Braun's Horrible Two-Step & "Coming Clean" Statement on Use of PED's

I wanted to post something over the weekend but work has been kicking my butt lately so that forced me to postpone my post on suspended Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun's two-step from over the weekend.  In the mean time, Braun released his "come clean" statement on his used of PED's.  I will cover my thoughts on Braun's statement but let's recap the other reports first before dissecting the statement.

First, CBS's "60 Minutes" reported that someone associated with Alex Rodriguez leaked documents that connected Braun to Biogenesis, the clinic at the center of one of MLB's largest PED scandals. Second, ESPN reported that Braun is being sued for defamation by "longtime" friend Ralph Sasson.  Early indications are that part of the lawsuit will show that Braun used PED's in college, committed academic fraud, and took money.

There is a ton to unpack.  Whether A-Rod leaked documents about Braun's PED use will grab the most headlines but is the least interesting story of the three to me because A-Rod has overtaken Barry Bonds to become the center of the PED universe in baseball (don't worry Lance, you are still center of the PED universe in sports). Braun could sue A-Rod for tortious interference with contractual relationship, which is the same way this whole saga started with MLB using that theory against Tony Bosch, the owner of Biogenesis.

The second story is interesting to me because it means Braun's friend either needs money or wants to clear his conscious.  I don't get why high profile people hire friends to "dig up dirt" since that creates an on-going cost of doing business.  I guess high-profile people can trust very few people so they figure long-time childhood friends will stay loyal but even those confidants have their breaking point.

Immediately after Braun's suspension was announced, I was worried about how that was going to impact Green bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers since Rodgers vehemently defended Braun.  That doesn't even account for the fact that Braun and Rodgers own a restaurant together that is comically named 8-Twelve MVP Bar and Grill.

I am part of the strong majority that was less than impressed with Braun's statement.  When Braun temporarily got his positive PED test overturned via the Reverse Al Capone, he delivered his statement in-person at spring training in a very strong manner.  Even if Braun wasn't going to take questions, he should have read his statement to reporters instead issuing it via a press release.

Here would have been my simple five-point plan for Braun:
1. Sincerely apologize to the fans, Dino Laurenzi, and ownership
2. Give back your 2011 NL MVP
3. Explain in grave detail your exact PED use
4. Stay out of the public eye till spring training next season
5. Offer to take a weekly test for the rest of his career

I know #2 and #5 are long-shots but that would go a long way towards leaving misdeeds in the past while trying to forge a trusting relationship going forward.  It is too early to tell on #4 but so far Braun has only half satisfied #1 and #3.  I am less than impressed with how Braun has handled this so far, which give me very little confidence that Braun will thrive on and off the field for the next decade in Milwaukee.

I Went There - Ryan Braun Faces More PED Related Scrutiny

Ben, Alex, Jason, & Cheesehead Sports Nut (left to right).

I finally got to see the 2013 Milwaukee Brewers play for the first time in-person last night at Miller Park.  My cousin Jason was in from Colorado so I took the train up to Milwaukee from Chicago to attend the game with Mama Cheese, Papa Cheese, and part of the extended Bojar Family (Jason, Jim, Marykay, Alex, Eve, Ben, and Becky).

The Brewers were outmatched most of the night trailing by three runs heading into the bottom of the 8th inning but tied the score thanks in large part to shortstop Jean Segura's triple that plated Rickie Weeks and Norichika Aoki.  The Brewers won in the 10th inning thanks to an RBI single by Yuniesky Betancourt that plated Carlos Gomez.  In a Miller Park first for me, the post-game interview was conducted in Spanish with the interviewer summarizing Betancourt's answers in English before he got the celebratory shaving cream pie-in-the-face.

I took a quick look at my Twitter feed on the ride back to the Parental Cheese Palace and saw the ESPN report that Major League Baseball is going after Ryan Braun and everyone else mentioned in the Biogenesis saga.  Before I read the ESPN report, I planned on writing a post about how it was time for teams to buck conventional baseball wisdom (e.g. using your closer only for a "save" situation), about the recent roster moves by general manager Doug Melvin (traded minor league pitcher Thomas Keeling for infielder Juan Francisco, called up second baseman Scooter Gennett from the minors, sent Mike Fiers back down to the minors, and released infielder Alex Gonzalez), and how despite having the worst record in the National League the Brewers still look a little too talented offensively despite their lack of quality pitching to give up on 2013 already.  All of sudden those topics seems trivial with the specter that Ryan Braun, the face of the franchise, might be suspended for 100 games for the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Although Braun escaped suspension once before when Shyam Das cast the deciding vote to overturn his 50-game suspension for testing positive for PED's, it enraged MLB because they thought Braun's suspension should have been upheld.  Braun's name surfaced on documents along with other high profile MLB players suspected of using PED's earlier this year.  According to Braun, his legal team retained Biogenesis owner Tony Bosch's "consulting services" as a part of appealing his positive test results for the use of PED's.  That excuse seems flimsy at best but is probably the best possible spin his public relations team could muster.  This was just the in that MLB wanted to make an example of Braun and the other MLB players associated with the Biogenesis documents.

