Bradon Looper has agreed to a one-year deal with the Brewers, according to JSOnline.com:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/39346657.html
Two things of note in the article that seemed to be key factors in choosing Looper: he pitched 199 innings last year, more than any returning starter for the Brewers; he also pitched in the NL Central, so he is already familiar with most of the Brewers’ ’09 opponents.
It will be interesting to see where Looper winds up in the rotation…if he has a great spring (he’ll be in Arizona this year versus Florida last year, so he’ll have a new repertoire of spring training opponents), he may wind up as the #1 starter…pushing Gallardo to #2, and Suppan to #3, which would help both improve their chances of getting wins on the season.
It also means that either Dave Bush or Seth McClung will wind up in the bullpen (as the rotation now looks like Looper, Gallardo, Suppan, Parra, and either Bush or McClung)…which means the bullpen is starting to logjam now with Hoffman, Julio, Riske, Coffey, Stetter, Bush/McClung, Villanueva, and Rule 5 pick Eduardo Morlan…plus Mark DiFelice and Tim Dillard in the mix. Having too many arms is always a nice luxury…and Doug Melvin’s phone will be ringing off the hook if all do well.
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