Milwaukee Brewers: Five worst free agent signings

The Milwaukee Brewers have had little success in free agency through the years. What follows is a list of the five worst free agent signings in team history.

The good news is that none of the players on this list were acquired by current GM David Stearns. However, the bad news is it seems the Milwaukee Brewers might be cursed in free agency.

Not every player they’ve signed turned out to be a bad deal. Jose Hernandez and Mike Cameron, just to name a few, provided some value to the Brewers. However, more often than not, Milwaukee swings and misses when trying to sign free agents.

There’s a simple explanation for the Brewers lack of success historically. It all boils down to the size of the market. Milwaukee is a small market franchise that players generally don’t desire to play for. Top players cost too much money, meaning the Brewers usually go after lesser players to begin with. That narrative could be changing, but only time will tell.

So before you get all up in arms about the Brewers lack of activity this off season, remember the grass isn’t always greener. It would be exciting if Milwaukee added some pieces. However, signing free agents is an inexact science, and sometimes can do more harm than good.

For the purpose of this list, only players signed as free agents were under consideration. Waiver claims, trades, and Rule 5 selections were not considered.

The amount and length of the contract is important in determining this list. However, the deciding factor came down to performance with the Milwaukee Brewers relative to their career prior.

(Dis)Honorable Mention

When the Milwaukee Brewers signed Franklin Stubbs they thought they were getting a stalwart at first base to lead the franchise through the early 1990’s. Instead they got an injury prone, inconsistent, and below average player.

In the two seasons before joining Milwaukee Stubbs slashed .267/.344/.474 over 215 games. In 195 games Stubbs slashed a meager .220/.288/.363 for the Brewers. He hit only 20 home runs while driving in a measly 80 runs. He gave very little value for the money he earned.

Stubbs is only one of the many cautionary tales Brewers fans should keep in mind when hoping for that off-season splash. The interesting thing about this list is how often the Milwaukee Brewers have swung hard and missed on pitchers. Without further ado let’s get this list started with our fifth worst free agent signing.

Eric Gagne was destined to be included in this list despite only signing a one-year deal worth $10 million. The only question was what number he would be. Had this deal been for more than the one year with the Milwaukee Brewers, he definitely would have ranked higher.

The Milwaukee Brewers always seem to be a day late and a dollar short when signing free agents. When The Crew signs a big name player, usually that name has faded far from anybody’s mind.

Enter former Cy Young award-winning, admitted PED abusing, closer Eric Gagne. For a three-year stretch with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was damn near unhittable. He pitched 247 innings with 365 strikeouts and only 58 walks while compiling 152 saves between 2002-2004. PED aided or not, those are some really good numbers.

Gagne pitched in only 16 games, due to injury, over the next two seasons before signing with the Texas Rangers in 2007. In 33 1/3 innings for Texas he had 16 saves with a 2.16 ERA. Texas traded him to the Boston Red Sox at the ’07 trade deadline.

After pitching 18 2/3 innings with an ERA at 6.75 with zero saves for the Red Sox, then Milwaukee Brewers GM Doug Melvin signed Gagne for $10 million in December 2007. Overpaying is about the only way a small market franchise like the Brewers can acquire a former Cy Young winner. However, injuries and age had taken its toll on Gagne by this point, and he was terrible in Milwaukee.

He pitched in 50 games for the Brewers in 2008. He finished 16, with only 10 saves and a 5.44 ERA. Once known for his ability to limit walks, he walked an astounding 22 batters while only recording 38 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings pitched.

The Milwaukee Brewers made the playoffs in 2008 and Gagne played no role in helping them get there. Brewers fans remember Gagne for his glasses constantly fogging up more than anything. You would think a $10 million man could afford a good pair of specs. You would also think a former Cy Young could still get big outs. Neither one of those was the case, and thankfully he was only around for one year with The Crew.

In 2008 the Milwaukee Brewers went all in for a playoff push. The Crew started planting the seeds during the off-season, stockpiling reliable bullpen arms.

By no means was David Riske a high-profile addition by the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the 2008 season. Milwaukee was rebuilding the bullpen, and Riske was at the forefront, and he signed a three-year deal worth $12.25 million.

Prior to signing with the Brewers Riske had a lot of success in the American League. Over 393 games, and 431 innings pitched, he had a 3.40 ERA with 398 strikeouts. His 3.8 BB/9 was a bit high, but the evidence of his effectiveness was there.

Doug Melvin, the Milwaukee Brewers General Manager at the time, was building a contender in Milwaukee. Riske was one of the first relievers signed heading into ’08. Along with the acquisitions of Gagne and Guillermo Mota, the bullpen was thought to be a strength heading into the season.

