Braun Suspended for Remainder of 2013 Season

[SRB]

This just makes me sad and wonder if the 'Crew should have focused on keeping Prince instead.

Fielder, 2012-2020: $214M

Braun, 2012-2020: $140M

[xisxisxis]

So Braun's bereavement leave was for his reputation, which was on life support and now it died...

[Hitman_Hart]

Honesty, I'm sick of this whole thing, hate the outcome, absolutely detest how we got to this point, but ultimately I'm glad it's finished.

 

In the end, it doesn't matter. He used, he lied, I'm over it. I wish that everyone else would get over it too. The OUTRAGE is what upsets me the most. Next year will come and I will root for Ryan Braun because I want him to prove that he can do it clean over the life of his contract.

[LouisEly]

"Here's the thing. Dude popped a negative, and then got off on a technicality. What was he SUPPOSED to say? "

 

Well, I would think that by now people would have learned that if you test positive, and you did take something, you pull an Andy Pettite and say, "I had some nagging injuries and I tried taking a shortcut to heal faster. It was a mistake and I accept my punishment." Does anybody think anything of Pettite now years after he admitted taking something?

 

My thoughts:

 

1) Can we have a separate thread where we can lift the swear ban? That's the only way I can express how I truly feel.

 

B) I'm really, really, REALLY glad I no longer live in LA.

 

3) Think about this. Considering it happened in 2011, when the Brewers had as good of a shot at winning the World Series as they have had in almost 30 years, was Braun taking one for the team by appealing/lying/doing whatever he could to get out of it so that he wouldn't get suspended and the team thus had a better chance of making the World Series? Did Braun sacrifice his own integrity for the success of that team?

[homer]

So Braun's bereavement leave was for his reputation, which was on life support and now it died...

 

I actually wondered about the whole bereavement thing being associated with this but Adam McCalvy said it was an actual family emergency.

[Invader3K]

I'll still cheer him when he comes back. I admit I was wrong, as I felt it wouldn't come down to this point. A big part of me is just glad this fiasco is done, and the sting is tempered by the fact that this was already a lost season.

 

I do think all the outrage from certain reporters and announcers is a bit unwarranted. Maybe they should have been doing their jobs from the start.

[brewmann04]

Who cares he gone to at least 2014 . Now just concerned about the trade deadline and 2014 draft.

[Eye Black]

some strong comments (tweets) from some current and past players. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/baseball-world-reacts-to-the-ryan-braun-suspension-on-twitter-224624624.html

 

Not that what they're saying is wrong, but those are some pretty high horses.

 

I chuckled when Schilling said the collector had his life ruined.

 

Well at least Schilling is an expert on ruining people's lives.

 

Inside the Destruction of Curt Schilling's 38 Studios

[owbc]

HUGE win for Bud Selig bringing down Braun, especially because he used to be the franchise player of Selig's hometown team. I'm sure it hurts Bud to damage the Brewers but it was the right thing to do.

 

As for Ryan, the situation is ugly but if he comes back and produces at least people in Milwaukee will generally support him. He made the right move in terms of damage control but I think he felt invincible and it really came back to bite him. He'll hear the boos on Opening Day but I suspect Brewers fans will generally move on. I'll try to but he will never be the same player again to me.

[Schlitz001]

I don't mind so much that he used PEDs. If you read the original thread, I had my suspicions that he was guilty all along. What gets to me is all of the lying. Can't he just come clean when he knows he's guilty? That method has proven in the past to be the best route to get back in the public's good graces. Instead he continually hurt people's reputation who were doing nothing but telling the truth. It makes me sick to my stomach. I'm going to need some time until I forgive Braun.

[Bombers]

Well said about Braun not issuing an apology to the sample collector. Some have blown that piece way out of proportion

http://deadspin.com/ryan-braun-does-not-owe-the-sample-collector-an-apology-873467302

[SRB]

Instead he continually hurt people's reputation who were doing nothing but telling the truth. It makes me sick to my stomach. I'm going to need some time until I forgive Braun.

Whose reputation did he hurt? He barely said anything about the sample collector, and what he did say was all of a technical/procedural nature. The damage to the collector's reputation came 100% from the media. And now the media has created this new yarn about how Braun should be ashamed of himself for lying and hurting people's reputations. It's all contrived and manufactured.

[SRB]

I think something being missed is that if Braun was truly selfish he could have easily fought this whole-heartedly into next season or beyond, and very well could have ended up with the same suspension then, or very well could have been acquitted again and saved himself millions of dollars.

