Brewers News: Brent Suter Signs Multi-Year Contract, Avoiding Arbitration

The Milwaukee Brewers had two players enter the arbitration process. First Josh Hader’s case was resolved, and now Brent Suter.

While the Brewers took Josh Hader to an arbitration hearing and defeated him, the Brewers avoided the hearing with Brent Suter, instead signing him to a multi-year contract.

The Brewers announced the deal on Twitter Sunday afternoon.

Suter was scheduled to have his arbitration hearing on Monday, but the Brewers were able to avoid that hearing. This was Suter’s first year as an arbitration eligible player.

But heading into this hearing, Suter had requested a $1.25MM salary while the Brewers had filed for an $825k salary for Suter. Adam McCalvy had the financial details

Both sides settle in the middle for 2020, with a $900k salary for this year, and a solid $1.5MM base salary for next year. With his incentives, Suter can earn more money by staying healthy in 2020 with increased innings totals. Reaching those 100+ IP totals will be quite difficult if he stays in the bullpen, however.

Brent Suter’s Stats

For the first few years of his career, Suter was a starting pitcher, mostly pitching at the back of the rotation, spending some time as a long reliever. He rarely made it beyond the 5th inning, as his soft-tossing style started losing effectiveness his second and third time through the batting order. He had solid numbers, posting a 3.42 ERA in 2017 and a 3.32 ERA in 2016.

In July 2018, Suter tore his UCL and underwent Tommy John Surgery, and his career was put on hold. His rehab from TJS went exceptionally well, and he was able to come back in September 2019. He dominated in his return, pitching to a 0.49 ERA in 18.1 IP, and the only run he gave up was in his first game back.

Suter was electric out of the bullpen, pitching in a multi-inning role, similar to what Josh Hader’s role has been, but with a large difference between their pitching styles. But that contrast helps the Brewers out, softening up opposing hitters with an 87 MPH fastball from Suter, and following it up with the 97 MPH heat from Hader, making both pitchers more effective.

Heading into 2020, Suter is likely to stay in the bullpen, in that multi-inning role, possibly getting a spot start every now and then. The Brewers are in a good position to use Suter however they need him. With the current starting pitching depth they have, the Brewers can more comfortably put Suter in the bullpen.

With pitchers like Suter, Hader, and whoever misses out on the starting rotation, the Brewers will have several multi-inning weapons out of the bullpen.

Suter was already under contractual control through 2023 as a Super Two eligible player, and this doesn’t add on any more years. This deal just ensures that he won’t go through the arbitration process in 2021 and prevents him from being a non-tender candidate after the 2020 season by having a guaranteed contract.

The Milwaukee Brewers have all their arbitration cases settled heading into the 2020 season, and have Suter out of the way for next year’s cases, too.