After 25 years, ESPN notices that Milwaukee has a baseball team

Let's get this out of the way up front: This is not a post whining about how the Brewers should get more coverage. Nor am I saying, "No one's taking the Brewers serially! They're going to win the World Series!" (I'm not saying it's impossible, but come on, it's May 4th). This is a look at an ESPN Insider article that they pretty much had to write, since the Brewers momentarily held the best record in the majors.

You can take this article two ways: (1) ESPN really needs to make more of an effort to follow small-market teams, or (2) we should let ESPN have their East Coast bias, because they really suck at covering anyone else.

Let's take a look at some of the claims that Keith Law makes in this article.

The three relative unknowns at the back of the Brewers' rotation...

I know what you're thinking. Jeff Suppan an unkown? He was the star of last year's World Series! Is this guy crazy?!

Well, turns out that Mr. Law is not referring to Suppan, but Chris Capuano. Forget the fact that Capuano is the #2 pitcher, showing that Law doesn't even know the Brewers' rotation. He's grouping Capuano in with Dave Bush and Claudio Vargas as "unkowns." Has this guy been covering water polo for the last two years? Capuano has posted back-to-back seasons of double-digit wins (overrated stat certainly, but it gets pitchers recognized, dispelling the whole "unkown" classification), 170+ strikeouts, 200+ innings pitched, and an ERA right around 4.00. The people that haven't heard of Capuano are casual fans, or people who don't think anyone outside of the AL East actually plays baseball.

[Dave Bush] is a candidate to move to a set-up role if the Brewers want to shore up their 'pen because Bush was an outstanding closer at Wake Forest and sees his fastball play up a bit in relief.

Whaaaaaaaaaaa? I think I can imagine how this got put in the article...

Keith Law: There seems to be a lot of discussion about this Dave Bush guy, what should I write about him that will impress people?

ESPN Minion: Well, I Googled him and get this sweet, insider iformation I found out: he used to be a pretty good closer at Wake Forest.

KL: Good enough for me, we'll say he's gonna be great once he goes back to the bullpen where he thrives.

In 81 major league appearances, Dave Bush has come out of the bullpen three times. Either Keith Law has some super-secret inside source that no one in the city Milwaukee has access to, ooooooor he's talking out of his ass.

Francisco Cordero might turn out to be the only productive part of the Carlos Lee salary dump from July 2006.

Kevin Mench, also aquired in the Carlos Lee "salary dump," is batting .316, giving him the second best average on the team, but where are his saves?

[T]hey could move [minor league prospect Ryan Braun] to the outfield and put Bill Hall back at third base.

Anyone who even casually follows the Brewers can tell you that Hall was moved to the outfield specifically to make room for Ryan Braun. But I suppose they could move Hall back to third. They also could move Ben Sheets to second...if they were letting a magic 8 ball make the team decisions.

The Brewers do have some weaknesses, one glaring. They're one of the weakest defensive clubs in the majors, posting the third-worst defensive efficiency in the NL going into Tuesday night's game.

Okay, good point. You might be paying attention just a little bit.

J.J. Hardy has good hands but has average range at best at shortstop. Geoff Jenkins and Corey Hart offer limited gloves in the outfield corners...

Nevermind. You probably haven't switched off the 24/7, Dice-K/Jeter channel in months. You can criticize the Brewers' defense at just about every position...except wherever Jenkins and Hardy are penciled in. Hardy is quickly becoming one of the best defensive shortstops in the league, and when he makes an error, it's usally a result of his hands...so you've got it completely backwards. Jenkins' glove kept him in the everyday lineup for the majority of last year when he was struggling. He's had several long stints without errors, and has an absolute cannon of an arm.



Now, I'm happy that the national media is paying attention to the Brewers (and Law even ends his article with a non-commital prediction that the Brewers will make the playoffs), but this is one of the worst-informed articles I have ever read. This is what happens when a team comes out of nowhere (although, again, if you were paying attention, the Brewers didn't come out of nowhere anymore than last year's Tigers did) and ESPN scrambles to put something together.

I would say, "leave the Brewers coverage to the local media," but if you have any experience with Milwaukee sports coverage you would know that's not an option.