tmwiese55

I have that same fear. But then I think about how often it happens against us (the other team doing it when we play them) and I can't remember it ever happening. Any bang bang within a step or so I don't place any blame. That one a week or so back the guy was barely halfway when the catcher got it.

Right, a 'retirement' would be a negotiation with the team in which he ends up with all or almost all of the money anyway but he retires to save face and to free up the roster spot. ARod did this basically.

The way they talk about Eddie on TV he's very involved in the defensive shifting/scheming and the Brewers were on of the first adopters or heaviest users of this over the years before it caught on everywhere. So there's probably a role for him regardless, but I'd have been fine with him going back to 1B coach a couple years ago now.

I get that, but he'd won the appeal so in a weird spot. In hindsight he handled it wrong though. In a way you could say he's more honest because after everything came out he fully admitted it, whereas everyone else gives the token appology and that they didn't do it on purpose, which is probably a lie 95% of the time.

As an aside. Pujols still has this year plus three more years at about 30 mil. Last three years OBP are 307, 324, and 286. 295 so far this year. He still gets his RBIs because Trout is in front him and he has DH to stay healthy. But man that contract is bad and everyone knew it from the second he signed it.

The team overachieved drastically last year and are 5-5 ten games into this year. He's nowhere near the hot seat. The person I'd say should be concerned is the hitting coach. I'd seriously consider trying someone else if this continues for a few more weeks. It was terrible from May on last year and so far this year in spite having some good players.

Get what you're saying but that's clearly not his or management's philosophy so we might as well get used to it. They clearly believe in the L/R splits and using them as much as possible along with routine rest for regulars and consistent PT for the bench so that everyone stays sharp and involved. I mean, they did it with blah backups like Perez, Franklin, etc in the past so now that they have good depth of course they're gonna keep doing it. Sure seemed the chemistry/karma stuff was great last year and so far this year, I'm sure that's part of it. I understand it, especially for an NL team, the current state of starting pitching (league wide) of not going deep in games, the new 10 day DLs where people pop on more often. So you're going to need guys to be flexible and able to play multiple spots. In a way you could argue they might be ahead of the curve on this a bit.

Not specific to ya'll but I know there is this attitude towards him out there that he's annoying. Think about in contrast to the Braun talk yesterday. This guy basically travels the country doing charity work and good will deeds, still hated on by at least a portion of people. And basically before this Marlins rift he's never really insterted himself in anything publicly trying to become a celebrity. Basically any public person is hated on at this point no matter what they do.

Astros depth seems like a solid ideal thing. But you need a legit good hitter like Marwan Gonzalez that can play virtually every position, rather than a guy like Perez who can play everywhere but really isn't a good hitter. So you have a great jack of all trades legit hitter who can fill in for any long term injury as well as give a day off to everyone each week.

This stuff is definitely negotiable and happens all the time. Heck, it's negotiable for joe schmo's buying 20 game packs. Let alone a guy buying 10 season tickets for the best seats in the house for 20 years. They slashed the team and aren't trying, yet asked him to pay more this year. Perfectly reasonable for him to say "no, here's what I'll do". And fine for them to say No to it if they want but they just lost several hundred thousand dollars. I'm on his side in their little rift. And overall everything you read on him is that all this charity and nice guy stuff is legit.

He'll be measured at about 6'7.5 on the first day and that'll do it for him going pro this year. They'll tell him to fix his shot. Everything he already knows. Still there's no reason for him to not go through it and gain the experience and better prepare himself for next year.

Yup, Braun has fallen for the low outside slider just a bit too much his whole career. Lay off that a bit more and he takes more walks combined with getting more 'pitches to hit' than he did otherwise, would have given all those slash lines a noticeable improvement.

I'd guess Braun sits for Santana. Avoids him getting the standard Cards plunking in the back too.

