DBacks Throw at Braun “Unintentionally,” But Brewers Win

Last night’s baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Arizona Diamondbacks was notable for two things: a grand-slam homer by Jonathan Lucroy that won the game for the Brewers, and an “unintentional” plunking of Ryan Braun that served to load the bases for Lucroy.

Let me break it down for you.

The Brewers were down, 4-3, in the top of the 7th inning. Two men (Scooter Gennett and Lyle Overbay) were standing on second and third base, and Ryan Braun was at the plate. There were two outs. Braun has been doing better lately, but right now, Lucroy is the better all-around hitter.

Anyway, the DBacks had a number of options. They could’ve intentionally walked Braun. They could’ve pitched to Braun. They could’ve given Braun an “unintentional” intentional walk — where they do try to pitch to Braun, but give him nothing worth having.

Instead, they threw at his backside. Twice.

The first pitch missed. The home plate umpire, Ted Barrett, went out to ask the DBacks pitcher, Evan Marshall, what occurred — Marshall clearly said something like, “It slipped,” so the ump went back behind the plate.

However, when Marshall threw again at Braun’s backside, this time hitting him, Barrett didn’t wait: he threw Marshall out immediately.

Marshall exited to fist-bumps from his own dugout and a standing ovation from many in the crowd. (Note that the Brewers play their Spring Training games in Arizona, so there were a goodly amount of Brewers fans in the audience. They definitely did not stand up; instead, they booed.)

Now, Jonathan Lucroy came to bat. He’d hit a solo home run in the sixth inning, is among the hottest hitters in baseball (currently is hitting .340, good for third in the league), and considering Braun is “only” hitting .284 at the moment (low by Braun’s standards), no one in his right mind would intentionally hit Braun to get to Lucroy.

And Lucroy delivered, just as you’d expect him to do. He hit a grand slam homer. And just like that, the Brewers went from being down, 4-3, to winning, 7-4. And they eventually won the game, 7-5.

All of Marshall’s posturing aside, it was obvious that Marshall intentionally threw at Braun. (The smirking Marshall insisted in the post-game interviews aired by Fox Sports Wisconsin that he’d not intended to hit Braun at all. But that’s just absurd.)

It’s also obvious from all the fist-bumping in the dugout that Kirk Gibson not only knew of Marshall’s plan, but Gibson must’ve approved of it. (How else would a guy who’s just lost the game and not even gotten one single batter out get fist-bumps from his own dugout?)

And finally, DBacks catcher Miguel Montero obviously knew of this plan as well, as both times he set his glove far inside, right behind Braun’s butt.**

Mind, Kyle Lohse did hit two DBacks earlier in the game — Didi Gregorious, and Chris Owings. But Lohse barely grazed Gregorious (in fact, I’m not even sure Lohse hit him, it was that light; he got him on the pant leg), and the pitch to Owings wasn’t anywhere near as blatant as that thrown at Braun — twice.

It’s well-known that Kirk Gibson does not like Ryan Braun, and blames Braun for the DBacks losing the NLCS to the Brewers in 2011. (Gibson seems to think that if Braun hadn’t been taking PEDs then, the DBacks would’ve won. An odd assumption.) So having Braun go to the plate and get hit, and having the unseemly display in the dugout after Marshall quite rightly got ejected from the game, seems like Gibson planned this particular event to the letter.

The only thing that failed was in having to pitch to Lucroy one batter later. Lucroy was fired up, as was everyone in the Brewers dugout. Had Lucroy not hit the grand-slam homer, it’s possible there could’ve been some ugliness between the two teams.

Fortunately, Lucroy hit the grand slam. The DBacks quieted down. The partisans in the crowd quieted also, while the Brewers fans rejoiced. And Milwaukee won the game because of Gibson’s stupidity in loading the bases to pitch to Lucroy, incompetence (enough said) and obvious hatred of Ryan Braun.

As Braun said when asked after the game about all this:

Braun said he was anticipating getting hit at some point, just not at that point.

“We know the way the game works. I wasn’t surprised I got hit,” Braun said. “I was surprised I got hit in that situation, those circumstances — go-ahead run at second base, tying run at third.”

Any speculation that Gibson may have wanted Braun because of the PED issue brings to mind Red Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster intentionally hitting the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez last August after Rodriguez was suspended 211 games by MLB. Dempster was suspended five games.

Asked if he thought the drug angle figured in Marshall’s pitch, Braun said: “You’d have to ask him (Gibson). I wish him the best, hope he finds peace and happiness in his life.”

Which, really, is all Braun can say.

All I know is this: What the Arizona Diamondbacks did yesterday in deliberately plunking Ryan Braun in the butt, then fist-bumping and high-fiving the pitcher, Evan Marshall, who did it (and promptly got ejected for it), was classless, shoddy, and stupid.

No wonder the DBacks are 30-44. Because acting like that, they’ve obviously proven themselves to be losers of the first water.

———

**Note: Expect suspensions for Marshall, Gibson, and possibly Montero. Because they’ve all earned them.

A-Rod, MLB, and PED Suspensions

Folks, over the last week or so, I’ve been riveted by the current contretemps over Major League Baseball’s suspension of New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (“A-Rod”) being upheld by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz . . . albeit not for the 211 games MLB wanted. Instead of 211 games, Horowitz reduced the suspension to 162 games — the length of a major league season — and further said that if the Yankees make the playoffs next year, Rodriguez would be ineligible for that as well.

I’ve written extensively in the past about Ryan Braun’s struggle with MLB over the same issues (go here, here and here for the three latest blogs on the subject), so if you’ve read my blog before, you know what I’m about to say.

