, and gave up only 1 run.  In the 6th, Jayson Werth hit the ball out to deep right, where Corey Hart tumbled into the wall with the ball in his glove, but lost his grip on it when he came crashing to the ground.  The play turned into a triple, and Bush was pulled in favor of the young lefty Mitch Stetter, who induced an RBI groundout to big Ryan Howard.  Carlos Villanueva then retired Pat Burrell for the final out.  The pitcher was allowed to hit for himself with one out in the 6th, and singled.  Mike Cameron and Bill Hall did likewise, but Ryan Braun struck out and Prince Fielder flew out to shallow left.  Villanueva proceeded to throw a flawless 7th.

Two veterans chipped in in the 7th to provide a little insurance.  J.J. Hardy led things off with a single and made it to second on a beautiful sac bunt by Corey Hart.  Craig Counsell (owner of two World Series rings) then hit a tough chopper on the right side of the mound and dove headfirst onto the first base bag for an infield single.  Another vet, backstop Jason Kendall lined a run-scoring single to left right after.  Eric Gagne worked around a Jayson Werth double for a scoreless 8th (he retired former Brewer outfielder Geoff Jenkins, who finally got his Milwaukee Post Season appearance, for out number 1).

In the 9th, things got very interesting for Salomon Torres, who surrendered singles to the first three men to greet him.  The bases were juiced with nobody out, but Torres threw a sharp slider that Pedro Feliz chopped into a double play.  A run originally scored on the play, but due to the fact that Shane Victorino bowled over the fielding Counsell at second without sliding, interference was ruled, and Ryan Howard had to return to third base.  The next batter, Carlos Ruiz, bounced back to Torres, who flipped the ball to Fielder at first to seal the 4-1 victory.  Not since Game 5 of the 1982 World Series had the Brewers won a Post Season game.

Offensive MVP: J.J. Hardy (3-4/1R/1RBI/0BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: Dave Bush (5.1IP/5H/1ER/0BB/3SO/0HR/Win-1st)

Alex’s Take:

This was a much-needed win.  It forced a Game 4 featuring Jeff Suppan squaring off against Phillies’ righty Joe Blanton.  The offense looked very patient at the plate on Saturday, and that is the only hope the Crew has of winning tomorrow and giving Sabathia another shot on Tuesday.  Suppan will have to prove that he is truly an October pitcher as well, and that Doug Melvin was wise to invest so much money in him.

Big plays have cost the Brewers the first two playoff games in 2008.  On Wednesday it was a misplayed ball by Mike Cameron in center field.  On Thursday it was an unbelievable at-bat by the Phillies pitcher Brett Myers (who battled Sabathia for a walk after being down 0-2) and a grand slam by Shane Victorino in the 2nd inning that did the Crew in.  The offense was stifled by Myers, who through 7.0 strong innings, and only managed a run off of a J.J. Hardy bases-loaded walk in the 1st and a Craig Counsell RBI groundout in the 7th.  With the bases juiced, Myers losing his command, and a run already in with 1-out, Corey Hart swung at the first pitch, grounding out weakly into a double play.  His decision was atrocious and cost the Brewers the game any way you look at it.  The bullpen continued to impress, shutting down the Phils after Sabathia’s short and shaky start ended.  The Brewers are facing almost insurmountable odds, as teams down 0-2 in NLDS series have lost the series 16 out of 16 times.  The 1982 Brewers, an AL team, did fall down 0-2 in the ALCS (before the current divisional format), but came back to win the final 3 games at Milwaukee County Stadium.  That sent them to the Suds Series against St. Louis, who won in 7.