Fear The Chorizo

Alex Sanchez begs to differ. I didn't know Sanchez fit into the group of great players I was thinking of - big difference between guys like Sanchez who probably used just to stay in the major leagues and guys like Bonds, Palmeiro, Clemens who were great players but saw noticeable spikes in performance once they started using.

#1 - If he was on steroids, the odds of him still being on them are probably zero even if he was lucky to beat the rap the first time. He's got a lot of millions on that contract to earn that would be telling him to stop using after this last offseason. #2 - When you look at the obvious statistical jumps for great players who were known steroid users, it's clear that steroids do help performance that much. Braun's stats don't correlate, which also lends to him being clean. #3 - Looking at Braun's career arc, unless he's been on something over his entire career i have no reason to believe a sharp decline in production will be happening any time soon. These are the prime years of a typical player, and Braun's been consistently great since his rookie season. Injury is the one thing that could hamper production for any player, including Braun considering his history of oblique/leg issues. The longer Braun continues being Braun, which is an MVP-caliber player, the more difficult it is to view him as a cheat if future drug tests continue to come back clean.

so why was there so much handwringing again to pull Thornburg after 5IP?? To get to this bullpen? just goes to show that bullpens are the toughest thing to predict year over year. Last year it was a huge strength, this year it's reason #1 why they won't be playoff contenders.

I think it reeks of a cover-up of Braun's defense that led to him being exonerated. MLB can rightfully claim the collector followed the formerly acceptable protocol, that's fine. The problem, and probable reason for the failed test, was that the handling protocol deemed acceptable to MLB actually contributed to the sample degrading in a way that Braun's team was able to replicate. That's the only reason why sample handling specifics needed to be added to the policy (why they weren't there in the first place when games are always played through weekends should be the bigger issue at this point). If that's the case, it calls into question years' worth of testing performed by MLB in effort to clean up their game. Right now in the general public's eyes, Braun's still a cheater who found a loophole - MLB's terrified (and rightfully so) that showing how their testing program could botch a PED sample from the league's MVP could severely damage their credibility in the public eye. I still think there's no reason for MLB to withold Das' written decision if all it used to exonerate Braun was a technicality of the sample not going to FedEx immediately. If that was the entire defense with nothing else supporting it, I would think MLB would make Das' decision public to justify their decision to relieve Das of his independent arbitrator duties.

The Brewers knew they had a limited window to contend that likely wouldn't carry far beyond Prince Fielder leaving via free agency. Melvin and company pulled out all the stops to build a major league team with the best chance of winning a world series during Fielder's last year, and they came up 6 wins short. Over the past few years those moves included trading alot of quality talent from their minor leagues that wasn't going to be ready to contribute at the major league level during that timeframe (Lawrie, Odirozzi in particular). The "wasted money" results from this season being the start of the downturn - I think the Brewers have done a good job over the last two drafts to upgrade a gutted farm system, but they still have work to do. There isn't enough quality, especially in the higher levels of the minor leagues, for the Brewers to be in a position where they can call up players and expect them to be solid major league contributors. That leaves them with a glut of veteran players who may not be drastically overpriced on a contending team, but they don't belong together on a floundering team with longterm budget issues - their value to the Brewers should be as trade pieces before this year's deadline. I don't think the Brewers are headed back to being consistently horrible, but I'd rather sacrifice the rest of this season and go full rebuild/retool than watch the team struggle to stick around .500 for several years. They need their farm system to start churning out quality players again. Trading the glut of veterans for whatever prospects they can get would give the Brewers much more flexibility to build their 2013 team via both free agency and internally.

The baseball HOF's eligible candidate requirements list includes the following: "E. Any player on Baseball's ineligible list shall not be an eligible candidate." Since Rose is on the inelgible list, he is not able to be enshrined in the Baseball HOF. If people want to gripe about admitted spitballers, steroid cheats, and the like getting enshrined and not Rose, the problem is them NOT being on the ineligible list. In the eyes of the MLB commissioners over the years, PEDs and cheating the rules of the game (spitballing, etc) aren't as bad an offense as gambling on the outcome of the game itself. Whether that's right or wrong in the eyes of the general public doesn't matter - it's how baseball wants to view it. IMO, Rose should never be enshrined into the HOF during his lifetime. I'd argue that putting him in posthumously shouldn't be done, either. His accomplishments are in the hall, as others have stated. I think the argument should turn to preventing other players who cheated the game in other ways (PEDs) being blackballed out of the HOF, not letting a guy who was caught gambling on games while managing in because players benefitting from PEDs were enshrined.