But in case you haven’t, here goes:

I don’t approve of what MLB has done in paying off witnesses like Anthony “Tony” Bosch. I don’t approve of MLB purchasing stolen documents, either. And while I don’t approve of performance-enhancing drugs in the main, I think it’s wrong for MLB to go after one person — whether it’s Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, or anyone else — with so much vigor that they’re willing to do practically anything to “get their man.”

Stooping to the defense of “we’ll do anything necessary to stomp out PEDs” is not good enough.  It’s a witch hunt, just as Rodriguez has said on many occasions. And I think Hardball Talk’s Craig Calcaterra was right when he said:

. . . I would not, if I were running Major League Baseball, have permitted my investigators to purchase the stolen Biogenesis documents. Maybe that costs me valuable information. Maybe that blows my case entirely. But I see no end result, including the possible failure to punish A-Rod, that is worth an organization under my command breaking the law, which I believe happened in this case. I also do my best to get better sourcing for the information my investigators obtained than guys named, simply, “Bobby.”

Even with the knowledge that Rodriguez could’ve and perhaps should’ve taken a much lesser suspension last spring (he apparently was offered a fifty-game suspension, this being the standard length for a first-time offender), I still believe that MLB’s actions were completely and utterly absurd — not to mention wrong.

That the World Anti-Doping Agency has come out in favor of the tactics behind the Rodriguez suspension only adds fuel to the fire.  As discussed in this article from A.J. Cassavell over at MLB.com:

“The ‘clear and convincing evidence’ found by arbitrator Horowitz in this case proves that non-analytical methods have an increasingly important role to play in uncovering those athletes who have breached anti-doping rules,” (WADA President) Reedie said. “Sharing information and intelligence is something WADA continues to encourage its own stakeholders to do in order to help protect the rights of the clean athlete.”

Um, even when “non-analytical methods” include intimidating and browbeating witnesses in the court of public opinion, then paying the very witnesses MLB just spent a fortune to vilify? Even when MLB is buying stolen documents of unknown veracity, then using them to back up their claims that the athlete in question — in this case, Alex Rodriguez — is guilty as sin of using PEDs?

How could any of those things ever be right, regardless of what Rodriguez actually did while a patron of Bosch’s Biogenesis clinic?

Granted, MLB wants to rid the game of PEDs — but why do it this way?

Because there is another way, and that way is called education. If you let all the players know exactly what these various banned substances do in the body — if they’re truly deleterious in their effects — that should take care of a good part of it.

And maybe that’s all MLB can do.  Because as broadcaster Keith Olbermann has said many times, there will never be a way to remove everything considered a “performance enhancer.” (KO has famously referred to an player who was known to have taken monkey testosterone — back in the 1890s.)

Years ago, baseball players took amphetamines to cope with the rigors of a 162-game season, and no one blinked an eye. Then, some players coped with the same rigors of a 162-game season by taking steroids — legal and illegal — because that was the only way they knew to keep their bodies in shape to play. (Note that the first player who admitted he took a steroid — a then-legal steroid called androstenedione — was Mark McGwire, who had well-known back problems.) Finally, some players — such as the recently-retired Andy Pettite — admitted using human growth hormone (HGH) in order to recover from injuries faster.

Now, all three of those substances are banned from baseball — though there are some workarounds for amphetamines in small doses with a doctor’s prescription. (For example, some baseball players have been approved to have Adderall to treat ADHD and/or narcolepsy; Adderall is a stimulant.)

Considering MLB’s current zeal and their scorched-earth philosophy when it comes to PEDs, will energy drinks that give players a natural “high” be banned next?

Don’t laugh. The World Baseball Classic banned albuterol because it helps asthmatic athletes breathe, so it obviously gives asthmatic athletes an unfair advantage. (I hope you can see my eye-roll from there.) And MLB has banned certain types of over-the-counter cold medicines, mostly because they contain a small dose of some form of stimulant.

All I know is this: Shaming people into doing something never works. MLB needs to educate the players in order to keep them away from PEDs, rather than shame them.

Maybe then, they’d actually get what they want — a PED-free game. And they’d not look so much like villains in the process.

My Final Take on the 2013 Milwaukee Brewers Season

The 2013 season for the Milwaukee Brewers was one of intense disappointment, yet with some glimmers of hope for the future.  The play of the “baby Brewers” (Caleb Gindl, Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett, et. al.) down the stretch was extremely enjoyable, and the starting pitchers finally rounded into form in late July to help them along.

So, without further ado, here’s my take on the Brewers’ high points, low points, and “huh, what were they thinking?” points of 2013.

The high points:

Brewers CF Carlos Gomez’s many highlight-reel worthy catches made watching the Brewers far less painful after Ryan Braun ended up getting a 65-game suspension.  Gomez had his best overall season, batting .284 with 24 home runs, 73 RBI and 40 stolen bases, and was named to the 2013 All-Star team.  Gomez has a legitimate chance to win a Gold Glove award for his work this past season; if he wins, he’ll be only the second Brewers OF to win (Sixto Lezcano was the first, in 1979) and will be the first Brewers player to have done so since Robin Yount in 1982.

Brewers SS Jean Segura, in his first full-time major league season, performed extremely well with the exception of his running the bases backward (see below).  Segura played well defensively at short (committing only 15 errors in ’13 versus 10 in ’12 in a much smaller sample size) while batting .294 with 12 HRs, 49 RBI, and 44 SBs, and was named to the 2013 All-Star team.

Note: Segura was easily the top first-year player in major league baseball during 2013, but is not eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award because he played too many innings for the Brewers during the 2012 stretch run.

