Braun named player of the week

[illiniguy]

boy i never realized how jealous you are of him, you can't stand him beacause he plays for the brewers and playing the brewers is a not a easy win any more.if Braun was a bad left fielder he would have made error's so since he has no errors in left he not and i find it funny you people keep staying it when it is not true, i guess you can keeping dreaming it.

Albert Pujols is the same guy, but better, we don't hate him. We respect him, in fact he's my favorite player to watch in the game today. But, he doesn't behave like a baby at all times. This shouldn't be too difficult to understand.

 

And Pujols is actually a really good defender as well. You know, the kind that can actually field and has obvious defensive talents that extend beyond getting bad reads/jumps, running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, not getting to balls and therefore not being charged with errors.

 

With Pujols you hate that he is so good, you are even jealous, but you respect him. With Braun, you just hate him. He's a punk.

I don't even hate that I like Pujols anymore. We are seeing a true star, might as well enjoy it. Especially since we have been able to beat his team two years in a row.

[SouthSideRyan]

Ryan Braun is a goofy looking [expletive].

[Z38Cubs]

Ryan Braun is a goofy looking [expletive].

 

http://inspireaction.mindandmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/bug_eyed_woman.jpg

[XZero771679666304]

Ryan Braun is a goofy looking [expletive].

 

Ryan Braun = Marty Feldman

[Gingerballs Lives]

The Brewers should hang a banner for the occasion.

[NonProfitCow]

boy i never realized how jealous you are of him, you can't stand him beacause he plays for the brewers and playing the brewers is a not a easy win any more.if Braun was a bad left fielder he would have made error's so since he has no errors in left he not and i find it funny you people keep staying it when it is not true, i guess you can keeping dreaming it.

BWAHAHAHAHA

[XZero771679666304]

Seriously, the only thing saving Braun from being one of the worst OFs in recent memory is his athleticism. That allows him to occasionally save himself from making really embarrassing plays. The guy can't read fly balls, and gets godawful jumps.

 

Braun doesn't miss too many balls that are right at him, which saves him from being given errors. They don't assign errors for not being where you should be, not getting to a ball you should have gotten to, or taking poor routes. If they did, Braun would lead the league.

[Cubswin11]

I don't know if I will enjoy anything more in life than the day Braun signs a big deal with a NY/Cal. team and all the Brewers fans go from being hey Braun is the best player ever attitude and he can't do anything wrong to Braun is a sellout he only cares about money he is a fake.

 

I should add that I live in Wisconsin and almost all of my friends/family (my dad, grandpa, and maybe 2-3 others I know are Cubs fans) are Brewers fans and think Braun is the best players ever and best LF in baseball because he committed no errors in LF last season and they can't understand how he didn't win a GG. Most of them are in the Brewer demographic that have just discovered baseball/Brewers in the last 3 years, but think they know everything about baseball, it's not uncommon to have 2-3 encounters a week with them about the Brewers/baseball that makes me just want to give up on life.

My friend the other day "huge Brewer fan" (the last 3 years) tried telling me wins and ERA are the best way to judge a pitchers value, I then brought up WHIP, ERA+, K/9, BB/9, H/9, BA against, etc. and he acted as if I was talking about a different sport. You get the idea.

Edited May 12, 2009 by Cubswin11

[javy knows my name]

I want the guy with the super clever name to post more posts

[Cubswin11]

I want the guy with the super clever name to post more posts

Is that sarcasm or a jab? Or are you being serious?

[bcl412]

boy i never realized how jealous you are of him, you can't stand him beacause he plays for the brewers and playing the brewers is a not a easy win any more.if Braun was a bad left fielder he would have made error's so since he has no errors in left he not and i find it funny you people keep staying it when it is not true, i guess you can keeping dreaming it.

 

As a Cubs fan I don't get to do this much buuuuut. I am not jealous of anything related to the Brewers. In my life I've seen 4 playoff appearances, an NLCS, 3 division titles, a 20 k game, a no hitter and one of the best hitters to ever play the game. I'll take my Cubs fandom to your Brewers fandom any day of the week.

