Here is a crazy idea...

[seahawksfan234]

I saw this mentioned on another thread and I'm not sure what everyone else would think but...

Should we trade for Ryan Braun?

I think if the Mariners made a move for Ryan Braun in the offseason it would be a brilliant idea.

His value right now could not be lower, and he still an outstanding player despite the fact that he is tarnished. When I look at Ryan Braun I see a player who could have had a hall of fame career, but will likely be denied now because of his PED allegations but I still see a player who can hit 25-30 HRs with a .300+ BA.

He will never be anything to brag about but he is still a very good baseball player who can be had a low price. Not to mention he is a former Jack Zduriencik player.

I have to imagine the Brewers would be looking to wash their hands of him and I think it would be a very wise move for the Mariners to pick up an MVP caliber hitter while his value is low.

Am I crazy? What does everyone else think?

 

[geneh_33]

I saw this mentioned on another thread and I'm not sure what everyone else would think but...

Should we trade for Ryan Braun?

I think if the Mariners made a move for Ryan Braun in the offseason it would be a brilliant idea.

His value right now could not be lower, and he still an outstanding player despite the fact that he is tarnished. When I look at Ryan Braun I see a player who could have had a hall of fame career, but will likely be denied now because of his PED allegations but I still see a player who can hit 25-30 HRs with a .300+ BA.

He will never be anything to brag about but he is still a very good baseball player who can be had a low price. Not to mention he is a former Jack Zduriencik player.

I have to imagine the Brewers would be looking to wash their hands of him and I think it would be a very wise move for the Mariners to pick up an MVP caliber hitter while his value is low.

Am I crazy? What does everyone else think?

You sure? Just look at A-Rod now. You still sure?

 

[Banned 10x]

Even with everything that has happend, Brewers aren't going to trade him, imo.

 

[geneh_33]

Even with everything that has happend, Brewers aren't going to trade him, imo.

Seriously, I can't see why anybody would want to give up a good, young, clean up-and-coming player for him. I sure wouldn't.

The Braves farm system is far better at producing good athletes than this douchebag of a guy. No way he will ever wear a Braves uniform. No way.

 

[uwdawgfan]

Dont really feel like drama right now in clubhouse...team is headed in right direction.

 

[Destroydacre]

It's an interesting idea for sure. Even without PEDs Braun would still be a good hitter. You don't put up numbers like he does just by taking HGH (or whatever) you still have to be a good player. I do have my reservations though as dawgfan brought up. We've seen how bad apples can tear apart the locker room, i.e. Figgins, and even with his lower value, it would still take quite a bit to get a player such as Braun. Would you be willing to give up guys like Franklin and Walker to get Braun and all the baggage that will likely be attached? I'd lean more toward no, but the prospect is quite intriguing.

 

[seahawksfan234]

You sure? Just look at A-Rod now. You still sure?

A-Rod is 37.

Ryan Braun is 29.

If we received the same sort of production from Ryan Braun from 29-36 as A-Rod gave the Yankees it would be a hell of a deal. From ages 29-36 A-Rod hit 266 HRs 854 RBIs .293 BA and a .389 OBP. He averaged 33 HRs a season.

Yeah I'm sure.

The Braves farm system is far better at producing good athletes than this douchebag of a guy. No way he will ever wear a Braves uniform. No way.

He's a douchebag because he used PEDs? Or do you have an actual reason for calling him a d-bag?

Dont really feel like drama right now in clubhouse...team is headed in right direction.

He's not Terrell Owens. Sure the spotlight would be on him but that does not mean he is a cancer.

Maybe I'm not as up on Ryan Braun's character as the rest of you but I don't see a correlation between using PEDs and being a douchebag.

 

[cezero]

I like Morales and Ibanez as mentors. Even if Raul's production goes down, I'd love him to stay because he has a real connection with a bunch of the kids, which has been lacking for our youngsters for the past 4 years.

Not sure having a nationally controversial figure like Braun in the clubhouse is good for a team full of youngsters.

Sorry, man.

 

[Logicallylethal]

I'll take Braun in a heart beat. It would depend on what we would have to give up to get him though. Maybe Ackley, Erasmo and Ruffin?

 

[Logicallylethal]

And to address the clubhouse drama...

I don't think Braun's character causes any clubhouse drama at all...I mean yeah this particular situation has stirred up some drama...but that has more to do with his mistake and decision to take PEDs.

He's never been known to be a clubhouse cancer or a bad teammate. Just a guy who made a bad decision and then made an even dumber decision with the way he approached the situation.

 

[cezero]

And to address the clubhouse drama...

I don't think Braun's character causes any clubhouse drama at all...I mean yeah this particular situation has stirred up some drama...but that has more to do with his mistake all....

His presence would, alone.

Reporters aren't nice. The instant he showed up, all anybody would be asked for months is what they think of playing alongside a known doper connected to the Biogenesis multiplayer mega suspension scandal. The instant Braun gets hot, stories about PED in the Seattle clubhouse would break out. It would be a national lens beamed directly on the Seattle Mariners for a long time.

