Thoughts on Monday’s News

Oh kay sew…

In case you’ve been without access to information for the past 48 hours or so, the Brewers’ Ryan Braun was suspended for the remainder of the season prior to Monday night’s game against the San Diego Padres.

I couldn’t comment on it right away because I was at the visitation (and then funeral on Tuesday) of my father-in-law. Many of you have been very kind in your words regarding that situation and I appreciate you. I got home on Tuesday evening and posted a few words on Twitter finally then. What I said, in paragraph form was this:

I’m still digesting the Ryan Braun news in as much as I have a lot of things read. A more fully thought out take will be on the blog. TBS, three quick points: 1) No hypocritical baseball writer gets to tell me how I should feel. 2) Come Feb ’14, Ryan Braun is eligible to help the Brewers win baseball games which is the reason we’re all fans of the team. Therefore, I’ll support his efforts to that end. And 3) All I ever asked for was for Braun to get the benefit of the doubt. We know Braun was going to be suspended as a result of this investigation, but there is still a LOT we don’t know, most of which matters little if at all. Braun accepted a suspension, IMO, for a handful of reasons. I’ll get into all of those in the blog post.

Well if you hadn’t yet realized it, this is that blog post.

Despite reportedly desiring at least a 100-game suspension for Braun, MLB offered the 65-game suspension as a compromise with an agreement that Braun would not appeal said suspension. He probably also had to make an official statement taking some kind of responsibility for everything that’s gone on since October of 2011. So why do I think Braun accepted those terms? It’s really a confluence of things.

• MLB felt that they had enough information gained from the testimony of Biogenesis employees to suspend Braun
• MLB felt that any suspension levied would hold up to an appeal
• The 2013 season is a lost one for the Brewers (at least in terms of playoff contention)
• Braun didn’t want this to linger into the 2014 season when the Brewers could once again potentially compete
• He was as worn out by all of this as he said he was in his statement
• His thumb injury won’t heal without rest anyway and if he might have lost these games to the disabled list anyway, then the games were going to be potentially lost regardless
• Games lost in 2014 cost more salary than games lost in 2013
• The off-season can be a fresh start in some ways for Braun and the Brewers

And now in a “stream of consciousness” in dialogue style of writing, I’ll expound more on all of those bullet points.

This is basically a best-case scenario for Braun and the Brewers, outside of his never have been entangled in all of this to begin with, of course. Braun can let his hand heal properly. Braun can enter 2014 completely healthy and ready to contribute to winning baseball games. Braun won’t have to deal with overabundant fans booing him on the road during a season known to be lost.

The Brewers will get their extremely talented baseball player back for a full season of contribution. The Brewers will have plenty of time to develop marketing strategies and other necessary things from a business perspective as they relate to and include Ryan Braun. (Would anyone be surprised if the media guide featured Segura and Gomez on the cover next spring?) The Brewer brass also have plenty of time to decide how they want to publicly deal with the scenario as it has currently presented itself.

Prinicpal owner Mark Attanasio has already stated that he forgives Braun despite his disappointment. Doug Melvin has stated that he’s glad that at least the ballclub can move forward with playing out the 2013 season. Teammates have been weighing in as well (I’m working on compiling a lot of that, just to make it available.) and eventually Braun himself will again speak on this subject. It might not be this month. It might not be this season. It might not be this year. But Ryan Braun will once again address the media and field some questions. It’ll happen.

But between now and whenever then is, we’re left to our own devices. We can speculate, gesticulate, or obfuscate. We can whine, cry, piss, and moan about how “wronged” we were or how “evil” Braun is or how much he owes apologies to every one he’s ever met. We can stand up and shout from the rooftops about game cheating, gummibear eating, and Diamondbacks beating. We can tell everyone how morally righteous we are and how we can’t believe that this could happen. We can scream “abominable”, “unfathomable”, “unthinkable” and stump like we’re somehow better than any other flawed and imperfect human being. We can click our keyboard keys and speak on traditional media airwaves and post on social media. We can let everyone know of our indignation and exasperation.

Or maybe…

Maybe we can come out to Miller Park and enjoy the best place to be for six months every year. Maybe we can support the Milwaukee Brewers because, BREAKING NEWS, the active roster has 25 men on it, and the organization has over 150 players in it, all of whom aren’t the current subject of your righteous umbrage. Maybe we can use this as a reminder that the name on the front of the jersey means more than the name on the back. Maybe we can just flat out continue to love the game that we’re already fanatics of.

I don’t want to get into the multiple and independent studies about how the effects of PED use are neglible in the sport of baseball. I don’t want to get into the argument that Ryan Braun never actually publicly admitted to anything other than making some “mistakes” and remind you of the old adage which states “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Instead, for now and until something changes, I’ll watch this game I love, support the players in the uniforms (as varied as the versions are) which mean they play for the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, and just appreciate the game of baseball.

After all, Everth Cabrera is about to lead off the game I’m at for the San Diego Padres. You know what? He’s on a list from Biogenesis too. You know what else? It honestly doesn’t really bother me all that much. He’s playing and Braun isn’t. Many players are playing right now while Braun serves a suspension with some agreed upon terms. I’m not self-righteous enough or pompous enough or sanctimonious enough to the point where I’ll consider myself “better” than these mortal men who may or may not have made some mistakes.

Oh, and one other thing, in absolutely no way am I going to allow a pack of hyenas to dictate my feelings and thoughts about a subject that I am more than capable of determining those things about for myself. If someone feels that they were personally wronged so strongly because either a player cheated or more so because they were lied to and their outlet for that burning rage is to author columns about it…well, that’s on them, I guess.

I must include one tweet from someone who sums up this part of my post perfectly.

I’m not really sure how well all that flows, but it’s there for your consumption.