Brewers Name Christian Yelich First Team Captain

[dlk9s]

I was with trwi in feeling like this was pretty cringey. Now that I've read that some teammates came up with the idea, I feel better about it.

Here's why I was on trwi's side in thinking this was kind of embarrassing. Let it be known that, of course, I think very highly of Yelich like everyone does and get sentimental about sports just like anyone.

But the timing was really weird. The organization and fans are leaning into the emotion and sentimentality of this regular season REALLY hard, and making a huge deal out of making Yelich captain right before the playoffs after he's had an awful season really smelled like a "pity pat on the head" to me. This has become such a big deal for some reason. And OBVIOUSLY I love Robin Yount, but running it by him first made me roll my eyes.

If it was before the season started, like when we read who the Packers captains are, then totally cool! Makes perfect sense. Team leader is the captain, awesome. But it really felt like it was a way to make him and everyone feel good about him being a drag on the lineup while the team is having its best regular season ever.

Again, I love Yelich as much as the next fan and am fantasizing about him walking it off to win the World Series. That this came from his teammates reduces the cringe factor significantly.

[hoosier]

4 hours ago, titanrick said:

 Kind of like he's choosing to be the next Brewer "lifer" in the mold of Yount, Braun, and Uecker.  That's extremely rare in this day and age and should be appreciated and celebrated.

I did a bit of a doubletake when I saw Braun listed among Brewer lifers. Yeah, Braun didn't play for any other team, but he's a far cry from Ueck, Robin, and Yelich when it comes to carrying himself like a leader. I don't want this come across as picking on your post, just thought it was worth making the distinction between quantity of time served with one team and quality. If only Braun's moral character could have been a match for his production at the plate. 

[MrTPlush]

57 minutes ago, hoosier said:

I did a bit of a doubletake when I saw Braun listed among Brewer lifers. Yeah, Braun didn't play for any other team, but he's a far cry from Ueck, Robin, and Yelich when it comes to carrying himself like a leader. I don't want this come across as picking on your post, just thought it was worth making the distinction between quantity of time served with one team and quality. If only Braun's moral character could have been a match for his production at the plate. 

Ryan Braun basically took Yelich under his wing and mentored him after he came here. Yelich credited Braun as a big reason he signed his extension with us.

I don’t think Braun’s PED fiasco mattered to players as much as fans think.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

11 minutes ago, MrTPlush said:

Ryan Braun basically took Yelich under his wing and mentored him after he came here. Yelich credited Braun as a big reason he signed his extension with us.

I don’t think Braun’s PED fiasco mattered to players as much as fans think.

Lol why would it. Half of them got busted.

[tmwiese55]

Yea it was pretty clear Braun held a lot of weight as the leader on the clubhouse at the end.  After the initial media circus died down on and he was the 'vet leader' type guy at the end it was nothing to the players.   It really had no affect and what matters was their personal interaction and relationships. And from the outside it seemed Braun did everything positive/correct in that regard with teammates and young players coming in. 

[Turning2]

Why now and not the beginning of the season? This was nothing more and nothing less than a motivational ploy, and transparently so. Part of Murphy's managerial style is as an emotional, psychological button pusher who knows how to use those tools to inspire (manipulate?) his players. It makes for good optics, so lots of fans enamored with it, and the storyline vaults into instant lore and legend. I couldn't care less. If that's what it takes to help bring home a championship, so be it. 

[hoosier]

17 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Ryan Braun basically took Yelich under his wing and mentored him after he came here. Yelich credited Braun as a big reason he signed his extension with us.

I don’t think Braun’s PED fiasco mattered to players as much as fans think.

Yelich emphasized that he views this thing as not just about on field performance but about how you carry yourself. I take it he's talking about a fairly wide spectrum that includes how one prepares, how one plays the game, but also the off field moral character stuff. Braun cheated, which is not a quality usually associated with leaders. What's worse, he tried to throw the delivery guy under the bus to cover for himself. I very much doubt anyone on the team had great admiration for that move, and it most definitely left a permanent taint on his public reputation. Public persona isn't the be all end all of being a team leader, but it is not insignificant either, 

[sveumrules]

6 minutes ago, Turning2 said:

Part of Murphy's managerial style is as an emotional, psychological button pusher who knows how to use those tools to inspire (manipulate?) his players. It makes for good optics, so lots of fans enamored with it,

It makes for good optics sure, but more importantly it also makes for winning baseball. Most wins in MLB this year, most wins in MLB last year, most wins in MLB total since 2024. One hundred more wins than losses over the three years Murphy has managed the club. Plus forty nine wins over their preseason projections at FanGraphs during those three years.