That's fair, I see the difference you're saying. It could have probably been phrased better. Maybe something like 'every player accused' rather than the way I did which includes those after the suspension is handed down when they don't have any choice but to give the apology. Or something like they "lie until caught red handed", some phrasing like that. Process usually goes that they're accused (if it's public) and then deny up until the suspension is handed down and it's over so they give the canned apology/excuse. And every big name lied and denied for years, some eventually were caught straight up like ARod. Others never formally like Bonds, but they all lied the whole time. Palmero, McGuire, Sosa, etc. Ortiz still lies to this day even with a failed test.

That's fair and reasonable. I'm just saying that was the reason, doesn't mean he wasn't wrong in that reason. But that was the goal of the conference and saying all that. I suppose you could call it ego, I don't know, there's probably a better word. But I think it was a strategic call by his PR team and for all we know he was never fully transparent with the PR team. Who knows how many people around him were 'in the know' on it so couldn't give the best advice. I agree, knowing everything he should have just bit his tongue but he just never guessed the witch hunt would happen. I see why they did it.

There was, he thought it was done and he'd won. So being that boisterous he was actually trying to convince people he actually never did it (rather than thinking just a technicality) so that his image would be clean and he could still make the Hall, All star games, etc. That was the reason, hindsight he was wrong, but there was a reason to do it. He should have remembered that the leak is what got him there to begin with and realized it could happen again since he wasn't innocent, that was the mistake. He doubled down and lost. It really is a good question though of how much vitriol he'd have this many years later if he just gave a canned humble statement after being cleared, we'll never know.

Yes athletes are human, yes they make mistakes. What most of them don't do is take PEDs then lie about it. This whole "nobody's perfect" mantra just falls on deaf ears. Oh, and for the record, I don't accept the premise most everyone in business lies, all executives cheat on their wives, etc. And if I do run across people like that, no, I don't like or respect them either. So no different than Braun. Every person caught taking PEDs lied about it just like Braun did. I didn't say all of them took, and I didn't say everyone lies in business and wives. Just that it's common, and those were just some quick common examples, and you can come up with many many more easily. I'm pointing out the difference is we know about it because he's a celebrity. For average joes if they've never done anything to you then you're none the wiser and think they're good people. I'd be surprised if at least one person in all of our common contacts hasn't or doesn't frequently cheat on their spouse. Isn't there some stats out there that say it's like 60%-ish. I'm with you in the general attitude of not liking or respecting attitude if it's a clear habitual thing (talking beyond spouse cheating, whatever shady thing it is) they're doing that is shady rather than a screw up and then otherwise being normal. Again, you just don't know about a lot of it though since they're not famous. Generally try to be empathetic to how life can often go for people and try to be empathetic as much as possible. Spitballing here I'd say I kind of operate on a two strike type of rule, like everyone gets a second chance type of thing. So my main premise of all of that long post was that if this is the worst he's done, then he's pretty low on the list of 'bad guys' in baseball imo compared to what others do. So kind of trying to put in perspective relative to the real world and the examples I gave, then throw in domestic violence, hard drugs, DUIs, any violence, gun stuff, being terrible fathers, hitting their kids, etc. Yet he gets more vitriol because of his level of celebrity over a guy like KRod. OF course he could do those other things too, we have no idea, and that's my point. We don't so maybe we just chill on the judging and acting better than everyone else. Also, I thought JimH5's post was well said and kind of the way I see it from the 'hating' side of Braun. I totally get it and that's kind of how I'd phrase rather than being so damning.

I'm hoping the DH is here for Braun's last two years then slide Hiura over after Braun's done. If the arm continues to be a problem, he's listed at 5'11 so he's likely taller than Prince. I know it's not ideal but if his bat is legit you can just have him play 1st.

