Ryan Braun - Worst Contract in Franchise History?

[brewmann04]

Braun has really look like a different player maybe he finally getting it together.

[The stache]

Braun has been really patient lately, 4 walks in the last 2 games? That OBP keeps climbing!

 

That's funny. What's changed? Oh yeah, the manager. Anyone else think Counsell might have had Braun in his office this week and told him to take the walks?

 

He's clearly an OBP guy.

 

Here's an interesting fact. Since Counsell took over (six games), Braun has struck out 3 times, walked seven, and scored a whopping 10 times.

 

His OBP prior to Counsell was .273. It's up to .327 now. And for the month? His OBP is .395.

 

Braun is clearly not there yet. But if I told you that Braun, while still working out the kinks, was on a pace to score 100 runs, hit 31 home runs, and drive in 84....you'd be pleased. Now, with hitters in front of him actually starting to hit, those RBI totals will go up. If not? He's content to get on base, and score.

 

The short term signs are very, very encouraging.

[logan82]

Holy crap Braun is hitting better. Must be the manager or maybe Braun is just getting healthy. I didn't blame his issues on Roenicke and there is no way I would give credit to the new manager for his improvement. Braun was going to hit better or he wasn't.

[RockCoCougars]

I am a bit surprised to see a "worst contract in history" thread and not one Marquis Grissom reference. BF.net was just coming into its own at the tail end of the Grissom Era, so I thought he might get a mention or two. Yes, technically, Cleveland who signed him to the 5-year, 25 million dollar contact, but who made the bigger mistake- Cleveland for signing him or Milwaukee for trading for him?

 

Anyways, Milwaukee paid him 15 million for OPS+ of 79, 86 and 63 in 1998, 1999 and 2000, including a stellar 288 OBP in 640 PA in his last year in Milwaukee.

 

The Brewers won 74, 74 and 73 games with the Gripper roaming CF, and while he was hardly the only problem, he was their best paid problem.

 

Nothing like reminiscing about the good ol' days to take ones mind of the current Brewers.

 

Good one... Marquis Grissom was one of the biggest bums to ever wear a Brewers uniform if you ask me. I didn't think of this one because the Brewers didn't actually sign him to his deal. That said, what went down was even worse when the Brewers bailed Cleveland out of this deal so they could bring Kenny Lofton back. Even worse, Lofton had been using the Brewers for leverage- had a meeting or two with Bando. From what I remember, Grissom generally played awful until the Crew was far out of things, then he would 'pad' his stats in August and September. He always gave the impression that he couldn't care less, and this deal pretty much was the final nail in Bando's coffin. I was so stoked when they dumped him on the Dodgers for a washed up Devon White.

[pacopete4]

Honestly though, it is nice to see Braunie starting to trace the steps of old. Hopefully more doubles and some home runs will follow. If this team gets hot together, ya just never know.

[yfinn6]

Honestly though, it is nice to see Braunie starting to trace the steps of old. Hopefully more doubles and some home runs will follow. If this team gets hot together, ya just never know.

 

I think we do know. The team will got hot, maybe get back closer to .500 and if they finish the season around .500 some will see it as a success after the slow start and they might even be tricked into thinking "if we just add one or two more pieces, we'll have a shot at the playoffs in 2016".

 

I'd rather players get hot so their trade value increases, and then this inevitable rebuild process might not have to be as prolonged.

[homer]

I had to delete a bunch of posts in the thread. Sorry if a reasonable post was lost in the process.

 

Homer

[homer]

Braun has been really patient lately, 4 walks in the last 2 games? That OBP keeps climbing!

 

That's funny. What's changed? Oh yeah, the manager. Anyone else think Counsell might have had Braun in his office this week and told him to take the walks?

 

 

Correlation does not necessarily equal causation. He hit 4 home runs in Roenicke's last 5 games as manager. I think he's just seeing the ball better.

[The stache]

Correlation does not necessarily equal causation. He hit 4 home runs in Roenicke's last 5 games as manager. I think he's just seeing the ball better.

 

Agreed.

 

I think it's understandable, though, given how terrible our season has started out, that Brewer fans are looking for signs of better things to come. A few good games from Braun, where he's showing more patience, and Brewer fans are hoping it's the influence of the new manager, and that these positive steps will continue.

