Brewers make four-year contract offer to Suppan

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Brewers have offered a four-year contract to free-agent pitcher Jeff Suppan.

General manager Doug Melvin said Brewers officials met with Suppan and his agent, Scott Leventhal, Tuesday in the Los Angeles area and made a formal offer on Wednesday.

"We stepped up and felt it was important to be known," Melvin said Thursday in a telephone interview, without revealing terms of Milwaukee's proposal.

The offer was first reported Thursday on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Web site.

Suppan and Leventhal met Wednesday with New York Mets officials, who dined the previous night with Barry Zito and his agent, Scott Boras. Zito is likely to reach an agreement before Suppan.

"My gut feeling is, they're going to wait until Zito," Melvin said.

Suppan, a 31-year-old right-hander, was 12-7 with a 4.12 ERA for St. Louis last season and was 1-1 in four postseason starts. He had an 0.60 ERA against the Mets in the NL championship series, earning MVP of the seven-game playoff.

Thus far during the offseason, Milwaukee agreed to a $6 million, two-year contract with second baseman Craig Counsell and to salary arbitration with infielder Tony Graffanino.

-- AP