Hey, in case you didn’t know, the Brewers are a bad defensive team. Adam McCalvy notes that the Fielding Bible Awards were announced today, and there wasn’t a single Brewer that cracked the top 10 at any position.
You can see the entire vote tallies for yourself, as well as where the writers voting on the awards placed them. After watching this team all year, it’s not exactly a surprise. You all probably got tired of me tweeting #defensematters by the end of the season, but there’s no denying that the flat-out bad D played a large role in the team’s disappointing season.
The only Brewers to even get mentioned in the voting were Ryan Braun (16 points, 11th at LF), Alcides Escobar 14 points, 11th at SS), and Carlos Gomez (4 points, 18th at CF). Former Brewer J.J. Hardy (5 points) also got a few votes.
I’m actually shocked that Braun got that much support in the voting. We all know that Braun has the athletic ability to be good in left if he ever figured out ball flight patterns and proper routes — just take a look at that home run he robbed in San Francisco — but more often than not, he’s still a headache to watch. Then again, take a look at some of the other names on that list — he’s not up against much competition. Hell, Lastings Milledge and his knack for giving up Little League home runs makes the list.
Still, this list is probably (another) sign that improving the defense should be as much of a priority as improving the pitching. And the two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive — get more guys who can turn the “outs into outs” as Daron Sutton always used to say about Hardy, and you’ll probably see more pitchers lasting longer than 5 innings. Just a hunch.
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