The Brewers bullpen was the best in the league for most of the 2013, slipping only in August and September due to their season-long heavy workload.  The best of the bullpen were Francisco Rodriguez, who notched his 200th overall save before being traded to the Baltimore Orioles, Jim Henderson (5-5, 2.70 ERA, 28 saves in 32 chances) and setup man Brandon Kintzler (3-3, 2.69 ERA, 26 holds, 77 innings pitched).  Kintzler’s success story is remarkable in two ways: One, he sustained an injury last year that resulted in him getting designated for assignment in late June — fortunately for the Brewers, every other major league team passed on Kintzler and they kept his rights and contract.  And two, it wasn’t so long ago (four years, to be exact) that Kintzler was just a regular guy, pitching in one of the independent leagues to keep his baseball dreams alive and driving a limousine to support himself.

Finally, the outstanding pitching of starter Kyle Lohse (11-10, 3.35 ERA, 20 quality starts in 198 2/3 innings pitched) needs to be discussed.  Lohse was signed right before the season started, so it took him a few months to get into his regular season form.  But once he did, Lohse became the ace of the Brewers staff while mentoring many of the Brewers younger pitchers.  Lohse’s record is deceptive due to exceptionally poor run support during June and July, which caused Lohse to get a substantial amount of no-decisions rather than wins.

Lohse’s best game was that wild win in Atlanta just one week ago, where he pitched a complete game shutout while giving up only two hits and throwing only 89 pitches.  This particular effort was noteworthy because of the game’s odd start — Carlos Gomez hit a home run, then was impeded from scoring by Atlanta Braves C Brian McCann.  An altercation ensued, punches were thrown (by bench player Reed Johnson, mostly), Gomez and Braves 1B Freddie Freeman were both ejected while McCann and Johnson were inexplicably allowed to continue onward.  A lesser pitcher than Lohse would’ve allowed himself to get thrown by all this drama; instead, Lohse concentrated on what he had to do — and did it brilliantly.

The low points:

Oh, brother.  Must I even say it?  (Yes, I suppose I must.)

Obviously, the suspension of Brewers LF Ryan Braun was the biggest, baddest low point of the entire 2013 season.  (See my blogs here, here and here for further details.)  Braun is the best player the Brewers have; he’s a former MVP, has been named to the All-Star team several times, and was also a former Rookie of the Year.  So when his season was cut short due to a 65-game suspension (after having significant time on the disabled list for a thumb issue), it couldn’t help but adversely affect the Brewers.

Once Braun had to admit that he’d lied about ever taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), he was excoriated in the court of public opinion.  This was due to the fact that before the scandal broke, he had been seen as what the best of baseball is supposed to be about — a clean game played by clean players on a clean field.

(Yes, that’s hyperbolic for a reason.  I’m getting to that.)

As you might expect, no one is as perfect as all that, most especially not a major league baseball player.

When Braun finally had to admit that he’d lied about taking a performance-enhancing substance (believed now to be some form of quick-acting testosterone), all Hell broke loose in the media.  Jeff Passan was possibly the worst offender, writing several columns about Braun that showed that Passan viewed cockroaches above Braun — way, way above — and making a major journalistic mistake late in August when he failed to check his sources before again excoriating Braun, then having the sources roundly deny his allegations.  But other respected writers like Christine Brennan and Bob Nightengale also were extremely critical of Braun (though they didn’t make Passan’s sourcing mistake), mostly because they seemed to feel a sense of personal betrayal that usually is only felt by fans, not by reasonably impartial journalists with major reputations to consider.

Nothing else — no, not even the Brewers woeful 6-22 record in May — came close.

But because there were obviously many, many other low points to consider, I’ll name just a few:

1. The revolving door at first base due to Corey Hart’s knee surgeries was a major key to the Brewers’ failures, both defensively and with regards to driving in runs.  None of the replacements did particularly well, with Juan Francisco being perhaps the worst of the lot due both to his slipshod defense and his propensity for swinging wildly at balls in the dirt.
2. The infield defense was suspect, partially due to the gaping hole at first base.  When utility infielder Yuniesky Betancourt ends up playing 137 games (including numerous stints as a defensive replacement at first despite never playing the position in the majors prior to this year), that’s a sign of desperation right there.
3. Second baseman Rickie Weeks’ season (.209, 10 HRs, 24 RBI, 7 SB in 10 attempts with 105 Ks in 399 plate appearances) was abhorrent.  Weeks has lost what little defensive range he ever had, lost the vast majority of his speed on the bases along with his bat speed, lost most of his power . . . in some ways, it was almost a blessing that Weeks tore his hamstring because nearly every Brewers fan was calling for Weeks’ head due to Weeks’ $11M contract.  It’s even money that Weeks will lose his job to rookie Scooter Gennett in 2014.
4. The starting pitching in the first two months of the season was Godawful.  (‘Nuff said.)
5. John Axford’s early meltdown as the Brewers closer was both surprising and sad.  While Axford eventually rebounded as a setup man (allowing only one ER from May 15 to July 27), he never got close to sniffing the closer’s job again due to the joint performances of Rodriguez and Henderson before getting mercifully traded to the St. Louis Cardinals.

And the “huh?” points:

The first one is obvious — what on Earth was Jean Segura thinking back in April when he first stole second base, then “stole” first base and tried to steal second again?

For that matter, why did Segura make so many baserunning mistakes early in the season?  It seemed like he was always getting thrown out at third, or at home, or trying to stretch a double into a triple . . . granted, Segura’s fast and smart, and he did eventually learn from these mistakes.  But it was really difficult to watch him make these mistakes over and over in the first three months of the season before he finally caught on.

