Defense key to Brewers season

by Greg Schmitz

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 00:00

PHOENIX, Ariz. — The last two years have been good ones for Wisconsin sports.

While it didn’t meet preseason expectations, the Wisconsin football team still made it to a New Year’s Day bowl game. The basketball team received the school’s first No. 1 ranking last season, and this year the Badgers are already in the Sweet 16 with a shot at making it to the Final Four.

The Packers were one of the surprise teams in the NFL and made it to the NFC championship game. Brett Favre also had one of the best years of his career before calling it quits a few weeks ago.

Even the young Brewers squad was in the NL Central race to the final weekend and had the team’s first winning season since 1992.

And after following the team all spring and watching them at spring training the last week, I think the Brewers will make a serious run this season at the organization’s first playoff birth since 1982.

The two biggest reasons I think this is the year the Brew Crew gets over the hump: the signing of Mike Cameron and Jason Kendall.

While I was somewhat skeptical of both signings when they happened, after watching them in person this last week, I think that both players will greatly improve this young team.

One of the biggest reasons the Brewers faltered down the stretch last year was the bullpen struggled because it was burned out. It was burned out because the starters weren’t going deep in the game, and the starters weren’t going deep in the game because poor defense caused them to throw more pitches than they should have. By improving the team’s defense, hopefully, the starters can pitch deeper in the game, and the bullpen won’t be worn out by September.

Scoring runs will not be a problem for the Brew Crew, since everyone in the everyday lineup (besides Kendall) has the power to hit 20-plus home runs this year, with Rickie Weeks the only player who hasn’t already done it yet in his career. Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun both could hit 50.

Instead, defense will be the No. 1 reason whether the Brewers make the postseason or not.

The signing of Cameron instantly makes Milwaukee a better defensive team. Bill Hall never looked comfortable center last year, and now he can come back to the infield where he played previously before the 2007 season. The signing also allowed the Brewers to move Braun to the outfield, as he most likely would have been a liability at third this year even if his defense did improve.

Plus, Braun, whose natural position is shortstop, never liked playing at third and has already said he enjoys the outfield. Now the 2007 Rookie of the Year is not only playing a position he enjoys, but he also gets to learn from Cameron, a three-time Gold Glove winner.

When Cameron was signed, most naysayers said he did not fit what the Brewers were looking for and that he strikes out too much. To some extent that’s true, but besides improving the team’s defense, he has fit nicely into the No. 2 spot in the lineup. So far this spring he has been getting on base quite a bit and showed he still has speed by swiping three bases and setting the stage for Fielder and Braun.

The signing of Kendall is also an upgrade at the catcher position, as Johnny Estrada was a disappointment last season. Estrada couldn’t throw a runner out to save his life, he swung at the first pitch all the time, and my 80-year-old grandma could outrun him.

Yes, Kendall had a down year last year as he failed to hit above .270 for the first time in his career. However, the 12-year veteran had laser eye surgery and appears to be seeing the ball much better. And while I’m not completely sold on having the pitcher bat eighth and Kendall batting ninth, he has shown it just might work: He has turned the lineup over several times by either getting a hit or walk, something Estrada rarely did.

He also seems to have improved his throwing, as he has caught four of 10 would-be base stealers.

But the best part of the signings is while both Cameron and Kendall should help the team, their contracts are only one-year deals with a club option. If one or both don’t pan out, Brewers general manager Doug Melvin can just let them go, but if they work, Milwaukee can have them both for more than one year.

Now all that’s left to do is sit back and see if things still pan out once the games count for real. If Cameron and Kendall perform to even 75 percent of what they are capable of, it could be another special season for a Wisconsin sports team.

Greg is a senior majoring in communication arts. Let him know what you think of the Brewers’ chances this year at gschmitz@badgerherald.com.