I see us going .500 in June but will be very pleased to be wrong about that Pittsburgh is much better than in year's past. KC, the Twins and the White Sox are all starting to play better, and the Reds are for real.... Games against the White Sox and Reds (good teams) during this month are more than offset by playing the Cubs, Padres, and Twins. If the Brewers can't make hay this month, they won't be making hay anytime this year. If you want to argue current records based on who's starting to play better, the Brewers just completed a 4-game sweep against the team with the league's best record. As for the Pirates, they've been "much better than in year's past" for about the last 4 seasons. That hasn't stopped them from being a below average team each of those years. Until they get an offense, they aren't going to keep their heads above water anytime soon.

With all the injuries and inconsistencies this Brewers team has dealt with through the first two months of the season, it looks like the scheduling gods have given them a great month of June to determine if they are going to be buyers or sellers approaching the all star break and trade deadline in July. Their schedule includes: 3 vs. PIT at home 3 vs. Cubs at home 3 vs. SD at home 3 at KC 3 at MIN 3 vs TOR at home 3 at White Sox 3 at Reds 3 vs Dbacks at home (through 7/1) That's 27 games against teams with a combined record of: 206-248 (.453 win %). Only 9 games against teams with current winning records and 9 games against the 3 worst teams in baseball right now. This stretch of schedule couldn't come at a better time for this team, for a few reasons: 1 - if they have a solid month, it gets them right back into contention for the division and wildcard playoff spots. 2 - it gives the Brewers another month against weak competition to get their roster in order after dealing with all the injuries, while hopefully getting guys like Weeks going. 3 - if they scuffle during June against this favorable a schedule, the writing's on the wall in plenty of time that this team won't contend this season, and Melvin should have ample time before the deadline to trade some pieces to strengthen the organization. (Marcum, Greinke, Morgan, and frankly many others should be made available for the right return)

the first week of June starts next week - it's likely that the Crew will call up someone with arby clock issues and try to make due until June arrives, then call up one of the younger arms to serve as the #5 starter for the time being...that's at least my opinion of what they should do

Yep, the NFL draft...when "winners" and "losers" are determined based of "experts'" opinions that aren't employed by any NFL front offices, even though they all initially talk about a pick being at least solid 95% of the time. I just can't fathom how people enjoy watching 10 people from ESPN commentating on how some 6th round pick was good value and how he'll fit into somebody's scheme, when it's likely he'll never be heard from again.

I understand that this process was supposed to be entirely confidential - but it obviously wasn't. The reason I agree with Tygart's comment is that since Braun's case was leaked and the public was aware of things they shouldn't have been, I think the written decision exonerating Braun should be disclosed. If the decision was based solely on sample handling procedures and has nothing else of substance in it, Braun still looks bad and it reinforces public perception - something that MLB and the players' union are apparently ok with. If the decision discloses additional information that supports Braun's claim that there's much more to the story, MLB and the Union's testing policy gets an even bigger black eye - something they're obviously not willing to receive. I agree that if this process remained confidential throughout, Tygart stating that 'people have the right to know' is wrong - that's not how this process is supposed to work. Regardless of where the leak originated that led to all the public scrutiny, at this stage I think disclosure of the decision that led to Braun's exoneration should be made. After all, if this process was supposed to remain confidential, there isn't the public statement of Braun winning his appeal and Braun getting the opportunity to hold that press conference. The written decision likely wouldn't tell the 'whole story' either - what it would do is indicate the exact grounds and supporting information for Braun winning his appeal.

