HUNGRY APPETITE

Watching Brewers general manager Doug Melvin these days, I can't help but think of him as one of those Type A maniacs zipping around the neighborhood grocery store. You know the kind: A long list of needs in one hand, a wad of coupons in the other, bopping from aisle to aisle in search of bargains. They get to the checkout and closely monitor the scanner, making sure the prices are correct. They hand over the coupons, carefully arranged by value, to the cashier. They then examine the receipt like it's their last will and testament. Melvin isn't really a maniac, but he's shopped this offseason with a startling level of intent and shows no signs of downshifting. Nor should he be, given that Milwaukee Baseball fans - 3 million strong showed up at Miller Park last season - deserve more than they got in 2009. The last big meal Melvin prepared for us didn't turn out very well and he seems determined to find better ingredients. Not only did the Brewers fail to reprise their National League playoff appearance of 2008, they regressed to an 80-82 record in large part because their pitching was generally awful (5.29 ERA). Melvin took some major steps toward reworking the recipe this week, signing two free agents - starter Randy Wolf and reliever LaTroy Hawkins - to multi-year contracts worth just over $37 million. Melvin surely has to be looking at landing another proven starter, perhaps Doug Davis or Jarrod Washburn. Milwaukee manager Ken Macha said this week that their five-man rotation currently has only three certainties - Wolf, Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra - which says Macha isn't too keen on Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan or anyone else in-house. There are quite a few similarities between Wolf and Suppan, which isn't necessarily a good thing. Both are regarded as great guys in the clubhouse and the community, but both have career ERAs over 4.00, records just north of .500 and, now, big-money contracts with the Brewers . Wolf got a three-year contract worth $29.75 million. Suppan got $42 million over four years after the 2006 season, a deal that's been one-sided almost from the get-go. Wolf has the added issue of having undergone major arm surgery twice since 2005, but it's understandable why Melvin took this risk. Wolf represents an upgrade to what the Brewers have now, he's been durable since the latest operation in 2007 and some of his stats last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers - 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings, a .235 opponent batting average with runners in scoring position and a 7-4 record and 2.78 ERA away from expansive Dodger Stadium - are intriguing to say the least. Hawkins is another gamble. Yes, he had a 2.13 ERA over 63 1 3 innings with Houston last season, but two years and $7.5 million is a lot to invest in a guy who's nearly 37 and known to be erratic. Melvin got ready for this shopping trip like any astute consumer in that he put together a budget and a priority list. He then cut costs wherever possible. That's why center fielder Mike Cameron ($10 million), catcher Jason Kendall ($5 million), shortstop J.J. Hardy ($4.65 million) and pitcher Braden Looper ($6.5 million) have been cut loose and replaced by more cost-effective fare such as center fielder Carlos Gomez ($400,000) and catcher Gregg Zaun ($1.9 million). Gomez was acquired in the Hardy trade with Minnesota, and Zaun was signed as a free agent. Melvin still has some shopping to do this offseason. With another starting pitcher on the list and, perhaps, a multi-year deal to lock up All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder, Melvin has to find the right ingredients to make next season taste better than the last. Contact Andy Baggot at abaggot@madison.com or 608-252-6175.