MLB Offseason Discussion Thread

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Ghetto Anthony

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I've given up on the Royals. David Glass is an asshole and doesn't care about the team. He also fired Frank White from the commentary booth. I don't want anything to do with the Royals anymore.

With that said I need a good underdog team to bandwagon now. I was thinking the Padres. Or the Mariners. What do you guys think?
 

Ghetto Anthony

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Underdog team. I don't want to jump on the bandwagon of a team with a payroll over 100 million.
 

SAL

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Plucky underdogs, bro. No playoffs the last two years, finished last season 6-17. BUY LOW
 

Ghetto Anthony

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I mean I like what the Royals are doing with the farm system, and was really looking forward to following them before they left to the bigger markets. But no Frank White commentating is a big fuck you to fans, imo. And I heard David Glass was behind it all so fuck him and fuck his team.

Tampa

You want me to bandwagon your team? You want to associate yourself with ME?
 

InYourFace

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Cespedes finally signed today surprising people getting 4 years $36 mill from Oakland.

They are probably gonna try and flip him for a butt load of prospects just like they did with Holliday.
 

Killswitch

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Tampa just extended Joe Maddon's time as manager. He's definitely one of the best in the game.

The thing with Tampa is their no underdog, but defiantly a fun team to root for. They have a solid front office with great scouts that always seem to find players who overachieve. It all starts with pitching and they keep restocking that department with great young talent.
 

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I've given up on the Royals. David Glass is an asshole and doesn't care about the team. He also fired Frank White from the commentary booth. I don't want anything to do with the Royals anymore.

With that said I need a good underdog team to bandwagon now. I was thinking the Padres. Or the Mariners. What do you guys think?

The Padres straight up. The only big bat they have in the line up is Carlos Quintin. But even he will struggle trying to go yard at Petco. Pitchers, well they really have no solid Ace in the rotation. They have a closer, but they lost their set-up man Mike Adams and now Luke Greggers is the only guy in mind for that who had his best career in 2010. Lots of young arms in the pen, but experience always win vs youth.
 

Killswitch

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Doesn't change the prettiness of the path of his career.

Ryan Braun wins appeal of positive drug test - JSOnline

Ryan Braun wins appeal

Phoenix - Milwaukee Brewers leftfielder Ryan Braun became the first major-league player to have a positive drug test overturned when he was informed Thursday that an arbitration panel ruled in his favor on appeal and decided against a 50-game suspension for the reigning National League most valuable player.

There has been no official announcement of the verdict but the Journal Sentinel has confirmed that Braun won his appeal.

Someone familiar with the decision said the appeal went Braun's way not so much on contesting the result of the test but the testing process itself, some kind of technicality. And it was arbitrator Shyam Das who decided to rule in favor on that technicality, making it a 2-1 decision by the three-man panel.


Whatever the reason, the ruling was a tremendous boost for both Braun, whose reputation was at stake, and the Brewers, already missing free agent Prince Fielder from their 2011 NL Central championship club. Instead of having to figure out a way to replace Braun for the first 50 games of the season, the team can move forward with its original plans.

Braun is expected to report to the Brewers' camp Friday on schedule, and now will not have the cloud of a suspension hanging over his head. It had become a point of noticeable nervousness and anxiety among other players and staff as well as they awaited what many feared would be a negative outcome.

Braun appealed the positive test that took place in early October, at the outset of the playoffs. His hearing before a three-man arbitration panel was held in New York on Jan. 19-20, when noted attorney David Cornwell presented his case against the test result and suspension.

The three-man panel included Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Michael Weiner, MLB vice president for labor relations Rob Manfred and independent arbitrator Shyam Das. The history of such hearings suggested Weiner would back the player and Manfred would support the testing procedure, leaving Das to cast the decisive vote.

The MLB drug policy calls for a maximum of 25 days for the panel to render its verdict but that is considered more of a guideline than a rigid deadline. Accordingly, the panel took much longer to announce its decision. Thursday marked five weeks since the appeal hearing began.

There had been speculation that the delay was because Braun already had been told he won the case and his side hadn't announced it. The commissioner's office wouldn't announce the player had won the appeal because the process is supposed to be confidential. But a source familiar with the decision said Braun was not informed until Thursday.

An MLB source familiar with the history of game’s drug testing said none of the previous 12 major leaguers who appealed a positive result were able to overturn a suspension. Thus, even though successful appeals are not announced because of confidentiality, someone familiar with the process said Braun was the first major-leaguer to win an appeal.

Originally, players were suspended for 10 days but that penalty was stiffened to 50 games in 2006, with pay forfeited.

The burden of proof rests squarely on the player in such hearings because he must prove the banned substance was not in his system by his fault or through negligence. The MLB drug policy has a “strict liability” provision in which players are not exonerated merely because they ingested a banned substance unknowingly.

Braun’s positive test reportedly included “insanely high levels” of testosterone, by far the most ever detected in a player. He requested an independent drug test a few weeks after testing positive, which was clean, but it was not authorized nor recognized as exculpatory by MLB.

After ESPN reported Braun’s positive test, he immediately proclaimed his innocence, sending this test message to the Journal Sentinel: “I am completely innocent. This is B.S.”

Braun indicated he wanted to give his side of the story but was instructed not to by his advisors. But his camp went on the offensive, citing “highly unusual circumstances surrounding this case which will support Ryan’s complete innocence and demonstrate that there was absolutely no intentional violation of the program.”

The agency that represents Braun, CAA Sports, hired noted attorney David Cornwell to present his case before the panel. Cornwell had defended other high-profile athletes in such matters as well as other legal entanglements.

Shortly after taking the case, Cornwell issued a statement saying, “Any report that Ryan ingested a performance-enhancing drug is wrong.”

Cornwell limited his comments to that and the Braun camp closely guarded its defense strategy prior to the hearing. Word leaked, however, that Cornwell would attack the test finding on several fronts, questioning the veracity of the test itself because Braun’s testosterone level was more than twice as high as any previously recorded.

A source familiar with MLB’s drug policy indicated there were only a few ways to overturn a positive test, such as proving a chain-of-custody issue, a flaw in the collection process or providing proof that the player’s team signed off on the substance. Otherwise, the “strict liability” aspect of the policy makes it extremely difficult to exonerate a player.

Apparently, Braun won his appeal by contesting something in the process itself.

Braun claimed 20 of 32 first-place votes for NL MVP after batting .332 with 33 home runs, 111 runs batted in, 109 runs scored and 33 stolen bases in 150 games. He led the league with a .597 slugging percentage.

Braun has done a lot of amazing things during his big-league career, but considering the history of the drug program and its appeals, some might consider his biggest accomplishment.
 

Ben

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Bottom line is Braun got off on a technically and there's still no explanation on why the test was full of testosterone and no apparant tampering at hand.

I'm a huge Brewers fan and Braun fan, but I'm not blind, I'd bet money that he took something knowingly and he got lucky here. In the long run there will always be a cloud of doubt over his head. Only thing he can do is come out and produce.