 

A large part of taking the plea now is that it is in the best interests of the Brewers as a team.

 

Of course, that is being reported by the media exactly nowhere. Much better story to whine about what a monster he is, I guess.

[thebruce44]

He was trashed by Braun, then for maybe a week Brewers fans hated him and then life went on.

 

Actually Braun went out of his way to later say he didn't want to accuse the collector of anything. Its just that the part of the interview where he said that was always left out because the other quote taken out of context made Braun look bad.

[brewmann04]

Please get off the collector stuff he never threw him under any bus. The bottom line is that he is a liar and caught cheating move on with brewers regular season.

[Fear The Chorizo]

This will continue to be headline news until the ARod lifetime ban is announced - sounds like MLB's pissed that ARod interfered with their investigation by trying to buy some of the evidence implicating him. There are going to be other names listed over the next few weeks that are likely to impact alot of teams chasing pennants, and Braun's decision to accept his suspension without applealing again may be viewed in a more favorable light. Still, a cheater's a cheater, and that's going to follow him the rest of his career, including HOF voter opinions.

 

As for Braun, color me embarrassed to give him the benefit of the doubt during this time, embarrassed at the whole craptastic investigation and how it's been portrayed by the media - in the end, Braun got suspended and deservedly so. The fact his suspension will be served during the rest of a lost season is a silver lining, but the troubling thing for me is that since there was never a spike in his production throughout his career that would signify PED use, I think Braun may have been on PEDs ever since college (Biogenesis was heavily linked to the U of Miami, for what it's worth). We may be stuck with a talented guy who can't stay healthy that's about to make a huge portion of the Brewers' payroll for the forseeable future. I hope I'm wrong on that for the sake of the team I root for.

[thebruce44]

And he said this in the Q&A session right after his statement:

 

“Again, I honestly don’t know what happened to it for that 44-hour period. There are a lot of different things that could have possibly happened. There were a lot of things that we heard about the collection process, the collector and some other people involved in the process that have certainly been concerning to us. But beyond that, as I’ve dealt with this situation, I know what it’s like to be wrongly accused of something and for me to wrongly accuse somebody else of something wouldn’t help anybody.”

 

While it looks bad now, he did NOT throw the collector under the bus. There's a lot to criticize about him. That's not one of the things though.

[brewmann04]

Agreed any trade talk tonight?

[ninja33]

I think something being missed is that if Braun was truly selfish he could have easily fought this whole-heartedly into next season or beyond, and very well could have ended up with the same suspension then, or very well could have been acquitted again and saved himself millions of dollars.

 

A large part of taking the plea now is that it is in the best interests of the Brewers as a team.

 

Of course, that is being reported by the media exactly nowhere. Much better story to whine about what a monster he is, I guess.

 

To be fair, it also saves Braun quite a bit of money as his contract increases in future years (not to mention if 65 games is a compromise vs the potential for 100+).

[dlk9s]

Braun will certainly be able to make up any money lost through profits from his new line of PED-based shampoos. I mean, his hair is tremendous. Hair Club for Men can suck it.

[Baldkin]

HUGE win for Bud Selig bringing down Braun, especially because he used to be the franchise player of Selig's hometown team. I'm sure it hurts Bud to damage the Brewers but it was the right thing to do.

 

A huge win?

 

To show that their entire testing process is a sham and completely ineffective?

[rondoman]

Are people saying Braun and his team didnt do anything to make the collector look bad?

 

Absolutely laughable.

 

Braun and his team implied the collector altered his sample and pretty much set him up!

 

"There were a lot of things that we learned about the collector, about the collection process, about the way that the entire thing worked that made us very concerned and very suspicious about what could have actually happened," he said, citing nothing at all to support his claims. “We spoke to biochemists and scientists, and asked them how difficult it would be for someone to taint the sample. They said, if they were motivated, it would be extremely easy.” At the same time, Braun praised his own moral rectitude, saying, “I will continue to take the high road. We won because the truth was on my side.”

[homer]

I think people are saying that Braun hardly "ruined" the guy's life and that the calls for Braun to apologize are overblown. But feel free to continue posting the same vent over and over if it makes you feel any better.

[Minigoon]

65 games? Not nearly enough. Should have been several seasons. If you want to get cheaters like Braun out of the game, the punishment needs to be more of a deterrent. Slap on the wrist suspensions like this are not going to do anything to prevent the next cheater.

[dlk9s]

65 games? Not nearly enough. Should have been several seasons.

http://i.imgur.com/H1qNQ.gif