Brewers Freak Out Time: Braun Reactions, Aramis Ramirez Rumors

It’s official. The news coming out on Braun’s situation is increasingly contradictory. Heyman (aka, Boras’ toadie) has repeatedly suggested that the Brewers are still a player for Fielder, but there’s little reason to believe that’s anything other than Boras’ attempt to make the market for Fielder seem as competitive as possible.

The only way Fielder stays in Milwaukee is if he suddenly becomes willing to give them a discount and settle for several fewer years than the 8-10 he reportedly wants (and really, if Pujols got 10, it’s hard to blame Fielder for asking for the same), OR if, possessed by some wrong-headed sense of team spirit, and possibly by alcohol, he told the Brewers he wants market price but he’ll sign a 1 year deal to give it another run at the Series in Milwaukee before he, Marcum and Greinke leave town enmasse.

Yeah, you’d have to be delusional to believe either of those possibilities, even before word broke that the Brewers will likely be missing Braun for 50 games (or 25, depending on whose story you’re reading at any given moment). I’m not delusional and I"m not particularly interested in the writings of Boras’ propagandist, Jon Heyman. (Notice that Heyman, when he tweets this stuff, always phrases it in the sort of ephemeral, unsourced, and hypothetical language that never indicates he’s actually heard anything along those lines? “Is Prince still possible?” Let me help you out there Jon, since you seem confused: No, he’s not.

I also think it’s fair to wonder how much longer Ramirez might be interested in Milwaukee now that the Braun story has broke. He’s geographically tied to the area, and he’s pretty bitter about the Cubs, so there aren’t a lot of alternatives that won’t require uprooting his family (which he appears not to want to do). He likely thought the Brewers could compete for the penant if he was added to the roster in Prince’s place, but he’s got to be wondering if he really wants to be the only big bat in the lineup for the first 50 (or 25) games of 2012, particularly (as is likely) if he’d have to take less money to go to Milwaukee than he could get somewhere else.

No… as this offseason from hell continues, it’s starting to look to this Brewer fan like our 3 and 4 hitters will be Hart and Weeks, through the end of May. And while I fully expect and hope that Greinke’s actual production will be a closer match to his peripherals in 2012 than they were in 2011, I’m not convinced that our pitching staff (even with a 13 million dollar set up man) can keep the Brewers head above water long enough for Braun to return to the lineup.

Some Brewer fans are putting their hope in Braun’s appeal. I’m a pessimist by nature, and while Braun’s track record and insight on these issues in the past makes me believe his denials now, my head tells me that the last thing MLB wants is to be seen as letting one of their stars off the hook after a positive test, regardless of whether there’s reason to doubt the outcome of the initial test(s). Particularly when that star plays for the team in which the commissioner lives, and which the commissioner used to own, and which he fairly obviously still loves.

No, I don’t think Braun’s appeal will result in his vindication, though I tend to believe him at this point when facts are fairly scarce. One way or the other, I don’t believe he’s going to be in uniform on opening day any more than I believe that Fielder (or Ramirez for that matter) will be in Brewers uniforms in come spring training.