In sport today, there seems to be an understanding that competitive edge can sometimes come from performance enhancing drugs, and the edge that earned Ryan Braun six consecutive years with MVP votes was recently proven to be more than his Hebrew heritage. Braun disappointed many and infuriated MLB executives when he skirted the 2011 positive testosterone test by questioning the reputation, actions, and character of Dino Laurenzi Jr. who handled his sample. We covered all this here, but there’s been even more quotes from MLB players that are extremely disappointed in Ryan Braun.
Zack Grienke recently shared what struck him most about Braun’s suspension. From this Toronto Sun piece:
“The main thing is, yeah, he lied to us.”
“He forced us to lie for him, threw people under the bus in order to help himself out and didn’t care, blamed others for his mistakes and it’s just a lot of things you don’t expect from people.”
“Everything was so convincing. He had people to blame. He seemed like a really good guy. He was a good teammate at the time. You don’t know the guys that he was pinning it on. I’m not positive, but I think everyone 100% believed him at the time.”
“Especially the next year, he looked just as good as the year before. His numbers his whole career — Hall of Fame numbers. How could you not believe him? He was so convincing.”
“It’s just the person. Just the fact that he was willing to use anyone that got in his path. The closer you were to him, the more he would use you. It’s just disappointing that a human being could be like that.”
“The fact that even to this day he hasn’t had a real apology is really upsetting to me. I thought about it a bunch. He still hasn’t really apologized.”
-Zack Grienke
Coming from a guy who was heavily involved in the situation and an introspective guy like Grienke who has clearly spent some time thinking on what Braun’s suspension means to him, these are big words. Not to infer beyond what was said, but the fallout from Braun’s lies seem to have affected Grienke’s perception of humanity altogether.
It’s not just former teammates who have had harsh words for Braun since the suspension was announced.
“I’m glad he got caught. I think it’s absolutely despicable how he handled it,” said Scherzer, who is one of the Tigers’ representatives to the players union. He went out of his way to try to bring people down and cover up his lies.”
-Detroit Tigers Pitcher Max Scherzer
“He’s not giving up very much of his contract, because he’s making more money next year and the following years,” Laird said. “His team is not going to the postseason, so there’s nothing to lose there. I mean, what are you really teaching the guy? And he knowingly came out and said he didn’t do anything. I don’t think he should be banned from baseball, but make it hurt. Make him sit out next year for 50 games or 100 games.”
-Atlanta Braves Catcher Gerald Laird
“Watching him talk right now makes me sick. I have an autographed Braun jersey in my baseball room that I’ll be taking down. I don’t want my son identifying what I’ve worked so hard to get to and work so hard to have I don’t want him comparing Braun to me.”
-Los Angeles Dodger Infielder Skip Schumaker
One thing has become painfully obvious after reading these quotes: Players don’t like that other players are cheating. They don’t like that big money is a reward for reaching out to an anti-aging clinic, and they don’t like that they were lied to. I can’t blame them. Ryan Braun is a huge jerk.
-Sean Morash
Video of the Day: I’m the guy in the grey shirt who doesn’t quite come up with the home run ball (on the right). I’m now glad I don’t have a tainted souvenir.
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