[17 Seconds]

i loved when brenly made fun of his bug eyes

[brewersbrewers]

It does not matter if Braun gets a bad jump or does not read the ball well in the outfield as long as he gets to ball and makes the play is what counts, you people are so reaching for something to bag on him is pathatic. The reason Bremley said that about Braun is that he is pissed that the Brewers didn't hire him to be a new manager and i am so happy to have Macha as your manager, I love looking down on the cubs in the standings.

[Little Slide Rooter]

It does not matter if Braun gets a bad jump or does not read the ball well in the outfield as long as he gets to ball and makes the play is what counts, you people are so reaching for something to bag on him is pathatic. The reason Bremley said that about Braun is that he is pissed that the Brewers didn't hire him to be a new manager and i am so happy to have Macha as your manager, I love looking down on the cubs in the standings.

 

We get it, The Brewers are better than expected, but they are by no means good enough to take the division and run off into the sunset. They're hot right now, but unless this is you're first season as a Brewers fan, you'll remember that there M.O. is to get really hot, and then the bottom drops out. Just when you think they're collapsed, they get hot again. Just when you think theyre unstoppable again, they fall apart. Repeat process. Unless Melvin has another Sabathia up his sleeve, Bush, Suppan, Parra, and Looper are by no means a championship rotation. I have little doubt that Gallardo will one day be a legit ace, but at this point, he not ready to carry an entire pitching staff that below average on his back

[wekse]

someone is DRUNK...and it's not me.

[illiniguy]

It does not matter if Braun gets a bad jump or does not read the ball well in the outfield as long as he gets to ball and makes the play is what counts, you people are so reaching for something to bag on him is pathatic. The reason Bremley said that about Braun is that he is pissed that the Brewers didn't hire him to be a new manager and i am so happy to have Macha as your manager, I love looking down on the cubs in the standings.

Really when the seasons over you know you'll be looking up at us. It's what you do best.

 

Seriously you've had a great start. We've had Z get hurt. Ramirez get hurt. DLee get hurt. Marmol get hurt. Soto's hitting .150. Bradley is hitting .180. DLee is hitting .200. But, you have a 1.5 game lead on us. Good for you.

[JenksFan5]

I don't want to be a trolling Brewers fan, but just wanted to add a couple points. Braun is not a good defender, but he is not a complete hack either as some are describing. He is still young and will likely improve as a defender because he has a pretty determined work ethic. I can name 3 worse left fielders in the NL alone: Manny, Soriano, and Carlos Lee. They all are in the same position that Braun is, below average fielders, well above average hitters (Manny in a league of his own in the hitting department). Braun is not paid for his glove, but his bat and as long as he can hold his own in left field, the Brewers will be satisfied.

 

Another thing is that not all Brewers fans became fans in the last 3 years. Many people have been brought back as fans because of the product on the field improving and actually having ownership committed to winning. Call them bandwagon fans, but the Brewers haven't been exactly a fun team for the casual baseball fan to watch until recently. Every fan base has die hard followers, casual fans and band wagon jumpers and the Cubs are no different. They have a number of very knowledgeable, die hard fans and they have the Wrigley bleacher bums that couldn't name 10 players on the team. Winning is going to bring new fans, plain and simple, but don't just blanket the fanbase as "new" fans. Not everyone cares to get into sabermetrics and read MoneyBall cover to cover, but every fanbase needs the casual bandwagon fan to sell tickets and keep the product on the field as competitive as it can be. Obviously, there is going to be a learning curve for a number of fans. My wife hated baseball before we started dating and now she makes comments like, "Man, Rickie Weeks seems to be hitting a lot better this year, but his walk rate has suffered because of it. I would rather sacrifice a few points in slugging to improve his OBP. Otherwise Macha should move him down in the order." When she said this, I couldn't have been more amazed and it shows that she has learned something over the last 10 years of being season seat holders. It was pretty proud moment for me. Most of us as baseball fans started out as casual fans and became more knowledgeable as we started to immerse ourselves in the intracacies of baseball every day of our lives. A fan has to start somewhere.