Average joe jabroni who cheats on his/her partner makes the same lies over and over, it's just not a public thing. People lie and backstab in business all the time. Two simple examples like that are probably common among folks here and at least people we cross paths with every day and might consider friends. And he's no worse of a person than them, that's all I'm saying in regards to the lying topic. Beyond that, there's people you cross every day in life that have done some really crap stuff, likely hitting spouses, beating people up in bars, DUIs, etc. You probably don't even know about it and if you do you likely still treat them like people not as if they're some pariah of a human. He went down this road where at the point of that conference he'd dug himself a deep hole already and was kinda backed in a corner. That's a huge mistake in his celebrity status, but if that's the worst thing he's done and otherwise treats the people around him in life in a nice, honest, empathetic manner then he's far from a societal pariah that he's portrayed out to be due to this public scandal. If he's a jerk to the people in his life or random joes he encounters (waiters, bellhops, maids, etc) then yea he's a jerk. Simple example, almost all rich people like athletes routinely cheat on their wife as we've seen over the years of scandals. If he's the rare one that doesn't, then I'd consider all the other guys worse people than him (assuming it's not an upfront agreement with their spouse) if his worst act was this scandal. But here we are judging people from our computer, that's really the whole thing I'm against with me taking this side of the discussion. These people are still just human beings, crap happens. To expect them to be perfect is just not possible. Bad decisions are made, you start down a path you shouldn't. It happens. Hopefully he learned and is a better person because of it. I wish everyone had a bit more empathy instead of the current gotcha attitude so prevalent in the media these days trying to bring people down.

Only one day off between now and the 23rd. So yea they might have to do something if no one gets hurt in the next few days.

So, he made the same lie every player made that gets caught. And again, everyone lies in their lives. they're just not celebrities and have to do it in front of millions of people with a camera in his face. Everyone makes mistakes, he went down a path he shouldn't have and he's paid by his tarnished reputation/legacy now. This is the old glass houses stones thing for me, i'm not going to sit here and act like I'm holier than everyone else. And as a fan, I don't think Red Sox fans are too upset by breaking the curse with two known steroid user during the prime era of steroid abuse, not gummies that rarely even trip tests. I'd have loved that WS if his staying healthy got us there. I don't know if he's a jerk or bad person in normal life, as none of us do. But you really don't hear rumblings from the clubhouse about him and from the outside it seems everyone gets along with him, so take that for what it it is. And of course he's never gotten in any off field trouble other than this (which pales in comparison to stuff other politicians/celebrities/athletes get into) that we've ever heard of, yet he gets more scorn over PEDs. I've never seen him shove an umpire and spit in his face like Molina has done, but Molina will walk into the Hall.

Agree, I'd say less than 1% for Braun. Things would have to drastically change with his health and production to even hand on the ballot more than year.

Because you're vilifying someone for something everyone does just because he's a celebrity so it's hypocritical. If he's a bad guy then so is everyone else. Yes, it does matter about the handling, he was not lying about the handling being wrong yet he's being accused of that. He made the same lie that every caught player does initially, yet he's treated with more scorn. totally agree on the statement and I said that pages ago, he should have issued a humble thing saying he's glad the process worked and that he can't talk about it any further. Then let it die. But as far as being a moron, it wasn't that dumb of a PR move to be so boisterously innocent in order to try and save his image and convince everyone he actually did nothing wrong. He had no inkling they'd go on a witch hunt for Arod so he thought that would be the end of it. Certainly more logical than admitting to doing it. Hindsight though, yea he should have realized something could come out since someone else already leaked on him once and just been humble.

Every person here has lied about something. And in this case he wasn't lying about the handling being completely wrong, that was true and there is a legit chance that mishandling actually did cause the failed test and what he was doing might not have been enough to trip the test. So what he lied about is the same thing every player caught lied about initially. Either way, just think logically. What moron is going to come out and admit to it right after winning his appeal? OJ didn't get acquitted and then hold a press conference saying he did it. It took him 10 years to give an interview, jk, and still spoke vaguely.

Came here just for Uecker's call, thanks. Surprised he didn't end it with a 'how about that one folks'