That gets into the second “huh” — that is, so many Brewers got thrown out on the bases that I was tempted to send them all to baseball re-education camp.  (Sample re-educator dialogue: “Now, children, you don’t want to make the first out by getting thrown out due to carelessness.  Pay attention to what the other team is doing, children!  Don’t let your mind wander so much!  Don’t run yourselves out of innings!  You’re old enough to know better, really!  Pay attention, pay attention, pay attention!”)  There was no excuse for this, either, aside from the whole “youth and inexperience angle” that was trotted out time and time again for Segura — and as he was far from the only offender, and as the others on the team were much older than his own twenty-two years, I just didn’t understand this at all.

Why did the Brewers re-sign Alex Gonzalez, anyway?  Yes, he was and is a quality individual; yes, he probably was a good role model for the younger players.  But after a year on the disabled list, Gonzalez had lost his hitting stroke and was never able to regain it, and was released midseason.

Everything else from the 2013 Brewers season falls into the realms of what might have been.  To name just two burning questions:

1. What would’ve happened had Corey Hart not played on his bad foot during the tail end of 2012, when the Brewers were desperately trying for the second Wild Card spot?  Hart’s injury to his plantar fascia was the same one suffered by Albert Pujols of the Angels this year, and the Angels quickly put Pujols on the season-ending DL.  Had the Brewers done the prudent long-term thing and shut Hart down rather than taping him up to the point his bad foot was immobilized and it was hard to watch him move around in the field or bat, would Hart have ended up needing not one but both of his knees surgically repaired in 2013?
2. What would’ve happened had Braun told the truth in 2012?  If he’d have served a 50-game suspension then, would he have been treated like Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon rather than the pariah he’s become?  And would it have made any difference whatsoever to the 2013 Brewers’ record?  (It surely would’ve made a difference to the Brewers players — not to mention Brewers fans.)

So here’s to 2014, Brewers fans.  And let’s hope that for all our sakes that Braun will rebound, that Hart will be re-signed and have a monster season, and that if Weeks is still the starting second baseman at the start of 2014 that he actually deserves to be.

My Reaction to Ryan Braun’s Statement and Letter to Brewers Fans

Folks, most of you know very well by my previous blogs on the subject that I have been very interested in Ryan Braun’s situation, both before he accepted a 65-game, season-ending suspension earlier this year, and since.  Which is why I’m not at all surprised that I heard from at least a few of you privately regarding these questions:

“So, Barb, what do you think of Ryan Braun’s statement yesterday (8/22/2013, to be exact)?  Much less his letter to fans of the Milwaukee Brewers?”

I think what Braun said is the best he’s able to do right now.  Witness these lines from the letter the Brewers sent out to fans of the team last evening (including yours truly):

I am so sorry for letting you down by being in denial for so long and not telling the whole truth about what happened. I am ashamed and extremely embarrassed by the decisions I made. There are no excuses for what I did and I take full responsibility for my actions. I apologize to all Brewers fans for disappointing you.

Braun’s letter appears to be sincere; more to the point, as a writer and editor myself, it sounds like Braun’s personal speech (insofar as a letter ever can) rather than a canned, prepared statement by a PR firm.

But some pundits just cannot get over the fact that Braun lied in the first place about his past PED usage.  They’re upset that, in Braun’s statement, Braun only had this to say about what he took:

Here is what happened. During the latter part of the 2011 season, I was dealing with a nagging injury and I turned to products for a short period of time that I shouldn’t have used. The products were a cream and a lozenge which I was told could help expedite my rehabilitation. It was a huge mistake for which I am deeply ashamed and I compounded the situation by not admitting my mistakes immediately.

But as Craig Calcaterra put it at Hardballtalk.com today:

Wow, I’m gobsmacked. I really and truly thought that, after Ryan Braun‘s apology last night, people would embrace him and say that he addressed every concern they had and now we could move on. Imagine my shock and horror this morning when I read multiple takes from the usual suspects about how Braun left questions unanswered and didn’t go far enough.

Yes, Calcaterra is being sarcastic.  But he has a point.  There are some pundits out there, Buster Olney and Jeff Passan among them, who will never, ever be satisfied by what Braun does ever again.  Braun could drop dead in the street after rescuing five little children from a housefire, and it still wouldn’t be enough to satisfy them.

In addition, players often do not know exactly what they are taking.  As Calcaterra says elsewhere in his article:

Braun probably doesn’t know (what he took). Heck, even if he does what difference would it make? Show me one instance where baseball writers have made meaningful distinctions between anabolic steroids, HGH, testosterone and other things. They all treat them like magic pills which bestow super powers, so Braun not breaking them down here makes zero difference.

I agree.

While my anger over Braun’s deception has cooled (see my previous blog on the subject), much of what I actually believe is the same.  From my earlier blog:

My attitude regarding PED use remains much the same as it’s always been.  I think if you’re trying to stay healthy to play baseball, that’s a lot different than trying to cheat the system, which is why McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Bonds (if he really did use them) should be given a pass, as all of them had well-known health problems that steroids/PEDs may have alleviated.  And if you’re willing to accept all sorts of adverse effects on your body, as seen by Lyle Alzado’s tragic death after his brilliant NFL career not so long ago, have at.

(And I called for Braun to “come clean,” which he has now done.)

As I’ve said before, I believe in redemption and second chances.  And the first step in redeeming yourself is to admit what you’ve done and take personal responsibility, which is why I’m pleased Ryan Braun has finally come out with these explanations and apologies.

Ultimately, though, what Ryan Braun needs to remember is this: It’s not important what other people think of you.  It’s important what you think of yourself.  Providing you can look yourself in the eye and tell yourself you’ve made an honest effort to do better, that’s all that any human being can ever do.

Or to boil it down to brass tacks: Yes, I accept Ryan Braun’s explanation and apology.  And I hope he’ll play well throughout the rest of his career, because he’s a really good baseball player and I’ve always enjoyed seeing him play.

