pebadger

One. One win would feel magical about now.

And it's official. Second place and falling.

In Rock's defense, he's been the one saying for weeks now that it only matters if you're in first place on the final day of the season. I think BA and Rock do as good a job of subtly telling it like it is as any crew out there. Esewhere, Cards have tied it at 4.

Very disappointed that he played this game with people. Doesn't change my opinion of the system at all, but it does change my opinion of Ryan Braun. At this point I'm just hoping the leaks continue (at least with respect to Braun but NOT with respect to people still under investigation) so that we can see what's really going on.

Nor am I exaggerating when I repeat, for the millionth time, that these private drug prosecutions are very much kangaroo courts. They are not designed to get at truth. They are not designed to be "fair" in the sense that Americans take for granted, to whatever extent they trust the courts to be "fair". That is your opinion, and you are saying this as though it is fact. There's been a lot of this throughout this thread, and the irony is stunning. Over and over people are complaining about leaks, and that ESPN is reporting them. Where are the facts? Where are the facts? has been the common refrain here. Then some of you turn right around and throw out your own rumors, opinions, etc. about MLB and the whole process in general. We can't have it both ways. If we can't assume Braun is guilty based on partial information that may not even be accurate, why can't MLB be treated the same way? I'm not talking about the substance of any individual case or whether any player is "guilty" or "not guilty". I'm talking about basic procedural protections in the system for those accused of violating the policy. What constitutes 'due process' in these matters is NOT what people understand to be basic due process in courts. It just isn't and that's not opinion. It's a major part of the system for the drug prosecutors to never make any of this especially clear to the public. For example, MLB is not under any obligation to provide much in the way of 'pre-trial' discovery. MLB isn't under any obligation to even provide exculpatory evidence. The witnesses from the WADA labs who testify as the their findings must agree, as a condition of their employment, to never consult with or testify for, people who are trying to defend themselves in drug cases. I could go on and on. If any of that sounds like it's "fair" under any conception you might have of law in the US, I guess you have a different conception of "fair", and a different understanding of the law, than I do. Don't take my word for it. Read up on how these things work.

Miami connection. The ironic thing is that Miami New Times, which is the almost completely uncredited journalistic linchpin to this whole thing blowing up, specfically looked at Bigenesis/Bosch with a special emphasis on his connections to players with specific ties to Miami and especially the University of Miami. They said NOTHING about former Hurricane Ryan Braun in their initial, original reporting. As for legalities of all of this: actual law has almost nothing to do with any of this, as I've been trying to drive home for a while now. I'm not really exaggerating here. There is a framework of rules that constitutes the agreement between MLB and MLBPA which will sort of govern how this plays out. Everything else is, to one degree or another, just being made up as they go along to one degree or another. The parties have made their own rules. MLB is trying to get their targets. Agents, attorneys and presumably the union are doing everything they can to protect players (individually and collectively). "Real" law will only come into play here if things really go off the rails, and even then the courts aren't ever going to get to questions of who did or didn't use PEDs. They'll deal with issues that very few people here will care about unless they're lawyers. Nor am I exaggerating when I repeat, for the millionth time, that these private drug prosecutions are very much kangaroo courts. They are not designed to get at truth. They are not designed to be "fair" in the sense that Americans take for granted, to whatever extent they trust the courts to be "fair". They are designed to take advantage of Americans' assumptions that official sounding, court-like proceedings have built-in mechanisms to provide a reasonably level playing field for parties with adverse interests and that the (virtually unanimously guilty) pronouncements from these bodies can be understood to be "just".

I don't know who this source is, but anyone who has been paying attention knows that there is no possible outcome to this thing that can be called a "victory for both sides" with anything approaching a straight face. Sounds to me like the spin an MLB guy might put on it in trying to talk a player into accepting a suspension.

An FYI on bereavement leave: A death in the family is not required. Serious illness to a qualifying family member is also a valid reason for a player to seek placement on the list. If there were a death, there wouldn't necessarily be any "harm" in announcing it, but it is a very personal decision to be made by people in the family circle. With illness, it may be even moreso. As JimH5 noted, this really is a "none of my business" thing. I'm virtually certain that there are penalties to be paid for abusing the list in any event, so any conspiracy theories about Braun's situation is probably misguided at best.

The funny/sad/disheartening thing about the whole Braun mess is that there really hasn't been ANY significant change in what we actually KNOW about his situation since the time he won his appeal, other than that his name has been linked to Biogenesis. That's all. The story hasn't changed, except in the manner that constant repetition, and media/public speculation on that repetition, has allowed the story to be a sort of self-replicating organism. And yet you now hear virtually every day, if you are listening, to people talk about how they could give Braun the benefit of the doubt if it weren't for all the connections. Maybe he's "guilty". Maybe he's innocent. The way this whole story has been told and our reaction to it is honestly a bigger issue in the long run than the alleged sins of Ryan Braun at this point.