Even if MLB suspends Braun and others MLB player associated with Biogenesis, they will always have stink of PED's hanging over their sport so I am not sure that making an example of these guys achieves MLB's goal.  NFL players routinely get suspended for the use of PED's but that does not seem to diminish their accomplishments presumably because football is such a brutal sport.  Reports are that MLB is seeking to suspend anyone associated with Biogenesis documents for 100 games: 50 games for purchasing PED's and 50 games for lying to MLB.

I am not sure what MLB is trying to accomplish with these suspensions.  Keep in mind that MLB filed a lawsuit in March against Bosch and a handful of his Biogenesis business associates for "interfering with baseball contracts" under the legal theory of tortious interference presumably to try to squeeze as much information out of them as possible to mount a case against the players mentioned in the various Biogenesis documents obtained by media outlets.

MLB recently deposed Dr. Daniel Carpman, an anti-aging specialist that has been  identified in some Biogenesis documents.  Unfortunately the details of Dr. Carpman's deposition have not become public.  That means that so far only Bosch and Dr. Carpman are cooperating while other known associates of Bosch such as Carlos Acevedo and Juan Carlos Nunez (a registered MLB agents that apparently put Bosch in touch with a number of the MLB players named in the investigation) have been resistant to cooperate with MLB's investigation of Biogenesis.

I assume that Bosch is going to tell MLB what they want to hear with respect to the use of PED's by the players in question, especially because MLB has agreed to cover Bosch's legal fees if the government brings a case against Bosch.  That is obviously huge for Bosch because he is reportedly broke so getting his future legal bills covered might be reason enough to cooperate with MLB.  Even if Bosch provides documentation (e.g. canceled checks, text messages, FedEx shipment information, etc.), I would hope that MLB gets more authentication of the documents than just Bosch's word before they start suspending players.

This is not the first time that baseball used shady individuals to take down some of the biggest names in the sport.  In the Pete Rose gambling investigation they essentially traded the testimony of felon Ron Peters for a letter to a judge requesting leniency for Peters' punishment.  In the Roger Clemens PED investigation they relied on Brian McNamee and helped broker a deal with the government to get McNamee immunity from federal prosecution.

The biggest problem for Braun with the most recent revelations is that players can be suspended under the Joint Drug Agreement without ever actually testing positive for PED's.  MLB just needs to show the purchase, receipt, or use of performance enhancing drugs to obtain a suspension.  That said, to suspend Braun based on the flimsy documents and testimony of Bosch seems asinine but you never know given how salty they were about Braun pulling the Reverse Al Capone.

The outcome of this investigation will have huge financial ramifications on the Brewers and Braun because after this season the Brewers have Braun under contract for at least seven (possibly eight) more years for at least $121 million and possibly $132 million ($12 million in 2014, $14 million in 2015, $19 million in 2016, $19 million in 2017, $19 million in 2018, $18 million in 2019, $16 million in 2020, and $15 million mutual option with a $4 million buyout in 2021).  If Braun is suspended because of his association with Bosch and Biogenesis, as crazy as it sounds, the Brewers might have to look into voiding Braun's contract or trading him for pennies on the dollar because any of his accomplishments will come with a huge asterisk.

Three Brewers make the 2010 NL All-Star Team

Baseball history buffs know that the National League still has a leg up in the all-time series 40-38-2. Plus, the all-time runs scored is almost dead even with the American League leading the National League 339 to 336. With that said, the last 13 years have been a completely different story.

The American League is 12-0-1 in the last 13 All-Star Games. The one tie came in Milwaukee in 2002 when Bud Selig called the game a tie after the 11th inning with the score knotted at 7. What makes that streak particularly hard to stomach for the National League is that the American League has four straight 1-run comeback wins.

Starting in 2003, the team that wins the All-Star Game gets home field advantage in the World Series. Home field advantage matters in the World Series, the team with home field advantage for the World Series has won 19 of last 24 World Series. Home field advantage should not have any impact on the Brewers this year because they will already all be on vacation for a month by the time the World Series rolls around.

