Brent Suter no longer being a Milwaukee Brewer is very sad. I first joined the Sports Twitter world in May of 2022. I have written about it at length in a previous blog, but I was originally BrewersMoose for Mike Moustakas.
Obviously, he was no longer a Brewers after the 2019 season. Choosing Brent was the obvious choice. The pictures were great. Calling myself “Brent Suter’s Actual Raptor” was fun and pretending to be a raptor most of the time was great. I’ve met great people and had a good time. Well, most of the time.
When the non-tender deadline was approaching for MLB this season, I had a feeling Suter might be a part of it. I had to be prepared. Brent was owed $3.1M. And while he deserved every penny of that, I could see them possibly non-tendering him and try to bring him back for cheaper. For a small market team, you can get two relievers for that price instead of one. Is that the correct way of thinking? Of course not.
Brent Suter and the Brewers
Suter was the longest-tenured Brewer. That means he had been on the Brewers roster the longest of anyone. He got that title after Manny Pina left last season. That role now lies with Brandon Woodruff. I liked Brent Suter already, but now looking back at it, I couldn’t have picked a better player to have a fun account for.
Suter has been nominated for the Roberto Clemente award for three straight years now. That basically means you are making a huge difference both on-and-off the field. Brent cares for our planet and people, and has helped raise a lot of money for environmental causes. Both locally and nationally. He even converted a lot of the players to have re-usable water bottles instead of carrying around plastic ones all the time. Does everyone do it? Of course not. But trying is better than nothing. The man cares, and the size of heart is always on display.
Obviously, it’s not hard to identify with Suter as a comedian and performer. He’s famous for his Jim Carrey impression and Brewers videos they did for years. He’s always a good interview. He’s smart, fun and every beat reporter had nothing but good things to say about him. It was amazing being imaginary-linked to him haha. I am pretty sure I just made up a phrase. Also the fact that his little kid can already quote Austin Powers is now bucket list stuff for me.
Knowing Brent Suter
The question I got the most is did Brent actually know you and how much did he know about you. At first, nothing at all. I would make random comments and stuff. One year for my birthday, a lot of people tagged him on and the Brewers account and both said very nice things. It’s even my pinned tweet, and it will continue to be.
Despite what a group of idiots and trolls say, the purpose of the account is not for attention. I made it to have fun and be silly, and that’s still mostly the goal. The account has evolved over time though. I have gotten more followers, gotten to know people, including legit people in the sports industry. I also contribute to three sports sites now. Writing for Reviewing the Brew, WI Sports Heroics and Zone Coverage is a blast. It helps me with my writing skills, I’m not bad at doing it and has helped build a following.
When it comes to being a comedian, having an angle or an audience is everything. Right now, I have over 5,000 who have a chance to see my stuff. Whether it be articles, jokes, my upcoming shows or even my mediocre t-shirts.
I’m off track. I’ve had a nice view tweets from Brent’s wife Erin about stuff. I’ve received multiple cameos from Brent from other people. He calls me John and has very nice things to say. I also never pushed it because they are people with a family and lives. It’s not my place. Brent is very smart when it comes to social media. He doesn’t post much unless it’s silly, positive for supporting his team, players and friends. I don’t do that. So I can see why he would have been hesitant to engage much.
You forget that players live in this other world. While a lot of people know who I am, when I meet people from Packers or Bucks Twitter, they have zero clue and it’s very awkward. When I did a podcast and Tim Dillard was on it, people brought me up assuming he would know about my account. He didn’t haha. And he’s close with Brent. It was a real “bring you back down to Earth” moment. We all need that from time to time.
I would still love to meet him and get a picture though. I will still wear his jersey all the time and follow him on the Colorado Rockies. I have a signed back, game-used ball and so much raptor stuff now. It’s still part of my sports identity, and will not be going away.
Changing the Actual Name
A lot of people asked if I am changing my name to another player or account. Honestly, I don’t want to. It won’t top being “Brent Suter’s Actual Raptor”. The response I got from that name made people so happy, and I don’t think it can get better than that. I am keeping BrewersRaptor, because let’s admit, it’s awesome. But I want to update the picture and stuff.
I struggled with it, but basically was tired of the stereotypes of being a “stan”, “burner” or “fan” account. There is nothing wrong with that, but I feel like I do more than that now. I don’t just shitpost all the time. I write articles, have spoken to players and other people and engaged with the sports communities.
I will still do raptor-themed stuff. I will still make terrible memes, photoshop and shirts. There will still be jokes and occasional explosions of anger when people attack the LGBTQ+ community. That is who I am. I know I will lose followers and a few of the fun aspects. But I also want to meet people and have them know who I am. I want to be able to post pictures from games I am at, etc. I don’t want the usually comments I get of “you don’t even have a face” or “coward behind a picture”. First of all, my fucking name is in my bio. Stop being lazy. My picture is also on my articles. People are dumb.
I already know the group chats that talk shit about me and hate me are going to hate this article. “he made it about himself derp derp derp”. I am writing this because I wanted to. And just in case anyone was curious or wanted more info or confused.
I would love to be Craig Counsell’s Actual Council” or “Brandon Woodruff’s Actually Tree”. But to me, nothing will top being Raptor and for a player I truly respect and care for. I am so sad he is no longer a Milwaukee Brewer. I 100% believe he will be back at some point. But I’ve also been very wrong before.
I really hope Brent does well and will always root for him. And the Brewers play the Rockies in 2023, and so now I will have no choice but to go and see them. He’s truly one of the coolest people the Brewers have had on their team. Banging the bench and singing to Lorenzo Cain. Counsell holding his arms up to mock Suter’s car when the bullpen phone wasn’t working. Brent doing a barrel roll off the mound. The Raptor once hit an absolute smash home run against Corey Kluber.
Baseball is a business, but this was a total downer. I am very concerned about this offseason for the Brewers. They have a lot of work to do, and very worried not much will be done. The attendance could really suffer and could see a very different atmosphere and Am Fam. But I also hope the younger players can come up and start mashing. This two-year window with Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff on the team should be a great time. Please don’t trade them right now. For Christ’s sake, keep them on the team and ride with them for two years. Keep them and try and extend them. Trade at the last possible moment. I am not emotionally prepared for that after Brent Suter was put on waivers. Waivers.
Losing a solid reliever and clubhouse presence and leader over $3 million. It’s not a great look, but will have to wait out for the rest of the offseason.
Change is good. I’m not happy about it, but looking forward to what will be new. You can still call me Raptor and yell at me for changing things. If I get inspired by a young player like Garrett Mitchell or Sal Frelick, maybe I will change again. But for now, it’s more about loving the Raptor account so much that right now, I just want to do something different. God bless Brent Suter. What a blessing it was to have a player like that as a Milwaukee Brewer for seven seasons. They took a chance on a lefty with a fun and speedy delivery and it really panned out. We will always have him as Jim Carrey and Doc Brown. They really need to bring those videos back.
Love all of you. Most of you. Definitely not DallasBrewers. But definitely Brent Suter.
John Egan – aka BrewersRaptor
John Egan Comedian & Writer 