The Obnoxious, Over-the-Top, Love for Ryan Braun Thread...

[TURBO]

Braun is slowly but surely overtaking Yount as my favorite Brewer of all time...

 

By the time he retires, he will more than likely hold every Brewer offensive record there is.

 

What an absolute stud!

[Patrick425]

The amazing thing is that over the next 8 years he is scheduled to average just a little over $15M per year. The most he will make in any year is $19M. What an unbelievable bargain and I bet you will never hear Braun complain about it. To me, any bad moves/trades made by Melvin are pretty much negated by this incredible contract he negotiated with Braun and his agent.

[Baldkin]

If Braun keeps up at this pace and misses the same amount of time the second half as he has missed the first he will hit 47 home runs, have 120 RBI's, and steal 28 bases. His OBP is sitting at .400 now.

 

He is on pace to be better in almost every area compared to last year. I know some thought he might press after the out field stuff, but he has been ridiculous this year. I shudder to think where we would be without Braun. (I also shudder to think where we would be with a good bullpen but that is for a different thread)

 

Since this thread is about being obnoxious and over the top, let's dream big: what happens if Braun wins the Triple Crown? Geez I'd love him to put the writers in a bind like that after they way they shabbily reported info over the winter.

 

The sad part is, he isn't a McCutchen slump from getting into the BA race... he'd have to end the season at .345, as that's where Cabrera will be staying.

[RightFieldCoder]

Using the back of my envelope, Bruan will have 119 more ABs. In order to pass Cabrera, he would need 60 more hits. That's a .499 avg for just over a month. Even optimistically, he won't do it.

[Funketown]

Braun currently has a 169 wRC+. McCutchen is next in the NL at 159.

 

If this were a playoff team and none of the suspension garbage had ever happened, he would be the leader in the NL MVP race. So, by how much must he outperform the second best player in the NL to win the award? He leads the league in HR by 8, ISO, OPS, wOBA, SLG, WAR, and pretty much any other three letters you can string together.

[Outlander]

My guess is he won't win the MVP unless he won the triple crown, so if he hits .500 the rest of the way he should win MVP.

[pitchleague]

is it just me or did I the following phrase about 3 times in the last week?

 

"Ryan Braun is now only a _________ shy of hitting for the cycle."

[pacopete4]

If he's red hot for the next month and keeps up the ridic numbers, they won't have a choice. Specially of he starts stealing bases again.

[fondybrewfan]

Even if it is virtually impossible to win the Triple Crown; no one is actually going to give credit to Melky for the batting title. So in essensnce if Braun wins the HR and RBI titles and finishes 2nd in BA; that might be enough to win MVP. He is going to need to have a really strong September though. He needs to get 40+ HR's and get that BA above .320 to have a chance IMO. It also wouldn't hurt if Pitt falls on there face. I think it is a 4 horse race between Braun, McCutchen, Holliday, and Posey.

[Baldkin]

http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/daily-pitch/2012/08/14/votto2x-large.jpg

 

That guy might have something to say about it too. Rumors are he'll be activated over the weekend.

[torts]

hasnt votto missed enough time to give everyone else a leg up on him in the race? I feel like he's been out for over a month now

[fondybrewfan]

Yeah I think Votto has just missed too much time. The counting stats just wont be there for him

[pretendastronaut]

I was wondering about Braun's chance at MVP this morning and came wondering if this thread had started talking about it. Personally, if Braun performs in September like he has been, I think he only has one legit contender in the MVP race and that's McCutchen. McCutchen deserves to be in the conversation, and if the Pirates make the playoffs, he'd probably win it, but the Pirates aren't a lock for the playoffs. If they don't make the playoffs, I think Braun should have it hands down.

 

Braun ranks;

• 6th in NL in BA (.311)

• 1st in NL in HR (36)

• 1st in NL in RBI (92)

• 2nd in NL in R (88)

• 8th in NL in SB (21)

• 1st in NL in SLG (.610)

• 1st in NL in OPS (.999)

 

McCutchen ranks:

• 2nd in NL in BA (.344)

• 6th in NL in HR (24)

• 1st in NL in R (90)

• 2nd in NL in SLG (.566)

• 2nd in NL in OPS (.975)

 

Votto will end up playing 40-50 fewer games than Braun and McCutchen, so I think that will eliminate him. Right now Bruce leads most offensive categories for the Reds, and I don't think he'll be in the MVP discussion.