With all of that mostly useless backdrop out of the way, here is a quick rundown of the three representatives the Milwaukee Brewers are sending to the 2010 MLB All-Star Game:

Ryan Braun (LF):
Braun received 2,972,525 all-star votes and was the leading outfielder in the fan balloting for the 3rd year in a row. That means that Braun will become the first Brewer in franchise history to start 3 consecutive all-star games. Despite being in a prolonged slump, Braun has still put up respectable numbers for the first half of the season: .295, 11 homers, and 51 RBI.

Corey Hart (RF):
After going into the season as public enemy #2 behind former Milwaukee Brewer Jeff Suppan, Hart has done quite a 180. The Milwaukee Brewers thought so little of Hart that they included Jim Edmonds on the All-Star ballot instead of Hart. Hart could have hung his head, instead he dug in and put together a pretty impressive start to the season: .286, 19 homers, and 61 RBI. Hard to believe, but Hart will not only be appearing in his second career MLB All-Star Game (previously appeared in 2008) but also accepted an invitation to compete in the home run derby contest. I hope Brewers general manager Doug Melvin sells high for once and gets some nice young pitching for Hart since his value is never going to be higher.

Yovanni Gallardo (RP):
Gallardo was a very deserving manager's selections. Gallardo put up great numbers in the first half of the season: 8-4, 2.58 ERA, 122 strikeouts, two shutouts, and two complete games. Unfortunately it looks like Gallardo will not be able to participate because he was injured yesterday.

Gallardo and Braun are both locked up long-term at relatively palatable numbers, which makes them the faces of the Milwaukee Brewers franchise. Much like Prince Fielder, Corey Hart is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2011 season. As I said earlier, Hart's value will never he higher so hopefully Doug Melvin will kick the trade tires while attending the All-Star Game.

Galarraga shafted and Atogwe available

I planned on having a much more in-depth post on Milwaukee Brewers Player Rankings but that is going to have to wait until next week because there are much more pressing Cheesehead and Non-Cheesehead sports issues to handle.

Non-Cheesehead sports issue: Did everyone see umpire Jim Joyce's horrendous call? For those that didn't, let me set the stage. Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Armando Galarraga had a perfect game through 8 and 2/3rds innings. The 27th batter that Galarraga faced hit a soft grounder to the right side. Galarraga covered first for what should have been the 27th and final out of the game.

For some unknown reason, umpire Jim Joyce called the runner safe. I would venture to say that everyone in the stadium could have made the right call but the one guy with the power completely screwed it up. The call was so bad that one of the other umpires should have stepped in to rectify the error.

I predict three reactions to Joyce's f*#k-up: some are going to call for Joyce to be suspended, others are going to use this as Exhibit A for why baseball needs instant replay, and some others are going to demand Bud Selig to retroactively give Galaraga the perfect game. I am a replay guy so while I feel bad for Galarraga, I think he is going to go down as a martyr for the replay cause. That said, I would totally support Selig overturning the call for this unique error but I think that is highly unlikely.

If the call did get reversed, it would be the 20th perfect game in MLB history and the 3rd perfect game this season. For those wondering why so many perfect games have happened this season I have a simple answer, PEDs might actually be getting phased out of MLB.


Cheesehead sports issue: My buddy Fernando asked whether the Packers should go after former St. Louis Rams safety O.J. Atogwe? For a quick explanation of how Atogwe became a free agent click here. My initial thought is no way, but let's take a look anyway for Mr. Fernando.

Atogwe was taken in the third round (66th overall) in the 2005 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams. Atogwe played sparingly as a rookie in 2005 but had a breakout season in 2006 and never looked back.

On the positive side of the equation, Atogwe is a turnover machine. In five seasons, Atogwe had 19 interceptions and 14 forced fumbles.

On the negative side of the equation, Atogwe is not the biggest guy in the NFL (5'11", 205 pounds), turns 29 in June, and is coming off a dislocated right shoulder that landed him on injured reserve last season.

Atogwe is clearly a talented player with some baggage. As all Packer fans know, Ted Thompson is not usually very active in the free agent market. That said, one of Thompson's best free agents signing was a former St. Louis Ram, Ryan "Big Daddy" Pickett, so may be he will give Atogwe a look.

The Packers have good depth at safety after Pro Bowler Nick Collins. Assuming Atari Bigby signs his tender, there will be a fierce competition between Bigby and Morgan Burnett (3rd round pick from the 2010 NFL Draft). After that, the Packers have two dependable veterans in Charlie Peprah and Derrick Martin. Bringing up the rear are two long-shots to make the roster Khalil Jones and Anthony Levine.

If the Packers did add Atogwe, he would be the oldest safety on the roster. Although Atogwe is an intriguing talent, given the fact that Ted Thompson is very conservative in free agency and the Packers' quality depth at safety I think the odds are slim that Atogwe plays for the Green Bay Packers in 2010.