pebadger

That's a great observation that I think I've always agreed with but never consciously realized it until you posted this.

Now he's even more due. Look out Tuesday!

The liability question is a good one. I noted a long time ago (in the first thread) when I read the JDA that the confidentiality provision conspicuously lacked a clause in which it enumerated how a violation of the provision would be enforced (except for the ridiculously one-sided allowance for MLB alone to no longer be subject to the provision if confidentiality were breached). I know this: Braun is subject to the confidentiality provision. He would be in violation of the agreement by going public. The fact that penalties are not specifically laid out does not mean that he wouldn't still be liable for a breach of the agreement. In a way, the unknown works against him here. In the absence of a prescribed penalty, MLB could try to do whatever it thought it could get away with in terms of discipline (and then there would be a big to-do and potential litigation about how that all works within the framework of the JDA and broader labor law principles). And that's leaving aside all the informal things that just might happen to work against him if he rocks the boat too much. MLB and MLBPA put together a very poorly constructed JDA. That's the dirty secret that this whole unfortunate Braun saga brought to light. After I read it, my conclusion that a lot of it was just boilerplate stuff that was not particularly well vetted by the parties. I think some of that was completely intentional. They adopted something to get Congress off their backs and they let it ride. The second either party started fighting about anything in the JDA, they threatened to derail the bigger overall concern which was a new collective bargaining agreement and keeping the money flowing. That sloppiness caught up to all involved here, but Ryan Braun is the one human being who is paying the biggest price as a result. Whether or not that's fair or unfair is for others to decide.

For those who think there isn't anything more to the story, what do you make of Will Carroll's assertions about replication of results and other nuts-and-bolts stuff that isn't being widely reported? Carroll must be confident enough in his source to have printed what he did. I know enough to know that that is a lot we don't know. Probably nothing earth-shatteringly conclusive in either direction, but this isn't a Perry Mason episode and this thing isn't going to wrap up nicely with a bow. All I know is that MLB had an extraordianrily low bar to hurdle to win the case and they couldn't do it.

Braun is specifically not allowed to make a direct statement about this stuff. The statement he did make was authorized as a compromise measure given the circumstances generated as a result of the original leak. He faces liability for violating the agreement. So, with a direct statement out of the question, he would have to communicate via leaks. Leaving aside the fact that if you do leak you are no longer in control of the statement, this agreement by MLB and MLBPA cements the fact that any leak is going to be coming from Braun. Any leak would be a violation of the confidentiality agreement just as much as a prepared public statement. Braun simply is not at liberty to talk about any of this without opening up the possibility that he will be subject to some sort of liability. As I've stated a million times, there is no way that Braun proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he didn't cheat because it is almost literally impossible for him to have done so. If that were at all possible, the case never would have been brought by MLB. That doesn't mean that MLB's case was a good case by any means; it just means that it wasn't an impossibly horrible one. When looked at from that perspective the question isn't "what does he have to lose" but rather "what does he have to gain" from unquestionably violating the JDA by talking? I'd love to know more. We all would. But we're never going to have all the answers. For my part I don't think Braun "cheated" in teh way most people define that term. I think it's possible that somehow he ingested something that tripped the test. I also think it's possible that there was a problem with the test that caused it to go positive. Unless Braun admits to cheating, or admits to having inadvertently taking something (which he may not even have realized until well after the fact) or we get an admission that there is a problem with the test (which may be the case even if nobody knows exactly whether there is a problem or what it might be), we'll never know what happened. People expecting Braun to be the one man, out of all the dozens of people directly involved in the case, to be the only one who has the answers or to be the only one who must explain something publicly, simply don't get it. Frankly, I don't know if they ever will.

Roger Goodell is going to send Gamel a letter about that one.

Das heard two days of testimony in New York in late January and eventually ruled in Braun's favor because of the 40-hour delay in shipping, which he considered questionable. If there is no written decision, how can anyone make this statement? This stinks to high heaven. The fact that there is no written decision leads me to beleive that MLB has a lot to hide.

I feel my work is done here at home. My 9th grade daughter, right after Rock said an ump usually doesn't miss that call said "Well, usually you don't have Brian Gorman umping at first."

Well, that's the exact situation you take every single time to start an inning and they just failed miserably.

Scutaro has been playing like he doesn't know what's going on this series. Not complaining as a Crew fan, but he's made a bunch of mistakes that don't show up in the box score.

Cudduyer hurting the Crew this series and I'm guessing Kubel will do the same for the D-Backs. And of course Punto stuck in a knife last year in the playoffs, too.

Nyjer's Ks are up this year, but his BABIP is ridiculously low. I'd like to see more Aoki myself, but I think it's fair to say that Nyjer 's numbers will likely improve quite a bit.

I think him missing that call may have actually saved the Crew, all things being equal Of course, you never know how things transpire differently with the Hart AB if the situation is 2-on, no out, so "all things being equal" is never a really place to argue from.

Three for 45, or whatever Byrd is hitting right now, is simply pouring gas on the PR fire, isn't it?.

With a worse guy picking up the slack at the start of last season, I don't know if the Brewers make the playoffs. BF.net people probably don't forget that, but a lot of casual fans probably do.

I feel shortchanged not having a pivotal play at the plate tonight.

Need to hang on to this one to stay a half-game ahead of the Pirates and their 29 runs scored in 14 games.

When is the last time the Crew has been this far ahead? They had one good-sized win over AZ in the playoffs, but I honestly can't specifically remember watching the last Brewer game when they were up this much, given the pitching woes near the end of last season and in the playoffs. I guess the win over the Cards when Greinke pitched was the same margin, but this just seems like something of an anomaly.

A lead of more than 1 by either team after the 6th? I'm afraid this can't last.

Seems like there have been some weird trajectories on a couple of hard-hit balls in the past couple games. Gamel's last night, Rickie's tonight.

I think their Expected W/L right now is 5-9.

It's way too early to be saying this but if people aren't careful the Cards are going to build themselves a pretty big cushion on everybody else in the Central.

Yep, if you're pulling Gamel there it makes no sense not to be pulling Gonzalez as well. Even if you don't pull Gamel . . . .

Gamel can run. Why pull him when he's just the tying run?

Ax has been concerning me as well.