But for those of you who still expect better than this from professional athletes, I have news: The Tooth Fairy isn’t real, either.

Jeff Passan Owes Baseball Fans an Apology

What is wrong with Yahoo Sports writer Jeff Passan?

Passan wrote yet another column condemning Ryan Braun this past Sunday, despite this new column being at least the fourth such column in the past month.  This seems excessive under the circumstances, as a number of other baseball players, including Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers, Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres, and Jhonny Peralta of the Cleveland Indians are also suspended, while Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees continues to play pending his upcoming appeal of a lengthy, 211-game suspension.

Anyway, Passan’s newest column on Braun cited an ESPN report that said Braun had supposedly lobbied fellow MLB players prior to his successful appeal regarding the reportedly high level of testosterone in his urine sample.  ESPN’s slant was that Braun was perhaps looking for support from his fellow players as Braun was prepared to lose his hearing.  According to ESPN’s original report, Braun supposedly told several unnamed players that the urine specimen collector, Dino Laurenzi, Jr., was both a “Cubs fan” and an “anti-Semite.”  But when Braun unexpectedly won, that lobbying wasn’t needed.

However, Passan’s column as initially reported said that Braun had told specific big-name players such as Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies and Joey Votto these very same allegations.  (The inference in both columns, of course, was that Braun had said that Laurenzi, Jr., had it in for Braun.)  And because Passan’s column named these names, it made this particular report sound that much more compelling.

Then came the reports here and here that stated that neither Tulowitzki nor Votto had spoken with Braun about this particular matter.  And that Braun had most emphatically not slandered the urine collector in any way as far as either one of them knew.

So, what should you do as a writer when something this big blows up in your face?  Most people would print a retraction and an additional article saying, in effect, “Sorry.  I/we screwed up, and it won’t happen again if we can help it.”

But that’s not exactly what Passan did here, though he did back off a few of the worst of the allegations against Braun:

ESPN.com first reported that Braun had reached out to fellow players. While Yahoo! Sports previously reported Braun had contacted Joey Votto and Troy Tulowitzki, on Monday they denied having any conversations with Braun about test collector Dino Laurenzi Jr.  (emphasis mine — BC)

Note that this slight backing off seems to be blaming ESPN’s initial report, which is silly at best because it wasn’t ESPN who named Tulowitzki and Votto as being among the players Braun had supposedly reached out to for support — it was Jeff Passan himself.

Worse yet, other reports are still being written that are going off the original source material, including this one from UT-San Diego, which was written one short day ago.

Look.  I understand why Passan felt the need to write his column, at least in part.  ESPN had put out a report.  Yahoo wanted to have its own story.  Passan wrote it because, quite frankly, he cannot abide Ryan Braun (he’s previously called Braun a “cockroach”) and Passan, being a baseball writer who fully understands what’s going on with regards to the 2013 suspensions for performance-enhancing drug use, was probably the best person to write this particular column.

Where Passan erred was when he decided to name Tulowitzki and Votto without getting quotes from them on the record.  Both players are among the biggest names in baseball; Tulowitzki came in second to Braun in the 2007 Rookie of the Year Award, while Votto won the Most Valuable Player award in 2010.

So when Passan named them without quotes, he had to know that fallout was possible.  Yet for some strange reason, that didn’t seem to bother him at all.

Why?

What Passan did wasn’t a small error.  Instead, this was a big, fat, huge error considering Passan’s name, his reputation, and the fact that he has thousands upon thousands of people reading his columns every single day.  That’s why whatever Passan ends up reporting on any given day needs to be above reproach.

Passan screwed up by naming two players who apparently had absolutely no contact with Braun whatsoever regarding this issue without checking his sources and making sure they were unimpeachable.  And thus far, Passan has failed to offer one shred of reasoning as to why he, Jeff Passan, did this at all, when Passan had to know they would both be asked about these allegations . . . especially considering that Passan obviously had no idea what these men were going to say.

If Jeff Passan didn’t realize that these two men were going to deny these allegations, much less in the heartfelt way both men picked to do so — Tulowitzki and Votto are known as straight shooters — why on Earth did he print such inflammatory allegations?

While the slight clarification currently in the Yahoo Sports article by Passan (referenced above) is better than nothing, it is extremely puzzling that Passan would not print an apology under these circumstances.

Because really and truly, Passan owes all baseball fans an apology.  His report regarding Braun’s apparent slander was inflammatory.  He couldn’t back it up — in fact, it was roundly denied by two of the people Passan sourced in his original column as supposedly being upset and offended by Braun’s reported remarks — and then, he only had the wit to partly backtrack and blame ESPN instead for ESPN’s initial report?

I’m sorry.  That does not cut it.

Writers must have integrity.  Honesty.  Believability.  And be able to tell a fair and accurate story, especially when it comes to nonfiction sports writing and current events . . . otherwise, the writer in question has nothing at all.

We all know this, as writers.  Which is why most writers would’ve apologized for making a mistake of this magnitude immediately.

Otherwise, why would you want to trust us, or believe that we’re giving you the best information possible on any given day?

Whenever we fail, as writers, we must own up to it.

I don’t care if there are one thousand people in baseball who think exactly what Jeff Passan reported . . . if Passan hadn’t named names, he’d be in the clear.  But he did, he was wrong, and he should apologize.  Profusely.

And if he refuses to apologize, I have only one more question for you: Why on Earth should we believe anything else Jeff Passan ever says?

———–

**Note: Both the ESPN report and the column written by Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports have been updated to reflect the record that both Tulowitzki and Votto have denied these specific allegations.  ESPN’s report quite properly credits Passan’s Yahoo sports column for making those direct allegations.

