Brewers Release David Riske; Make Room for Gomez

To clear room for Carlos Gomez, whose DL stint is over, the Brewers released David Riske Monday. The move was a longtime coming considering Riske's struggle to stay healthy and poor performance.

Riske signed a three-year deal worth $13 million in the 2007 offseason. The contract will go among the worst in franchise history. Worse yet, it was just another failed pitching signing by Brewers GM Doug Melvin.

In his three years in Milwaukee, Riske was constantly battling injuries. Riske had an elbow injury from the start of his contract. He ended up having to undergo Tommy John Surgery last June, missing almost of all 2009 and a large chunk of 2010. Here are Riske's season statistics as a Brewer.

2008: 42.1 IP, 5.31 ERA, 47 Hits, 25 BB, 27 K's, 5.47 FIP
2009: 1.0 IP, 18.00 ERA, 4 Hits, 0 BB, 0 K's, 3.10 FIP
2010: 23.1 IP, 5.01 ERA, 25 Hits, 8 BB, 16 K's, 4.12 FIP

Taking those numbers into account, over his tenure in Milwaukee, Riske managed to rack up a -0.6 WAR. Using fair market value, Riske's performance actually produced a negative performance based salary of $3 million. Not a very good return on the Brewers original $13 million investment. The contract might not be as bad as Jeff Suppan's, but few are and Riske's isn't that far off.

Another troubling decision today was the Brewers bringing Carlos Gomez back. With the return of Gomez, the Brewers now have too many outfielders, with too few spots for them to play.

With the additions of Lorenzo Cain and Chris Dickerson, Gomez immediately became the worst outfielder on the team. There is absolutely no justification for Gomez taking playing time from either player. He has options remaining, so why not put him in Nashville? I don't think he will ever amount to anything, but why not give him everyday playing time in Nashville. If there is something there, playing in Nashville can only help him. Taking playing time from Cain and Dickerson is the worst thing the Brewers can do for the remainder of the season.

Now that Riske is now done in Milwaukee, the Brewers have almost rid themselves of every useless player on their roster. I fear Gomez will be given too many chances in the future and I truly believe it is in the best interest of the club to release him. Time will tell the intentions of the Brewers, but tendering a contract for Gomez next season seems pretty dumb.