One more stress that youngsters don't need, even if Braun's WAR estimates an extra 3 wins over the course of the year. Not worth it, IMO. Not a fit for a club like the M's, IMO.

I wouldn't blame any other legitimate contending team for wanting to add Braun, though.

 

[NWinAZ]

I said earlier I have a feeling they end up with him in the offseason and I just threw out an Ackley/Hultzen deal for him. Maybe that is overpay, maybe not. If Brewers pick up a majority (75%) of his remaining contract, then I say yes. He would be better than Raul or Bay in LF and I doubt we get a better free agent to come here. The one benefit about playing in Seattle is that all the media attention goes away...ESPN has a hard time finding Seattle on their maps.

The key factor for me is when he is allowed to talk to the press he comes clean 100% and apologizes for all the lies. No more excuses. If he does that, I have no problem with it and would welcome it. He doesn't, I wouldn't take him for free.

 

[dude82]

I'm gonna go with 'no' on this idea, for many reasons.

First of all... you can't trust that he's never gonna use PEDs again and if he did, he wouldn't get to choose his punishment. He's used them before, so it probably wouldn't be a big deal to him to do it again. You don't want a player who you can't trust and you certainly don't want him around young players who look to the veterans to lead the way and teach them how to be big leaguers. I can imagine that a lot of teams with a young roster used this case as an example of how not to handle yourself at the major league level. The other thing is that when a player does get caught doing something, it makes you go over every year of his career again and wonder if he was using during any of those years too and it makes you wonder once he's served his punishment whether anything he does from that point on is going to be done cleanly. It taints their whole record before and after they get caught.

The Brewers weren't going anywhere even with Braun, but what if they had been? With the type of roster the M's have now and the type of roster they're going to have for a while as more minor leaguers get the call, you don't want the best player and one of the highest paid players on the team busted for PEDs, leaving those young guys high and dry in the process.

The biggest thing to come out of this whole thing with Braun is that he basically pulled a Lance Armstrong move. In other words... he not only did PEDs (Lance was busted for blood doping, not PEDs necessarily, but the comparison still works), but he lied through his teeth when he got caught and then tried to shame anyone and everyone for daring to believe that he had used them. Hell... he even had Aaron Rodgers of the Packers fooled to the point that Rodgers also went after anyone who dared suggest that Braun wasn't clean. To use the Lance Armstrong analogy again... he had everyone from reporters to his foundation members convinced enough that he was telling the truth that they defended him in public too and the ones that didn't defend him or even questioned whether he was clean got thrown under the bus for their trouble.

Then, when this Bio-genesis thing came out and Braun's suspension was announced, he did what any arrogant athlete who gets caught cheating after lying about it does... he issued a non-apology apology. Athletes have used the non-apology apology so many times over the years that there's probably a standard non-apology apology form with the team and city name left blank to be filled in by the player (or, more likely, the team's PR department) before he goes to the press conference to issue it. If he had been called before Congress prior to the suspension and given testimony, he probably would have either pretended he didn't speak English like Sosa did or done the Rafael Palmeiro indignant finger wag.

What really gets me about all of these high-profile PED users is that they were great players when (we assume) they were clean and didn't need to use them to continue being great players. They were already better than most of the players in the league beforehand. That's why they got huge contracts. All they had to do to live up to those contracts was continue playing at the level they'd been playing at.

Anyway... I don't want Ryan Braun anywhere near a Mariners uniform unless he's playing for the Brewers or someone else and he has to physically be close to the players wearing the Mariners uniforms. That's as close as I ever want to see him to one. He blew it.

 

[dumbrabbit]

NO! I don't want ANY drug abusers on our team. No matter how you put it. This team will NOT cheat. Plain and Simple. I want them to win games the hard way, but the right way. Never ever ever ever would I want Ryan Braun on our team. Nor A-Rod. Both of them can go to hell and fuck up.

I give Jesus Montero a pass becausehe continues to deny being a part of the Biogenesis scandal.

 

[geneh_33]

A-Rod is 37.

Ryan Braun is 29.

If we received the same sort of production from Ryan Braun from 29-36 as A-Rod gave the Yankees it would be a hell of a deal. From ages 29-36 A-Rod hit 266 HRs 854 RBIs .293 BA and a .389 OBP. He averaged 33 HRs a season.

Yeah I'm sure.



He's a douchebag because he used PEDs? Or do you have an actual reason for calling him a d-bag?



He's not Terrell Owens. Sure the spotlight would be on him but that does not mean he is a cancer.

Maybe I'm not as up on Ryan Braun's character as the rest of you but I don't see a correlation between using PEDs and being a douchebag.

Well, he lied through this teeth about it and all but swore publicly he had never done it. Nah, we don't want anybody like that in Atlanta. You guys can keep him.

 

[octagondd]

I, personally, would say no to him, not because he did PEDs, but because he keeps denying it and won't come clean. No integrity or respect for his fellow players or fans.

The Billy Beane's of the world make a living off of guys like this though, so I understand the thought process.