Milwaukee Brewers 2013 Woes Continue — Ryan Braun Accepts 65-Game Suspension, Out for the Year

Folks, when it rains, it pours.

While I was working on my previous update, I had written this about my favorite team, which are of course the Milwaukee Brewers.  They are currently on a four-game winning streak, and I thought it worthy of celebration.  So here’s what I said, moments before the news about Ryan Braun broke in Milwaukee:

The Milwaukee Brewers are on a post All-Star break roll, sweeping the Florida Marlins out of Milwaukee yesterday and winning all three low-scoring games due to excellent pitching (Friday’s starting pitcher was Kyle Lohse, Saturday’s was Yovani Gallardo, and Sunday’s was the rapidly improving Wily Peralta) by both starters and bullpen.

Let’s see how well they do against San Diego tonight, though I do think they should have an excellent chance as the Padres have won only two more games than the Brewers and are exactly the same in the loss column.

(Granted, it seems odd to quote myself.)

I wrote this prior to the knowledge that Braun had accepted a 65-game suspension and will consequently be out the rest of the 2013 season, forfeiting over $3 million of his 2013 salary.  (Please see this link from Yahoo Sports for further details.)  Which is why I pulled it out of the previous post, quoted it here, and now will have to discard all of that as the much bigger story is Braun’s upcoming absence for the remainder of the 2013 season.

Oh, brother.

Look.  I’m someone who fully believed that Braun was innocent of using any performance-enhancing drug (or PED, for short).  Mistakes can happen when it comes to drug testing; they’re rare, sure, but they still can happen, and it seemed plausible to me that a man whose physique had never changed, whose lifetime numbers (batting average, on-base-percentage, slugging percentage, etc.) had never changed, either, and who vehemently declared his innocence was worthy of defending.

It has also seemed to me, for quite some time, that Major League Baseball has a grudge against Ryan Braun.  They are annoyed that he managed to win his arbitration case in 2012, and that he was never suspended at that time for PEDs.  And they have continued to go after him since then, doing their best to vilify his reputation in the process.

So, what am I to think of this statement from Braun, then?

As quoted from the Yahoo Sports article by Jeff Passan:

“As I have acknowledged in the past, I am not perfect,” Braun said. “I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions. This situation has taken a toll on me and my entire family, and it has been a distraction to my teammates and the Brewers organization. I am very grateful for the support I have received from players, ownership and the fans in Milwaukee and around the country. Finally, I wish to apologize to anyone I may have disappointed – all of the baseball fans especially those in Milwaukee, the great Brewers organization, and my teammates. I am glad to have this matter behind me once and for all, and I cannot wait to get back to the game I love.”

This statement doesn’t really say anything, does it?  Other than that Braun accepted punishment for unnamed “mistakes,” apologized for the “distraction” afterward, and wants to play baseball again, there’s nothing here for a fan of the Brewers to really hang her hat on.

This article by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel baseball beat writer Tom Haudricourt clearly states this about the Ryan Braun suspension:

Major League Baseball has suspended Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun without pay for the remainder of the 2013 season and he has accepted the penalty, meaning he was caught red-handed either buying and/or using performance-enhancing drugs.

The suspension takes place immediately, so Braun will be suspended for the final 65 games of the season, beginning with the Brewers’ game Monday night at Miller Park against San Diego. The sanction came as a result of MLB’s investigation into the infamous Biogenesis clinic, which was exposed as having sold PEDs to players after documents were released to various news agencies earlier this year.

The suspension also exposed Braun as a liar because he has stated many times that he never used PEDs and never wavered from that stance.

So it appears that Tom Haudricourt isn’t too thrilled with what happened here, either.

Again — as a writer, I am trained to spot inconsistencies.  Braun’s story, as Tom H. clearly said, never wavered.  Braun loudly proclaimed his innocence at every turn.  Braun blamed the guy who collected the urine test for the reason it came up positive, and was able to make that stick, and doing so made it appear to me that Braun really was telling the truth.  Especially as Braun hadn’t failed any other drug tests before, or since.

But there are other ways to cheat the system.  Baseball itself knows that better than anyone, and fans — even good ones, like myself, who are aware of steroids and other PEDs and know something of their effects on the body — aren’t really able to fully grasp why someone like Ryan Braun, who seemingly has the world at his feet and has no reason to skirt the rules whatsoever, has now admitted to doing so.

Even if his admission has all the oomph of a non-admission, mostly because he hasn’t said exactly what he’s been accused of doing.

Baseball fans will forgive almost any player if he tells the truth about what he’s done.  Andy Pettitte said he used HGH — human growth hormone — in an effort to heal from injury faster, and wasn’t suspended.  Alex Rodriguez admitted to using unspecified PEDs a few years ago, and wasn’t suspended (though he may be now due to apparently using them again via Biogenesis).  Fernando Vina admitted to using steroids when he was with the Brewers long after the fact — he was a broadcaster, by then — and no one has ever vilified him.

But when someone doesn’t admit it and apparently did use them — whether it’s Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, or Rafael Palmeiro — fans get upset.  And then the player in question faces consequences, including shunning, booing, boorish behavior by the fans, or worst of all, exclusion from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

My attitude regarding PED use remains much the same as it’s always been.  I think if you’re trying to stay healthy to play baseball, that’s a lot different than trying to cheat the system, which is why McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Bonds (if he really did use them) should be given a pass, as all of them had well-known health problems that steroids/PEDs may have alleviated.  And if you’re willing to accept all sorts of adverse effects on your body, as seen by Lyle Alzado’s tragic death after his brilliant NFL career not so long ago, have at.