For eight seasons Riske consistently navigated American League lineups. With his consistent success, Milwaukee figured to have the middle innings figured out for a few years. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

Well, as you’ve already read Gagne flopped. Mota was serviceable, but far from spectacular, and it was always risky to put Riske in any close games. The move to the National League may have hampered Riske, or maybe it was age, either way he could not get the job done.

He pitched 42 1/3 innings over 45 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in ’08 with only 27 strikeouts and a whopping 25 walks. Riske allowed hitters to reach at a .280 clip with a 1.70 WHIP, proving unreliable for down the stretch.

Even with the two misfires in free agency by Melvin, the Milwaukee Brewers STILL managed to make the playoffs in 2008. Riske barely made it through his contract with the Brewers, never appearing at the Major League level again.

Unlike some of the players on this list, Jeff Suppan never really had a prime during his career. His career was the definition of mediocrity.

Unfortunately, one hot stretch lured the Milwaukee Brewers into signing Jeff Suppan to a four-year deal worth $40 million. Capitalizing on a strong postseason with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006, the Brewers were somehow convinced that his 4.60 career ERA was worth this contract.

Prior to 2007, he was 106-101 while averaging 25 starts and only 87 strikeouts per season before joining the Brewers. The Milwaukee Brewers were just at the start of a stretch of contention, something the fan base needed, and vastly overpaid for Suppan. However, he must have used some mighty Jedi mind tricks or something  on Doug Melvin. How else can you explain that contract?

If Suppan signs for half of that amount, Brewers fans would probably feel different about him. However, expectations are heightened when you’re making $10 million a season. Suppan never came close to delivering on those expectations, about all he delivered were headaches every fifth day.

How bad was Suppan in Milwaukee?

For his career with the Milwaukee Brewers, Suppan was, as you would expect, mediocre at best. Search the word ‘mediocre’ in Google Image and Suppan’s picture would probably be at the top. Not counting his 15 games in 2010, Suppan was 29-34 with a 4.93 ERA and a paltry 4.7 K/9.

However, Suppan was durable for that three-year stretch with the Milwaukee Brewers. He never had fewer than 30 starts over that time. Milwaukee always seems to need all the pitching they can get, so the durability was nice.

It’s unfortunate because those Brewers teams could have used more from Suppan. This organization broke a 26-year playoff drought in 2008 and Suppan was part of that. The only real regret is that it cost $40 million for that to happen, to go along with the four years of frustration.

Therein lies the biggest hurdle in being a small market team. Milwaukee is usually overlooked by top-tier free agents so they’re forced to overpay for mediocrity. Thankfully for Suppan, Matt Garza has stolen the “wow what were they thinking” crown away from him.

Similar to Gagne, the Milwaukee Brewers signed Matt Garza after his prime. Unfortunately they paid top dollar, for the Brewers anyway, and Garza didn’t amount to whole lot in The Cream City.

Early in his career, especially with the Tampa Bay Rays, Matt Garza was a beast on the mound. His intensity and antics made watching his starts fun, and he backed it all up with an electric fastball. However, that is not the version of Garza the Milwaukee Brewers signed to a four-year deal worth $50 million.

Garza had his success against The Crew while with the rival Chicago Cubs. Signing him was exciting news, for about five seconds, then you remembered it was Matt “Friggin” Garza. This is easily one of the worst contracts in Brewers history, but it wasn’t ALL bad.

Garza’s career with the Brewers

Garza was surprisingly solid in his first season with the Brewers. Although he spent some time on the DL, a recurring theme during his time in Milwaukee, Garza did make 27 starts. He finished the 2014 season 8-8 with a 3.64 ERA and 126 strikeouts.

However, that was the high point for Garza with the Milwaukee Brewers. His numbers slipped drastically in 2015 as his ERA ballooned to 5.63. He managed to start 25 games that year, but he was ineffective the entire season.

It all came to a head late in the ’15 season when Garza reportedly refused to transition to the bullpen for the Brewers. After struggling all season, the team shut Garza down in September. With two more seasons still remaining on his contract, fans hoped this would be the end of Garza’s time in Milwaukee.

Unfortunately, that time wasn’t over just yet. He pitched two more injury plagued, uninspiring, seasons for Milwaukee. Garza became the new Jeff Suppan as the butt of all Brewers jokes. Thankfully, his contract expired at season’s end, making him a free agent.

Fans were never surprised by another injury to Garza, rather the surprise was always how long he stayed healthy between DL stints. When he was healthy, he was a complete shell of his former self and provided very little value for his time spent in Milwaukee. His one season of competent pitching is the only thing that kept Garza from being number one on this list, barely.