Brewers Sign Riske

The Brewers finally finalized a deal with 31 year old journeyman reliever David Riske. The deal is three years, 13 million with a chance to raise in upwards of 20 million as well a 4.75 club option for 2011.

Last off-season Riske signed with a two year deal the Royals but thanks to reaching 60 games the 2008 part of the contract became a player option and Riske - not being a fool - opted to try the open market yet again and try and raise his 2.85 million dollar salary for 2008, he did, but is he a house of cards?

A 2.45 ERA was his lowest since 2003 when he was a member of the Indians pen, despite having a WHIP of 1.263 - extremely close to his career average. Last year he had a VORP near 23, but his PERA numbers have always been substantially higher than his actually ERA and his BABIP sat around .268, about .022 points lower than xBABIP, something that his career has held true for the most part - luck that is.

It's very possible by the end of the deal Riske has an implosion, but perhaps he's one of those rare breeds that escapes the numbers game and leaves us stat heads perturbed at how the heck he did it. Derrick Turnbow and David Riske ending games for the Brewers has the potential for explosion - either good or bad.