My particular problem with Braun isn’t that he used (or maybe didn’t use) PEDs.  It’s that he still hasn’t come clean regarding that use.

I believe very strongly in redemption and second chances.  But one of the things most people need to do before they can fully proceed with either is to be honest.  With themselves.  With the other important people in their lives.

So far, Ryan Braun hasn’t done this.

Like it or not, Braun is a public figure by the dint of his baseball stardom.  That’s why whatever happened must be explained to those who’ve supported him from the beginning — some specific explanations, not today’s weasel-worded non-denial denial — the fans of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Until he does, he’ll probably face all sorts of unintended consequences of today’s admission.  And he’ll keep on facing them until he’s finally, fully and freely explained just what happened here that’s bad enough for him to accept an unpaid suspension for the rest of the 2013 season.

Like a Broken Record, MLB Goes After Ryan Braun — Again

Folks, some things get more ridiculous the longer I study them.

Take the Ryan Braun situation, for example.  Braun is currently under suspicion, again, for illegal PED use due to his name being mentioned on a list from the Biogenesis Clinic.  This has been known for quite some time (please see my earlier blog on the subject from March of this year for further details, and a quick update at the end of this blog).

However, the powers that be at Major League Baseball have now managed to come up with a potential “star witness” — the guy who owned the Biogenesis Clinic, Tony Bosch, to be exact.  But as Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports pointed out earlier today (spelling mistake left in situ):

Baseball has been “seeking” suspensions of Rodriguez, Braun and others for months. Bosch certainly is a critical piece to the sport’s puzzle. But he is not a licensed physican, his anti-aging clinic is out of business and he previously told ESPN, “I don’t know anything about performance-enhancing drugs.”

His credibility is about on par with that of Roger Clemens’ former trainer, Brian McNamee, who became the government’s chief witness against the pitcher.

Which is to say, his credibility is in doubt.

And because Bosch’s credibility is so poor, Rosenthal believes major league baseball has a weak case.  So the reports of MLB asking for potential 100-game suspensions — supposedly 50 games for using, and 50 games for lying — don’t hold a whole lot of water with Rosenthal as any evidence Bosch may have looks quite weak.

As Rosenthal says toward the end of his column:

Slips of paper listing . . . names, a sworn affidavit from Bosch admitting that they were customers — heck, I’m not a lawyer, but I’d take my chances tearing baseball’s case apart.

Oh, I can hear those on the players’ side now.

“Bosch agreed to cooperate with baseball only to save his own rear. He’s broke. He’s talking in order to get baseball to drop its lawsuit against him. He needs the various forms of protection that baseball offered him, according to ESPN.

“What does baseball have? Nothing.”

Jeff Passan, columnist at Yahoo Sports, takes a different tack, saying tonight that baseball has come up with a “Pyrrhic victory” in their pursuit against supposed performance-enhancing drug (PED) users.  Passan states that while PED use can be “mitigated and controlled,” it’s also sure to enrage the Major League Baseball Players’ Association (MLBPA):

Think about the union’s perspective: For all this time, MLB has painted Tony Bosch as a low-life, a pissant faux doctor who was nothing more than a sleazeball. And now it wants to trust him, of all people, and mete out perhaps 1,000 games of punishment?

Worst of all from a fan’s perspective, MLB being willing to go heavily against the players’ association — which believes as many people that any player accused of using PEDs has and should have a presumption of innocence until proven guilty — means, as Passan puts it, that MLB seems to want to “wage all-out war against the union.”

At any rate, my overall beliefs remain unchanged.  Braun has been convicted of nothing, and I’m tired of MLB going after him.  Braun has passed at least six drug tests since the disputed one in 2011 (that never should’ve been made public).  He’s as clean as anyone in baseball, and it’s time that MLB admitted that and moved on already.

That being said, Passan has a point that MLB going after PED users will never work, because sports is all about getting and maintaining an edge.  Players make such big money that the temptation to use performance-enhancers must be quite high.

But as I’ve said before (from my initial blog about Braun in December of 2011):

. . . as baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt (a third baseman, and a power hitter, for the Philadelphia Phillies) said in his book CLEARING THE BASES, baseball players have been trying to “gain an edge” since the beginning of time.  Trying to legislate that away will never work (not that I think Braun did anything wrong here, but if he was trying to gain an edge, so what?).  And if the players are harming themselves down the line to gain big bucks now, that should be their prerogative — all I ask is that if someone is taking something like that, they watch what happened to Oakland Raiders’ star Lyle Alzado (who died young, and horribly, from cancer that may have been prevented if Alzado hadn’t admittedly taken many, many steroids over time).

In this, particular case, my view is that Braun’s statistical performance was well within his own normals.  So it’s very hard for me to believe that Braun actually did take anything illegal of the PED variety; because of that, and because of my admittedly laissez-faire attitude toward baseball players and legal drugs, I believe Braun should be considered innocent until and unless he is proven guilty.

Pay attention to the words I’ve bolded, folks.  Because they’re the most important ones to remember.

And whether MLB likes it or not, the fact remains that Braun was exonerated under MLB’s own rules back in 2012.  As I said in this March 2013 blog post:

Since Braun has been proven to not have taken PEDs under binding arbitration, MLB should really let it go.  Because the longer they pursue this mindless vendetta, the more they look like Inspector Javert — and with far less reason than that fictional French bureaucrat of old.

My final take?  Well, Braun’s lawyers are incredibly competent, and should be able to tear MLB’s supposed “case” as built by the incomparable Tony Bosch to shreds.

Of course, it remains MLB’s prerogative to be as stupid, silly and spiteful as it wishes (just as I said in March of this year).  But it’s also my prerogative as a sports fan to think that MLB is wasting its time.  And I wonder, exactly, just when MLB decided that it wanted to model itself on the fictional Inspector Javert — because really, that look is incredibly unbecoming.