I thought of Bagwell too, the one difference being that Bagwell's numbers came almost entirely during the steroid era - prior to MLB having any sort of testing program that had teeth. Fair or not, Bagwell is guilty by association. It's true that there were only vague rumors, but it's also true that there's nothing saying that he was clean. I can see him being among the first players from that era getting into the HOF, but it's going to take awhile. Even though Braun failed a test and had to go through this publicly with alot of attention, his career will be played entirely during the era of MLB having a testing program in place. If he never fails another test and puts up HOF-caliber numbers, he'll be a hall of famer. The further this gets in the rearview mirror of current events, the more Braun's going to get the benefit of the doubt if he continues to pass tests and his #'s don't dip - it's fishy that MLB and the union doesn't want Das' decision on paper.

I thought of Bagwell too, the one difference being that Bagwell's numbers came almost entirely during the steroid era - prior to MLB having any sort of testing program that had teeth. Fair or not, Bagwell is guilty by association. It's true that there were only vague rumors, but it's also true that there's nothing saying that he was clean. I can see him being among the first players from that era getting into the HOF, but it's going to take awhile. Even though Braun failed a test and had to go through this publicly with alot of attention, his career will be played entirely during the era of MLB having a testing program in place. If he never fails another test and puts up HOF-caliber numbers, he'll be a hall of famer. The further this gets in the rearview mirror of current events, the more Braun's going to get the benefit of the doubt if he continues to pass tests and his #'s don't dip - it's fishy that MLB and the union doesn't want Das' decision on paper.

"It's obviously disappointing because people deserve to know what the basis for the case being overturned is, and frankly the athlete should have that right as well," Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said Monday. "Certainly an innocent athlete would want that opportunity." I 100% agree with the above quote - 1st time I've agreed with something Tygart said during this whole process.

If Das' written decision would have only used the "technicality" of a chain of custody issue exonerating Braun, I don't think MLB or the players' union would have any problems with letting letting Das complete and submit the decision as he normally has in the past. There's most likely more information that isn't known publicly that would have been in the decision, and both MLB/the Players Union doesn't want it written - confidential or not. If it's a written record it would get out in the public. Whatever those details are, they have to be embarrasing to both the league and the players union - in my mind one possibility would be scientific evidence of being able to replicate a positive test result using handling procedures that were commonplace for weekend collection processes. If the drug testing policy was made to look horrible by Braun's appeal, MLB and the Players' Union lose all the credibility they developed with the public since the steroid era. Since WADA helped MLB put together their testing policy, they look bad, too. This is all assuming that there truly is more to the story than what's publicly known...if that's the case it's really unfortunate, because while the issue will go away for MLB and the Players' Union, Braun's tied to it for the rest of his life - regardless of how much or little is actually known publicly.

Your everyday leadoff hitter and cleanup hitter are giving you next to nothing offensively right now - Weeks and Ramirez need to get it going for this team to get consistent offensively. The pitching staff has an ERA north of 5.5, 2 bad starts for Wolf, 1 bad start for both Greinke and Gallardo are big reasons for that. It's early, and for that matter the bench hasn't been the problem for this team's inconsistencies so far. If Ramirez is still scuffling by the all star break (likely because he's always been a slow starter), then I think questioning his signing and how the bench is composed becomes a very fair criticism.

If I'm Braun, at this point I really don't care how much I respect the confidentiality of this process - if the leak was someone you consulted with prior to the appeal, he has to "out" them publicly and disclose additional information you provided during the appeal that led to you winning the appeal. He is going to get hammered everywhere he goes by fans and media until this happens. If there's more to the story as he's indicated over and over again, he should just spill the beans - not doing so but repeatedly referring to it just makes him look phony. His PR reps have to be sick right now.

Dempster does this all the time against the Brewers - guys don't want to get in the hole against him and have to deal with his split. Trouble is if he's hitting his spots they still don't get good swings on him. Teams that have success against Dempster don't mind hitting behind in the count because that's typically when Dempster starts throwing alot of waste pitches trying to get guys to swing and miss.

after catching a 3.5 hour game last night in the freezer, I think it's good that Lucroy gets an early season day game off. If there's anything bothering a player like Braun (who's had a long history of oblique issues) when the weather's cooler and it's difficult to stay loose, I'm fine with giving him a day or two also.