 

That's how I'm looking at it, anyway.

[torts]

Brauns slash on Ron's last day

 

.230/.272/.402/.674

 

a week later its up to

 

.255/.331/.443/.774

 

CRAIG 4 PREZ

[TooLiveBrew]

Braun's slash on Ron's last day

 

.230/.272/.402/.674

 

a week later it's up to

 

.255/.331/.443/.774

 

CRAIG 4 PREZ

Last 7 days: .368/.538/.632/1.170

 

Last 14: .295/.404/.682/1.086

 

It's good to see that this isn't even just a one-week thing. Of course, if you watched him over the last 2+ weeks, it was pretty apparent that his PAs as a whole had improved a lot. Need him to keep it going!

[torts]

Amen! Never lose hope in the Return of the Braun!

[monty57]

Honestly though, it is nice to see Braunie starting to trace the steps of old. Hopefully more doubles and some home runs will follow. If this team gets hot together, ya just never know.

 

I think we do know. The team will got hot, maybe get back closer to .500 and if they finish the season around .500 some will see it as a success after the slow start and they might even be tricked into thinking "if we just add one or two more pieces, we'll have a shot at the playoffs in 2016".

 

I'd rather players get hot so their trade value increases, and then this inevitable rebuild process might not have to be as prolonged.

 

 

That would never happen. Oh wait, that's exactly what happened in 2012 and 2013, and the opposite of what happened in 2014. I don't know why this team is so "all or nothing," but I'm with you on this post. The team will get better - It's too talented not to - but it's not going to make the playoffs this year, so at least Lohse, Broxton, Ramirez and Parra should be traded, and I really hope they play well enough to bring something back.

 

I've felt all along that if Braun's thumb is healthy, he should be a good player, and the article linked a couple of pages ago stating that he's trying to break bad habits makes sense. I still think that the second extension is going to play out like the Soriano deal, where he'll have some good seasons "early," (remember the second extension starts next year) but as he ages he and his contract will get blamed for any problems the Brewers have. The difference is that we will have to pay him for a long time after he is no longer a Brewer, making him even harder than Soriano to trade.

[azcheesehead]

I had to delete a bunch of posts in the thread. Sorry if a reasonable post was lost in the process.

 

Homer

 

This whole thread should be deleted. It's a joke.

[Invader3K]

This whole thread should be deleted. It's a joke.

 

No it isn't. There were some valid concerns raised about Ryan Braun as a player and his contract.

 

Personally, no, I don't think his contract is the worst in franchise history. And I do think he's showing that he'll continue to be a good player for the foreseeable future.

[FVBrewerFan]

The problem, as often happens around here, people can take chunks of Braun's record to make a point. Some point to last season, others point to the last few weeks. You can find whatever Braun you want, depending on what time frame you want to us.

 

To me, the bigger question is if/when he can produce a track record of .850+ OPS, do your trade him? And I don't think it's an easy answer. It would be great to have a player like that in his prime, but at the same time it is a big contract- and you just never know when his thumb acts up again, or has some other injury. Yes, you can say that about any player but it's more of a concern with Braun- especially the thumb thing.

[azcheesehead]

This whole thread should be deleted. It's a joke.

 

No it isn't. There were some valid concerns raised about Ryan Braun as a player and his contract.

 

Personally, no, I don't think his contract is the worst in franchise history. And I do think he's showing that he'll continue to be a good player for the foreseeable future.

 

You proved my point for me. Thanks. This board was a lot better when there weren't so many self-righteous people. It's becoming border line "JS Comments" with some of the postings.

[monty57]

This whole thread should be deleted. It's a joke.

 

No it isn't. There were some valid concerns raised about Ryan Braun as a player and his contract.

 

Personally, no, I don't think his contract is the worst in franchise history. And I do think he's showing that he'll continue to be a good player for the foreseeable future.

 

You proved my point for me. Thanks. This board was a lot better when there weren't so many self-righteous people. It's becoming border line "JS Comments" with some of the postings.

 

I think you might have misread something he said, because he didn't say anything anywhere near "self-righteous."

[homer]

This whole thread should be deleted. It's a joke.

 

No it isn't. There were some valid concerns raised about Ryan Braun as a player and his contract.

