MLB Suspends Ryan Braun For Remainder Of Season

[Davis_Mike]

MLB Suspends Ryan Braun For Remainder Of Season

By Steve Adams [July 22, 2013 at 4:40pm CST]
Major League Baseball has suspended Ryan Braun for the rest of the season due to his involvement in the Biogenesis PED scandal, and he has accepted the deal, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. ESPN's T.J. Quinn tweets that MLB confronted Braun with "volumes" of evidence from Biogenesis founder Tony Bosch, including text messages. Braun's suspension is effective immediately, meaning that the total penalty is 65 games. He will not be paid during that time.

The 29-year-old Braun won 2011 NL MVP honors when he batted .332/.397/.597 with 33 home runs. Reports that he failed a drug test surfaced shortly after that season, but he denied those reports and won an appeal to overturn his suspension as a result of improper handling of his urine sample. Since that time, Braun has adamantly denied that he used performance enhancing drugs, but acception of a 65-game suspension seems to indicate otherwise.

Braun issued the following statement regarding his suspension (Twitter links from Major League Baseball):

"I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions. I wish to apologize to ... all of the baseball fans especially those in Milwaukee, the great Brewers organization, and my teammates."

As Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports points out on Twitter, Braun is earning $8.5MM this season, meaning that his suspension will cost him $3.4MM.

The first shoe has dropped.

No surprise here. The dude is a giant douche. After what he said & did in wake of his positive test in 2011 & his egregious statements about the test collector in his case, he deserves to be crucified by everyone.

He needs to apologize to Dino Laurenzi Jr.

 

[DweeberAZ]

If I understand correctly, this is an empty spot on the Brewers team roster right? Treated just like any other suspension where they can't refill the spot, Right?

It is not enough that the player gets suspended, but the team should get a hit too otherwise there is no point in the team caring much.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Braun is the Lance Armstrong of MLB

By Buster Olney | ESPN.com
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Before Lance Armstrong finally admitted to Oprah that he used performance-enhancing drugs, he called some of the people who he had attacked directly or hurt through many years of lying to offer some form of apology.

Ryan Braun needs to do the same thing, if he hasn’t already started. Because he is the Lance Armstrong of baseball.

His first call must go to Dino Laurenzi, Jr., the collector whose character and work he called into question when he made his now infamous statement in February of 2012, after he won his appeal.

He needs to offer apologies to his teammates. As Braun made that statement, he was accompanied by teammates, whom he almost certainly deceived.

He needs to offer apologize to the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise. Braun tested positive for PEDs in the fall of 2011, in the midst of the playoffs, and against Arizona that fall, he batted .500, with nine hits in 18 at-bats, as the Brewers edged the Diamondbacks, three games to two. Braun’s performance -- aided by performance-enhancing drugs -- may have directly cost the Diamondbacks’ players money and a chance to advance to the World Series.

The players’ union has gone through a tremendous evolution in its attitude toward those who violate the terms of the drug-testing system, and in the aftermath of Braun’s test, there were members of the Arizona organization who were enraged. The players voted over and over to implement and then repeatedly strengthen the drug-testing program, to ensure the level playing field, because they didn’t want some players to have an advantage over other players in trying to win jobs, and earn money.

Braun cheated all of them, and in the fall of 2011, nobody was affected more directly than the Diamondbacks.

He owes an apology to the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization. They gave him a big contract, and then signed him to a massive extension, worth about $150 million. They are a small-market franchise and they signed him to be their Cal Ripken, their leader, the centerpiece of their organization -- and now he is no longer that, and can no longer be that, because his professional reputation and marketability are destroyed. He is not only a cheater; he is a cheater who lied about it, and attacked to protect the lie. This is a crushing blow for the Brewers’ franchise.

He needs to apologize to the fans, all of those who supported him because they believed his lies. He misled them, and they bought his jerseys and went to his restaurant and bought tickets to see him play, because he is theirs.

A lot of those apologies need to take place in private, but a lot needs to take place in public, and with more teeth than the words released by Major League Baseball in a statement -- which was shocking in itself, in how the No. 2 person in the sport, Rob Manfred, was quoted as complimenting Braun as it suspended him:

"We commend Ryan Braun for taking responsibility for his past actions. We all agree that it is in the best interests of the game to resolve this matter. When Ryan returns, we look forward to him making positive contributions to Major League Baseball, both on and off the field."


Are you kidding? In light of all of the money spent by MLB in dealing with Braun’s first appeal, in how much damage has been done to the sport, in how much of a pall Braun’s situation has cast over other players -- Braun is commended?

No. The only person who should be talking now is Braun, who should be apologizing to all those he hurt, while embracing the full range of embarrassment with all necessary humility and honesty.

He earned it.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Seriously can't stand Braun. So happy they actually suspended him.

 

[Driaz]

The only thing is though, it doesn't hurt Braun (ok maybe losing 3 million dollars hurts a bit) and it surely doesn't hurt the Brewers.....

He has been battling nagging injuries all year long, he gets to shut it down and get healthy for next year, and clearly the Brewers have zero aspirations of achieving anything during the second half...win/win for Braun & the Brewers.....which is why I believe they accepted and and didn't fight it.....I'm sure if he fought the suspension, it would be tied up legally until at least next season at the earliest, but then a large suspension could hurt them.....now is the best time for him and the team to serve/"suffer" from the suspension.....