 

I don't see another guy on a playoff bound team that stands out offensively like Braun or McCutchen. But we have another month to go, so who knows.

[Baldkin]

Yeah I think Votto has just missed too much time. The counting stats just wont be there for him

 

I think if he gets to 500 PA, leads the league in BA, OBP, Doubles (only 7 behind Ramirez), SLG and OPS... and the Reds pull away in the division race when he comes back that he'll have a shot.

 

He's been out about 6 weeks with the knee injury, which will hurt him a great deal

[TooLiveBrew]

Cueto is another guy to keep in mind as a candidate for NL MVP. He won't touch 250 IP like Verlander did last season (currently on pace for ~220 IP), but a 2.50-ish ERA with Great American Launching Pad as his home park is freaking impressive.

 

The one caveat being if the Reds plan to shut him down for a while in September to keep tabs on his IP workload, since he only threw 156 IP last season & 185.2 in '10.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The one caveat being if the Reds plan to shut him down for a while in September to keep tabs on his IP workload, since he only threw 156 IP last season & 185.2 in '10.

 

Ask Mark Prior how well Dusty Baker monitors IP workloads during playoff runs. Didn't realize Cueto's IP were so low the last two seasons - if he's around 220IP plus postseason innings, not going to be a good 2013 for him.

 

To piggyback on the Braun for MVP discussion - highly unlikely with only 1 month of season left, but how ironic would it be for Braun to finish the season leading the NL in HR and RBI, and finish 2nd in BA to a suspended Cabrera (I believe he would be batting champion if nobody exceeds 0.350, correct?). The headline could be "Braun denied triple crown by drug cheat".

[TooLiveBrew]

Well the person making that decision would likely be Baker's boss, Walt Jocketty. But I don't expect them to shut him down, just wanted to note it was a possibility.

[SRB]

Ryan Braun: 6.9 fWAR

David Wright: 6.3 fWAR

Andrew McCutchen: 6.2 fWAR

...

Joey Votto: 4.8 fWAR

...

Johnny Cueto: 4.6 fWAR

 

Not even close. MVP! MVP! MVP!

[Outlander]

Saw today that Braun's Hall of Fame Monitor at Baseball Reference was over 100 and a likely HOFer is 100 or greater. Not saying he would be in the hall if he retired today but amazing that he is already at this point and has a long career ahead of him.

[torts]

braun is 3 SB away from being the 11th player all time to have a 40 HR/30 SB season. dude is sick.

[The stache]

Only one player in Major League history has hit 40 HR, stolen 30 bases, and lead the league in RBI. And that was Hank Aaron in 1963.

 

Braun has 40 HR, 27 SB and is tied for the NL lead with 104 RBI. Can he do it? I Hope he can.

[tigerbrew]

Braun for MVP, dude is a great player and just keeps getting better.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Only one player in Major League history has hit 40 HR, stolen 30 bases, and lead the league in RBI. And that was Hank Aaron in 1963.

 

Braun has 40 HR, 27 SB and is tied for the NL lead with 104 RBI. Can he do it? I Hope he can.

...and Hank finished 3rd in the NL MVP voting behind Koufax (who was filthy) and Dick Groat. Talk about an era that needed WAR. Dick Groat? Really? Unreal how under rated Hank Aaron was.

[pebadger]

Wow, just looked at the voting and numbers from 1963. I knew about Koufax that season and I even knew about Aaron. What I don't know is what could have possibly possessed anyone to vote Groat that high, nice season though it was. I didn't realize he was gone from Pittsburgh at that point. Maybe it was just the increase in classiness that came from moving to STL that season.

[SRB]

braun is 3 SB away from being the 11th player all time to have a 40 HR/30 SB season. dude is sick.

11th season, but only 9th player to do it.