The Cubs were supposed to win the division each of the last three years per the preseason prognosticators, instead they finished a total of twenty nine games behind the Brewers since Murphy got here.

After all the consternation around the trade deadline, and two of the three acquisitions flopping hard, plus Harrison's continued pumpkin-ization on top of it all, (not to mention all the wrong lineup and bullpen decisions made by Murphy per the IGTs) the Brewers went out and put up an MLB best 34 W - 16 L record after the deadline anyway.

After all the consternation from the online fanbase about his benching of Pratt the Brewers went an MLB best 22 W - 8 L to close out the season afterward. Overblown nonsense indeed.

[MrTPlush]

2 hours ago, hoosier said:

Yelich emphasized that he views this thing as not just about on field performance but about how you carry yourself. I take it he's talking about a fairly wide spectrum that includes how one prepares, how one plays the game, but also the off field moral character stuff. Braun cheated, which is not a quality usually associated with leaders. What's worse, he tried to throw the delivery guy under the bus to cover for himself. I very much doubt anyone on the team had great admiration for that move, and it most definitely left a permanent taint on his public reputation. Public persona isn't the be all end all of being a team leader, but it is not insignificant either, 

So sometimes I forget this myself, but professional athletes aren’t the gold standards of high morales and being great people. They actually probably embody the opposite better. Braun is not the only liar in baseball nor is he the only cheater. Be that on the field or in life.

How much would you bet the that not a single player on the 2026 Brewers has not cheated at some point over the season…or their career? I’m not betting much. The reward of success at the MLB level is millions of dollars, endless amounts of players are going to attempt to cheat to be better.

Anyway, the first captain in Brewers history thought Braun was a great leader and mentor. I think that speaks for itself.

[Turning2]

3 hours ago, sveumrules said:

It makes for good optics sure, but more importantly it also makes for winning baseball. Most wins in MLB

 

After all the consternation from the online fanbase about his benching of Pratt the Brewers went an MLB best 22 W - 8 L to close out the season afterward. Overblown nonsense indeed.

Fans make mountains out of molehills indeed. The drama some built up over the Pratt benching is a fine example. Pulling him from the game had very little to do with that 22-8 run, but it was fodder for a good storyline. 

[Team Canada]

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

So sometimes I forget this myself, but professional athletes aren’t the gold standards of high morales and being great people. They actually probably embody the opposite better. Braun is not the only liar in baseball nor is he the only cheater. Be that on the field or in life.

People make unethical decisions for varying amounts of money. I strongly suspect the spectrum of ethical standards across athletes isn't that different from the rest of humanity.

It seems a pretty harsh take on Yelich regardless.

[titanrick]

22 hours ago, hoosier said:

I did a bit of a doubletake when I saw Braun listed among Brewer lifers. Yeah, Braun didn't play for any other team, but he's a far cry from Ueck, Robin, and Yelich when it comes to carrying himself like a leader. I don't want this come across as picking on your post, just thought it was worth making the distinction between quantity of time served with one team and quality. If only Braun's moral character could have been a match for his production at the plate. 

Fair point.  I honestly hesitated to add him but decided to do it anyway.  Agreed he's a tier below Yount and Uecker.

[MrTPlush]

1 hour ago, Team Canada said:

People make unethical decisions for varying amounts of money. I strongly suspect the spectrum of ethical standards across athletes isn't that different from the rest of humanity.

It seems a pretty harsh take on Yelich regardless.

None of the post was a negative take on Yelich. Yelich thinking highly of Braun isn’t dig at Yelich…just proof Braun wasn’t some hated crummy veteran presence.

 

[Team Canada]

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

None of the post was a negative take on Yelich. Yelich thinking highly of Braun isn’t dig at Yelich…just proof Braun wasn’t some hated crummy veteran presence.

 

Sorry, I completely read that backwards, as Braun wasn't a great person and Yelich thinking he is is a sign he's not great either. I understand now what you were saying!