After Cain signed that large extension, what's the need to rush giving Greinke an extension right now? The market's essentially been set assuming Greinke stays healthy, so why not let more of this season play out to see if Greinke in fact is deserving of that pricetag longterm? A small-mid market team shouldn't be overly willing to throw 100+ million dollar contracts to pitchers, especially when they have the guy under contract for this regular season. I'm sure the two sides have gotten to the point where they know each other's current contract proposals. As this season plays out, both sides will be able to determine whether the Brewers & Greinke can be a longterm fit.

Why should he be viewed as completely innocent when the full details aren't known? Replace 'innocent' with 'guilty' in that sentence and you can support a completely opposite point of view just as easily. The problem with this situation is that the media formed their opinions and wrote their stories weeks before Braun's appeal was heard. Since the results of the appeal are contrary to all the articles written, "journalists" feel slighted by the story and have emphasized technicalities as a way of defending their previous work. It seems like the need for media to grab any sort of leads and be the first to cover a story have led to the truth being hampered quite often recently. Trying to sell papers, get website hits, and make money in the increasingly saturated market of newsmedia has turned the news into more opinionated propoganda than actual news. The fact is that for what is publicly known about this particular situation, Braun shouldn't be villified. Not enough confirmed information out there to definitively say guilty, not guilty, or completely innocent. Unfortunately when it comes to PED's in baseball and the way this story unfolded with the leak, Braun is now officially: "guilty until proven innocent - but he won his appeal - but still guilty because he doesn't want to talk about it and we have to write something to get paid"

One of the biggest positives in the eyes of Marlins' ownership about hiring Guillen was that him being a Latin player & manager may help them increase the level of local latin fan interest in the team - namely the large contingent of people having cuban bloodlines around Miami. They had put together alot of their advertising and promotions based on that premise. So naturally Guillen goes out and speaks favorably about the dictator all of these people's families fled from. Talk about punching your bosses in the gut right from jump street

That article is a classic example of a "reporter" have a predetermined angle to a story. He was probably told he needed to write an article about Braun's 1st road game several weeks ago, went ahead and threw together an outline of how he wanted it to read, then fill it in with any possible quotes and visuals from the game that he saw supporting his narrative. Never mind that the boos really weren't that obvious on the broadcast because the stadium was 1/2 empty. Because of that, it was probably easier for him to hear the lame fan barbs he included in his article. Too bad he couldn't maintain the same level of fact-checking and review of the sample collector's legally-constructed statement. As for Berthiaume, he picked the Astros to win the NL Central last season - not exactly concerned about critique of the team I root for coming from him.

What sticks in my craw from last night was some of the comments from Sean McDonough of ESPN's broadcast crew. He was snarky at times, saying things along the lines of: "To me, Braun seems to be in a lucky place...he's lucky to be playing right now" (right after Kurkjen talked about Braun saying he felt like he was in a great place) He consistently stated the "technicality" being the only reason Braun isn't currently suspended, and talked about how fortunate he was for the favorable ruling from only 1 arbitrator (Shyam Das). Aaron Boone defended the situation following several of McDonough's comments by stating that almost everyone doesn't know the whole story and there isn't enough information out there for Braun to be villified. That's unfortunately going to be par for the course this season, I think. There may have been more banter about Braun in the booth, but after the first few innings I had heard enough to turn the radio on and mute the TV. To me it seemed like McDonough had a bit of an axe to grind, possibly from the direction of ESPN...I'm not sure why the Brewers-Cubs game would be the game ESPN wanted to carry aside from the fact it was Braun's 1st regular season road game after winning his appeal.

How much of the roster do you guys know? Enough to know that Albert Pujols isn't on it anymore. And Carpenter appears to be taking Wainwright's place in the annual #1 starter who won't contibute all season due to injury role. Westbrook's lost 20 pounds? Last I checked he's still Westbrook, who is bad at pitching. Furcal basically played 1/2 a regular season due to injuries (mostly after the Cards acquired him). Yes, the Cards won the world series last year - largely because Carpenter was awesome during the postseason, Pujols anchored the team during all the injury issues, everyone on the team caught fire offensively from September on, and the bullpen pulled a rabbit out of its arse and dominated in the playoffs. The Cards are one of the best 3 teams in the NL Central, but they are more likely to take a step back in the standings than the Reds or Brewers for precisely all the reasons mentioned earlier in this thread.