Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Royals sign Suppan to a minor league contract

3:40 PM  Lee Warren

Jeff Suppan in action for Milwaukee
(Photo: Spaluch1 / Wikimedia Commons)
The Royals signed Jeff Suppan, 36, to a minor league contract yesterday. Suppan re-joins the organization he pitched for from 1998-2002. He arrived in Omaha late last night and was scheduled to join the team today.

Suppan split time between St. Louis and Milwaukee last season, pitching mostly out of the bullpen for the Brewers and he’s open to doing that in Omaha if that’s what Kansas City wants.

“Absolutely,” he told Dick Kaegel. “Last year I was actually fortunate to be in the bullpen and have Trevor Hoffman there, and he really did teach me a lot. I’ve always had great respect for everyone who pitched in the bullpen, but once I was in the bullpen, I had a lot more respect. It’s a very challenging job.”

A couple of days ago, the Storm Chasers’ starting rotation looked to be set with Mike Montgomery, Danny Duffy, Everett Teaford, Kevin Pucetas and Luis Mendoza, but it would make sense to slide Suppan into Mendoza’s spot, given that Mendoza hasn’t shown the ability to get major league hitters out. In 36 games at that level, he has an 8.43 ERA.

Suppan may serve as an insurance policy for a big league rotation that has pitched well so far this season, but probably will need support as the season goes on. Suppan will have to pitch his way on to the big league club, so the Royals didn’t take much of a risk in signing him.

Whatever his role turns out to be in Omaha, he’s an injury or two away from the big leagues again if he performs well while he is here.

Here is a look at his career big league numbers:

Year Age Tm W L W-L% ERA G GS IP H R ER HR BB SO
1995 20 BOS 1 2 .333 5.96 8 3 22.2 29 15 15 4 5 19
1996 21 BOS 1 1 .500 7.54 8 4 22.2 29 19 19 3 13 13
1997 22 BOS 7 3 .700 5.69 23 22 112.1 140 75 71 12 36 67
1998 23 TOT 1 7 .125 5.72 17 14 78.2 91 56 50 13 22 51
1998 23 ARI 1 7 .125 6.68 13 13 66.0 82 55 49 12 21 39
1998 23 KCR 0 0 0.71 4 1 12.2 9 1 1 1 1 12
1999 24 KCR 10 12 .455 4.53 32 32 208.2 222 113 105 28 62 103
2000 25 KCR 10 9 .526 4.94 35 33 217.0 240 121 119 36 84 128
2001 26 KCR 10 14 .417 4.37 34 34 218.1 227 120 106 26 74 120
2002 27 KCR 9 16 .360 5.32 33 33 208.0 229 134 123 32 68 109
2003 28 TOT 13 11 .542 4.19 32 31 204.0 217 98 95 23 51 110
2003 28 PIT 10 7 .588 3.57 21 21 141.0 147 57 56 11 31 78
2003 28 BOS 3 4 .429 5.57 11 10 63.0 70 41 39 12 20 32
2004 29 STL 16 9 .640 4.16 31 31 188.0 192 98 87 25 65 110
2005 30 STL 16 10 .615 3.57 32 32 194.1 206 93 77 24 63 114
2006 31 STL 12 7 .632 4.12 32 32 190.0 207 100 87 21 69 104
2007 32 MIL 12 12 .500 4.62 34 34 206.2 243 113 106 18 68 114
2008 33 MIL 10 10 .500 4.96 31 31 177.2 207 110 98 30 67 90
2009 34 MIL 7 12 .368 5.29 30 30 161.2 200 106 95 25 74 80
2010 35 TOT 3 8 .273 5.06 30 15 101.1 130 61 57 13 37 51
2010 35 MIL 0 2 .000 7.84 15 2 31.0 50 29 27 4 12 18
2010 35 STL 3 6 .333 3.84 15 13 70.1 80 32 30 9 25 33
16 Seasons 138 143 .491 4.69 442 411 2512.0 2809 1432 1310 333 858 1383
162 Game Avg. 11 11 .491 4.69 35 33 200 224 114 104 27 68 110
W L W-L% ERA G GS IP H R ER HR BB SO
KCR (5 yrs) 39 51 .433 4.73 138 133 864.2 927 489 454 123 289 472
STL (4 yrs) 47 32 .595 3.94 110 108 642.2 685 323 281 79 222 361
BOS (4 yrs) 12 10 .545 5.87 50 39 220.2 268 150 144 31 74 131
MIL (4 yrs) 29 36 .446 5.08 110 97 577.0 700 358 326 77 221 302
ARI (1 yr) 1 7 .125 6.68 13 13 66.0 82 55 49 12 21 39
PIT (1 yr) 10 7 .588 3.57 21 21 141.0 147 57 56 11 31 78
NL (9 yrs) 87 82 .515 4.49 254 239 1426.2 1614 793 712 179 495 780
AL (9 yrs) 51 61 .455 4.96 188 172 1085.1 1195 639 598 154 363 603
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/5/2011.

*****

The Omaha World Herald reported today that Omaha Burke High School will be the recipient of the Rosenblatt Stadium scoreboard and video board. Burke’s scoreboard will go to Central High School. Central’s scoreboard will go to Norris Middle School.

Nice to know that the $1.3 million Rosenblatt scoreboard will live on.

Read the entire story: Burke gets Rosenblatt scoreboard

*****

Rob White from the Omaha World Herald did a nice feature about Eric Hosmer today. One particular quote about Hosmer, from Omaha manager Mike Jirschele, stands out:

“He’s one of the best first basemen I’ve had come through in the 12 years I’ve been there,” Jirschele said. “He’s probably the best I’ve seen in the 33 years I’ve been in professional baseball.”

Read the entire story: Hosmer playing above the curve

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