This week, it was announced that Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in July. Their election and the din and drama surrounding the whole process can be tiresome, but it got me thinking about the next Brewers Hall of Famer. The last time Milwaukee had a […]
Tag: Ryan Braun
Khris Davis And Ryan Braun: Different Changes, Same Result
One of the most interesting things about baseball, for me, has always been the fact that people succeed in so many diverse ways. A slugger such as Yoenis Cespedes can provide value by swinging at everything he sees, while the Joey Vottos of the world bide their time, take free passes, and do damage on their pitches. […]
Rooting for Ryan Braun and What It Means to be a Fan
Brewers fans have a complicated relationship with Ryan Braun. The team has been stationed in Milwaukee since 1970, but they’ve really only been good for an extended period of time twice: the Robin Yount/Paul Molitor years and the Braun/Fielder teams of recent memory. And given that Molitor and Yount last played together during the 1992 […]
The Third-Base Options On The Trade Market
Here are some things we can say, to varying degrees of certainty, about the Milwaukee Brewers: They need a third baseman for the future. In the 2011 offseason, Aramis Ramirez came to Milwaukee, where he manned the hot corner for three-plus years. The club traded him to Pittsburgh this past July, and they’d like to find […]
Ryan Braun and the Price of Uncertainty
The five-year, $105 million extension that all but officially made Ryan Braun the face of the Milwaukee Brewers franchise finally begins next season. Braun, who turns 32 in just a few weeks, will be spending his offseason rehabilitating from back surgery. He is expected to be back in time for spring training, but the surgery […]
The 2015 BP Milwaukee End-Of-Season Awards
Lately, lots of talk surrounding the Milwaukee Brewers has surrounded the future of the team. And understandably so. The future appears to hold so many more positive, exciting things in store! But with the 2015 season so freshly minted, let’s take a look back and crown some winners for the First-Annual BP Milwaukee End-of-Season Awards. The […]
Rolling Out the Barrel: We’re All Just Folk Now
Happy Friday, folks, and welcome to a brand new edition of Rolling Out the Barrel. I was out in the Third Ward last night, celebrating the birthdays of my friends Kiki and Kenne. On my way out of the Milwaukee Ale House, I spotted a pair of Cardinals fans, no doubt in town to witness […]
The Narrative Problem: Ryan Braun and PEDs
Countless articles have been written about performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and baseball. Users have been called cheaters, while the decline in offensive production across Major League Baseball has been tied to a perceived decline in PED usage. In Milwaukee, specifically, the poor performance by Ryan Braun in 2014 — a .266/.324/.453 slash line in 580 plate […]
Ryan Braun, The 2011 MVP, and The Vagaries Of The MVP
On November 22, 2011, Major League Baseball named Ryan Braun the National League’s Most Valuable Player. Braun became the fourth player to win the award in Brewers history and the first since Robin Yount earned it, back in 1989. In 2011, the Brewers’ right fielder finished with 20 of the 32 first-place votes, which accumulated him a total […]
Days of Future Present
The Brewers’ July trade of Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers signaled a clear indication that the organization knew it needed to retool. They shipped out an excellent player on a reasonable contract who will be a free agent after next season, and they also got rid of a cost-controlled pitcher who is already 30. Neither […]