THURSDAY, 6:18pm: Tom Haudricourt writes that the Brewers have designated Vinny Rottino for assignment to make room for Looper on the 40-man roster. Rottino, a 28-year-old catcher, was stuck behind Jason Kendall, Mike Rivera and Angel Salome on the organizational depth chart.
5:16pm: Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports that the deal is now official.
Looper’s 2010 option is worth $6MM and comes with a $750K buyout. That buyout increases to $1MM if he starts 30 games or 180 innings this season.
WEDNESDAY, 2:53pm: According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Brewers’ signing of Braden Looper will be announced tomorrow (assuming he passes his physical). Looper will earn $4.75MM in ’09 and has a mutual option for ’10.
Looper fills a need for the Brewers: someone who can eat innings following the departues of C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets. The Brewers’ rotation will include Yovani Gallardo, Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush, Looper, and Manny Parra. Seth McClung, Chase Wright, and Chris Capuano add additional depth.