I'd be more inclined to give Gomez a bit more time off given his history of getting hurt, but that depends on the availability of people to take his spot. Go-Go has been around MLB for a while now and he has a handle on the grind. If this team is going to have any bright seasons in the near future, Segura is going to have to be one of the guys carrying the load. Run him out there every day (health and normal occasional rest aside).

I tend to agree. Furthermore, I hope this is what happens. I dont care what Yo is in terms of where you 'slot' him. Is he a 2? 3? 4?. I frankly don't care. He's undoubtedly a major-league quality starting pitcher. Last time I checked you need to have at least 4 of them on your roster. Trading away Gallardo would put Milwaukee even further below that number than they already are. Yo is a piece to build around. IMO, trading him most likely puts you further away from where you want to be than you are at the moment you make the trade, both short term AND long-term. Sure, maybe they get lucky and roll a winning number on the trade. I just think it's a much lower probability move than keeping a reliable MLB-quality starting pitcher in the fold for an organization that, even in the best of times, rarely has many of them.

That second strike to Logan was an absolute joke. It seems small, but it completely changes the inning and thus the game. Oh well.

This game is just so typical of the season: even when they don't look like a sub-MLB level squad in terms of fundamentals they still find ways to bother the heck out of their fans.

No matter how all this finally ends up, barring an admission of a violation by Braun, there is a very good possibility that you will be able to take whatever evidence ends up being revealed and shaping it to your preferred version of the 'truth' in this case.

I've been lurking just to give someone a pass on a cuss-word of joy violation. That was unbelievable.

My daughter has been doing her summer swimming workouts the past few weeks. It's a 25-minute drive to the pool from our house. I've taken to completely unplugging and reading an actual printed-on-paper book for the time that she's there. We've made it a fun game to guess how far the Crew will be behind when we get to the car and turn on the radio. She's more pessimistic than me, and leads the prediction game by a wide margin.

That HR will only make the 8th inning worse if there is no follow-up. In other news, never remodel your bathroom. Ever.

I can look this up but I'm lazy, so I'll just assume my impression is correct that Hudson has usually given teh Brewers a really hard time. Would be nice to win a series and have a shot at a sweep. Seems not so long ago that one of BF.net's biggest "problems" was too often seeing the Crew win the first two games of a series and then not finishing a sweep.

With very relaxed rules of evidence, innuendo and suppostition is probably good enough. I doubt MLB is going to get solid proof of actual use by anyone, except, ironically, from the small fish users who might admit that they did wrong. MLB will use that as proof of the general proposition that Biogenesis was a bad operation and that everyone associated with them is guilty. The most direct evidence will likely come from Bosch people stating they sold substances to players, if in fact they really did.

They are using the time tested method in all prosecutorial offices of trying to flip small fish to get big fish. They've already been leaning on minor leaguers (who have virtually no protections for their budding careers). If MLB is like any of the other drug prosecutors they will offer immunity or reduced penalties for guys who testify the way they want them to testify. People can hold differing opinions on matters such as these. In a criminal prosecution at least the accused has very well-defined rights in terms of confronting such witnesses and their testimony and pointing out the bias inherent in such testimony. In the world of drug enforcement, there are no such real protections, and those protections that do exist are much less likely to be useful as the standards of proof and burdens of persuasion are very much on the side of the drug enforcers.

I don't know what is more concerning: the current lineup or the fact that I've gotten used to these. I hate that it's June and my attention is much more on the Stanley Cup, international soccer and even the NBA than it is on than Brewers. The real tragedy is that in a week the Brewers are all that I'll have left.

I honestly thought this team had a puncher's chance at the postseason this year if the starting pitching was somewhere near average. It hasn't been, so I guess we'll never know. If the lineup stays intact we could hope to find out next season, but then there is no guarantee the pitching will be any better (God help us if it's any worse). The bottom line is that you need to have five starting pitchers on your MLB club. To my way of thinking you need to have your sore 2 and 3 guys lined up and make sure they stick around. I don't see any point in just gutting a staff, and that's what you'd be doing if you got rid of Gallardo. He's not a 1, but you're not getting value for him in a trade IMO. He's a block to build on and keep you club from just being horrible. I wouldn't trade Gomez. I would hesitate to trade Aoki, but if there is a good deal to be made I'd be sort of OK with it, depending on the deal. Everyone else outside of Braun and Lucroy I'm fine with dealing, though even Lucroy isn't untouchable. I just don't know who's really going to be in the market for most of these pieces in any really enthusiastic way. It takes two to make a deal and I don't know who's really that interested in most of the pieces the Brewers have.

I suddenly have a strong desire to head over to Denny's.

And yet we'll both be here all weekend I imagine. Man, do I hate that bandbox in Cinci.

I know beggars can't be choosers, but watching the Crew beating up on the Marlins like this is kind of like watching the college hoops recruit across the street stomping his 8-year-old brother in one-on-one.