Brewers owner not willing to waive white flag for '10 yet

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MILWAUKEE - Brewers’ owner Mark Attanasio says he’s not ready to give up on the season yet.

Milwaukee is 10 games under .500. And if that continues, the Brewers could return to the days when they traded their some of their best players to contenders in July for prospects. But Attanasio says no team is in that mode yet – and it probably won’t start until late June. If the Brewers can put together some wins, Attanasio says he would not be against expanding the team’s payroll for the stretch run – but they’d have to get back to .500 first.

Attanasio also said money did not delay the Brewers’ decision to cut struggling pitcher Jeff Suppan on Monday. He’s still owed around 10-million-dollars, but Attanasio says those things are part of the budget – and he’ll be able to absorb it. He also denied telling general manager Doug Melvin to keep Suppan on the team for financial reasons. Attanasio said he has never done such a thing with any player, and those decisions all belong to Melvin.

The owner also said he’s not ready to cut ties yet with 42-year-old reliever Trevor Hoffman. He said he’d love to see Hoffman return to the closer’s role – and he has not given up on Hoffman getting the four saves he needs to reach 600 for his career.

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