It has been a rough year for the Milwaukee Brewers vs. the odds at sports betting companies. Milwaukee made a change on Monday as they released pitcher Jeff Suppan. The Brewers spend a ton of money on Suppan but he was a consistent loser vs. sportsbetting odds this season.
Sports betting companies don’t give the Brewers much respect in baseball odds because they have played so poorly. Milwaukee has one of the worst records in the league at home. On the road they are below .500 but at least they have been competitive. Perhaps releasing Suppan will wake the team out of their doldrums. Milwaukee signed Suppan to a four-year $42 million dollar deal before the 2007 season. They were expecting the pitcher that was great for the Cardinals in 2006. They never got that player. Suppan was 29-36 with a 5.08 ERA in 97 starts and 13 relief appearances for the Brewers. He was terrible this season, going 0-2 with a 7.84 ERA. The Brewers put him in the bullpen and they saw nothing that indicated Suppan was going to go back into the starting rotation.
Milwaukee still owes Suppan a ton of money. They have to pay him the rest of his $12.5 million salary this season and another $2 million for the buyout for next season. Suppan was taking much of the blame for Milwaukee’s struggles so the Brewers decided to let him go. With a huge salary, Suppan was an easy target for the failures of the Brewers this season. His contract was the biggest in team history when it was signed.
Suppan simply didn’t produce for the Brewers since coming over from St. Louis. He was 12-12 with a 4.62 ERA in 2007 but he fell to a 7-12 record last year vs. the sportsbetting odds with a 5.29 ERA. He was also not very good in the playoffs two years ago when the Brewers played the Philadelphia Phillies as he allowed five runs in less than three innings. Not much has gone right for the Brewers in the last two years and this year they have been a major disappointment. The Brewers are calling up reliever Chris Smith from Triple-A Nashville. He was 2-1 with a 1.71 ERA and he had 16 saves.