 

Last point. Your bias toward the Cubs will tend to make you dwell on the negative of opposing players, rather than the positive. Braun is a player that you would want on your team. He can flat out hit and is only going to get better and is signed to a very reasonable long term contract. I don't like Aramis Ramirez at all, but I would love to have him on the Brewers team. It always goes both ways. The Brewers used to be a perennial doormat and now are relevant largely in part to player drafting and development so opposing fanbases are starting to take notice and saying things like "player X is a punk" or "way to hop on the bandwagon". It's hard to dislike a team that is bad year after year so the angst directed toward the Brewers and Brewers players just tells me that the team is finally relevant again.

[sneakypower]

i hope people realize if Braun were a Cub everyone would be wearing yarmulkes whenever their karate headbands made it into the wash

[Little Slide Rooter]

i hope people realize if Braun were a Cub everyone would be wearing yarmulkes whenever their karate headbands made it into the wash

 

Between Braun, Kinsler, and Youklis, this may well be our golden age in baseball. If only Adam Greenberg made it.

[SouthSideRyan]

I can name 3 worse left fielders in the NL alone: Manny, Soriano, and Carlos Lee.

 

This [expletive] drives me nuts.

[JenksFan5]

This [expletive] drives me nuts.

 

I will concede that Soriano has the tools and he could be a good left fielder if he gave maximum effort at all, but how can you say he is a good left fielder when half of the time, it does not seem like he even wants to be out there.

 

I assume that you watch more Cubs games than I do (I only watch about 30-40 a year), so I will be willing to concede the point if you can justify why you think he is a good outfielder. I have watched him half ass it after too many flyballs that should be caught and nonshalantly throw balls into the infield to consider him a good outfielder. Kendall's "triple" on Sunday is a prime example and Weeks "double" on the Brewers home opener were both plays that could have been made or in Kendall's case, he should have been held to a double. He plays very deep in general and can't go back on a ball very well from what I have seen and I remember a number of instances last year where balls dropped in front of him that should be caught. Again, this is just in limited observation, so I may be wrong, but I would find it hard to believe that you can be satisfied with Soriano's effort on defense night in and night out.

[dew1679666265]

This [expletive] drives me nuts.

 

I will concede that Soriano has the tools and he could be a good left fielder if he gave maximum effort at all, but how can you say he is a good left fielder when half of the time, it does not seem like he even wants to be out there.

 

I assume that you watch more Cubs games than I do (I only watch about 30-40 a year), so I will be willing to concede the point if you can justify why you think he is a good outfielder. I have watched him half ass it after too many flyballs that should be caught and nonshalantly throw balls into the infield to consider him a good outfielder. Kendall's "triple" on Sunday is a prime example and Weeks "double" on the Brewers home opener were both plays that could have been made or in Kendall's case, he should have been held to a double. He plays very deep in general and can't go back on a ball very well from what I have seen and I remember a number of instances last year where balls dropped in front of him that should be caught. Again, this is just in limited observation, so I may be wrong, but I would find it hard to believe that you can be satisfied with Soriano's effort on defense night in and night out.

 

Soriano is easily an above average left fielder. He does make the occasional boneheaded play, but generally I have no problem with his effort. He gets to the balls he should and, barring the occasional bonehead play, he fields them cleanly.

 

I don't put a great deal of stock into fielding metrics, but UZR had him as a +18.4 fielder in left in 2007 and a +2.5 fielder in left in 2008. For comparison's sake, using the same metric Braun was a -3.4 left fielder in 2008 and so far (very small sample size) he is a -11.1 left fielder this year. UZR also had him in 2007 as a -35.5 third baseman.

[JenksFan5]

It is hard to quantify defense and that is why I don't put that much stock into zone ratings, but that is the only thing that we have to go on so I will concede the point and stand corrected then. Thanks!

[Keener98]

It is hard to quantify defense and that is why I don't put that much stock into zone ratings, but that is the only thing that we have to go on so I will concede the point and stand corrected then. Thanks!

 

Also Sorianos arm by itself makes him at least an average left fielder. His ability to throw out runners has a very positive effect on his defense.

[Keener98]

It does not matter if Braun gets a bad jump or does not read the ball well in the outfield as long as he gets to ball and makes the play is what counts, you people are so reaching for something to bag on him is pathatic. The reason Bremley said that about Braun is that he is pissed that the Brewers didn't hire him to be a new manager and i am so happy to have Macha as your manager, I love looking down on the cubs in the standings.

 

Is this Milwaukee ebonics that you are speaking?