—————

As promised, here’s a quick update via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy:

After the Brewers’ 10-inning, 4-3 victory, Braun was greeted by a crowd of cameras and microphones at his locker.

“A lot of people here,” he said. “I assume I know why everybody is here. I’ve already addressed everything related to the Miami situation. I addressed it in Spring Training. I will not make any further statements about it. The truth has not changed. I don’t know the specifics of the story that came out today, but I’ve already addressed it, I’ve already commented on it, and I’ll say nothing further about it.”

My take on this?  Well, it’s obvious Braun’s tired of this nonsense.  He’s a smart man, has a very good lawyer, and seems prepared to deal with whatever MLB throws at him.

I just wish MLB would knock this crap off, that’s all.  Because really and truly, it’s not necessary — especially as MLB hardly has a slam-dunk case.

MLB: In Pursuit of Ryan Braun, Again?

Folks, some stories seem like broken records.

Take the story broken by Yahoo Sports through its blog “Big League Stew.”  The headline reads, “MLB’s PED Vendetta Against Ryan Braun: Seeks Informants, Offers Immunity for Players Testimony.”

This article points out that Major League Baseball, in its infinite whatever, is using the Biogenesis Clinic information that has been leaked to the press as a way to go after Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun.  Braun is the only major leaguer known to have successfully appealed a positive drug test, and MLB apparently just cannot handle it at all.

Instead, they wish to punish Braun after the fact despite losing their case in arbitration against Braun in 2012 — legally binding arbitration, at that.

MLB is even willing, according to an article at USA Today by Bob Nightengale (which the Yahoo Sports blog references), to grant some players immunity even if they test positive for PEDs themselves.  Which seems extremely counterproductive if MLB’s interest here is in the cleanest sport possible . . . but more on that in a bit.

The reason MLB is upset is because their officials insist that Braun used performance-enhancing drugs due to a highly elevated level of testosterone in Braun’s urine sample back in 2011.  Braun won his appeal in 2012 (here’s my earlier blog post on the subject); at the time, MLB “vehemently disagreed” with the decision.  Later, MLB fired arbitrator Shyam Das, which looked terrible from a public relations standpoint — as apparently, the only arbitrators they want are the ones who rule in MLB’s favor.

As Ray Ratto pointed out in this column from February 23, 2012 (note that the lack of punctuation is also in the original column; the look of this has not been altered in any way save to cut out one link):

Rather than announce that Braun had won his appeal and had been found not guilty according to the procedures and protocols set up and approved BY Major League Baseball, it chose instead to swine-slap Das ruling, deciding that when they say guilty, they mean guilty.Now we dont know whether Braun hornswoggled the arbitrator, the system or nobody at all. We wont call him innocent or guilty. We will say, though, that he played by baseballs rules, he followed baseballs procedures, he went through baseballs process, and he was found not guilty.Thus, it is inconceivably bad form for baseball to scream about the result just because they wanted it to be something else.

Obviously, I agree with this assessment.

Ratto’s words, however, have proven prophetic in how MLB has behaved with regards to Braun.  Take a look at this (also from Ratto’s above-referenced column):

The process is supposed to be about finding the truth, not getting the desired result. The desired result IS the truth, and baseballs system says Braun didnt do what he was accused of doing.MLBs reaction, though, shows that for it, testing isnt about determining a players guilt or innocence, its about nailing guys.”As a part of our drug testing program, the commissioner’s office and the players’ association agreed to a neutral third party review for instances that are under dispute, a statement from Rob Manfred, managements representative on the three-man appeals panel, read. While we have always respected that process, Major League Baseball vehemently disagrees with the decision rendered today by arbitrator Shyam Das.”Vehemently disagrees? Its your system, Robbo, the one your negotiators demanded. Is it only a good system when you win? (emphasis added by BC)

And if that’s the case, MLB is going to keep going after Braun in the same way Inspector Javert went after Jean Valjean in Les Miserables — even though it will do no good, much harm, and cause much strife for all concerned.

Look.  I’ve thought and thought about this, and I’ve come to the same conclusions as in my original blog post on the Braun/PED issue:

Braun has been an outstanding player from the time the Brewers brought him up.  He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 2007.  His lifetime numbers are comparable to his MVP numbers; over his last five seasons, he’s averaged 36 HRs and 118 RBIs a season, and has hit over .300 every year except 2008 (when he “only” hit .285); his lifetime batting average, over five complete seasons, is .312.

So I don’t really see where Braun could’ve been taking anything that was of an enhancing nature, especially if he’s never tested positive before (and indeed, he hasn’t).

Jumping a few paragraphs, I said back in 2011:

. . . my view is that Braun’s statistical performance was well within his own normals.  So it’s very hard for me to believe that Braun actually did take anything illegal of the PED variety; because of that, and because of my admittedly laissez-faire attitude toward baseball players and legal drugs, I believe Braun should be considered innocent until and unless he is proven guilty.

And as we now all know, Braun was found not guilty.

Which makes me think that Braun had a point.  He wasn’t juicing then, isn’t juicing now, and that as much as anyone’s performance can be in these days of high-tech nutrition and personal trainers, he’s as clean as they come.

Since Braun has been proven to not have taken PEDs under binding arbitration, MLB should really let it go.  Because the longer they pursue this mindless vendetta, the more they look like Inspector Javert — and with far less reason than that fictional French bureaucrat of old.

My final take?  I suppose it’s MLB’s prerogative to look silly, spiteful and stupid when it comes to this apparent vendetta against Ryan Braun.

But speaking as a long-time baseball fan, I wish they’d knock it off.