 

Personally, no, I don't think his contract is the worst in franchise history. And I do think he's showing that he'll continue to be a good player for the foreseeable future.

 

You proved my point for me. Thanks. This board was a lot better when there weren't so many self-righteous people. It's becoming border line "JS Comments" with some of the postings.

 

 

I take it from your avatar that you're a big Braun fan. That's cool. Apparently some people are disappointed by his last couple of seasons and think he hasn't played up to his value. That's cool too. If you are a big Braun fan and see a thread with this title you can guess what the majority of posts will be about. Maybe don't look at the thread if it's going to bother you.

[The stache]

I think that a lot of people started worrying that Braun wasn't going to be the same player he once was, and that we'd be saddled with a huge contract for a good long time. As a Braun fan, I have no problem with the discussion. I also have no problem pointing out--again--that his drop in production was due to an injury to his thumb. Now that the thumb is better, what is he doing? Well, for the season, he's on a pace for 36 home runs and 95 RBI.

 

But...

 

Since his day off on April 26th?

 

17 games played. 17 for 60 (.283 AVG), 17 runs scored, 2 doubles, 7 home runs, 17 RBI, 3 SB, 17 K and 9 BB.

A triple slash line of .377/.667/1.044

 

Braun has a 1.044 OPS the last 17 games.

 

I'd say he's back to his normal self, wouldn't you all?

[Ennder]

I think that a lot of people started worrying that Braun wasn't going to be the same player he once was, and that we'd be saddled with a huge contract for a good long time. As a Braun fan, I have no problem with the discussion. I also have no problem pointing out--again--that his drop in production was due to an injury to his thumb. Now that the thumb is better, what is he doing? Well, for the season, he's on a pace for 36 home runs and 95 RBI.

 

But...

 

Since his day off on April 26th?

 

17 games played. 17 for 60 (.283 AVG), 17 runs scored, 2 doubles, 7 home runs, 17 RBI, 3 SB, 17 K and 9 BB.

A triple slash line of .377/.667/1.044

 

Braun has a 1.044 OPS the last 17 games.

 

I'd say he's back to his normal self, wouldn't you all?

 

I'd say Betancourt had a 1.000 OPS over 17 games at some point. It is way too small a sample to say anything. It is very nice to see regardless.

[clancyphile]

I think that a lot of people started worrying that Braun wasn't going to be the same player he once was, and that we'd be saddled with a huge contract for a good long time. As a Braun fan, I have no problem with the discussion. I also have no problem pointing out--again--that his drop in production was due to an injury to his thumb. Now that the thumb is better, what is he doing? Well, for the season, he's on a pace for 36 home runs and 95 RBI.

 

But...

 

Since his day off on April 26th?

 

17 games played. 17 for 60 (.283 AVG), 17 runs scored, 2 doubles, 7 home runs, 17 RBI, 3 SB, 17 K and 9 BB.

A triple slash line of .377/.667/1.044

 

Braun has a 1.044 OPS the last 17 games.

 

I'd say he's back to his normal self, wouldn't you all?

 

Braun's May OPS is .913. His OPS for the last 14 days is .948. Over the last 28 days, it's .888, per Baseball-Reference.com. That .888 OPS, by the way, equals his 2008 figure and tops his figures for the 2010 (.866) and 2013 (.869) seasons.

 

I think it is safe to say it is more probable than not that Ryan Braun could be back to being Ryan Braun.

[MrTPlush]

Alright so he has hit some meatballs lately. He still only has two doubles and can't handle the inside pitch. He has been more patient lately though which is really nice.

 

I will say there is hope he can be a productive hitter again...just how productive is the real question. And will that production off set the negative defensive value he brings to the table? For $20mil he will need to be smacking 30homers plus good AVG/OBP skills

[logan82]

Someone disappeared from the board a couple weeks ago.

[Thurston Fluff]

Alright so he has hit some meatballs lately. He still only has two doubles and can't handle the inside pitch. He has been more patient lately though which is really nice.

 

I will say there is hope he can be a productive hitter again...just how productive is the real question. And will that production off set the negative defensive value he brings to the table? For $20mil he will need to be smacking 30homers plus good AVG/OBP skills

 

I don't see his defense as that huge a negative.