Brewers Not Interested In Oliver Perez

As the clock ticks closer and closer to the day that pitchers and catchers report, I assume that Brewer fans are starting to get a bit nervous about their starting rotation. As it stands, Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra are holding down the top two spots and while they've got high ceilings, they're pretty unproven. Behind them it only gets worse with Dave Bush followed by the fading Jeff Suppan followed by Seth McClung. And that's it.

Accordingly, it seems like the Brewers are finding their names attached to rumors involving just about every free agent pitcher left. Unfortunately, Jon Garland is now off the market and today GM Doug Melvin pointedly refuted the Oliver Perez rumors being floated around Milwaukee right now. Apparently, Milwaukee would rather keep some payroll flexibility for the season should they need to make some kind of trade once the season starts.

Of course, that's stupid because they're going into camp with five starters and one of those five is Seth McClung. OF COURSE they're going to need to make some kind of trade once the season starts with a rotation like that. If Oliver Perez is available now and there's no certainty you can get anything better during the season, doesn't it make sense to make a run at him now?

And while we're at it, couldn't the $6 million going towards Trevor Hoffman be put to better use? Wouldn't rotation depth be preferable to a 41-year-old closer that's on the down slope of his career? Gallardo and Parra are better than people realize, I think, but they can't carry a rotation by themselves when neither of them has really even approached 200 innings in a season. With just a little bit of rotation depth, their offense can make them a playoff team again. Without it, I'm not nearly so certain of that.