Each Sunday evening we will review our favorite and least favorite events of the previous week, and share our perspective on how the team is doing. Please enjoy responsibly.
Cheers! (Best event/news of the week)
Ryan Braun Nominated for Roberto Clemente Award: The first time I heard about this on a recent Brewers broadcast, I thought they were joking. Given Braun’s 2013 PED suspension, the nicest thing most baseball fans outside of Milwaukee have to say about Braun is he’s not as big a douche as Alex Rodriguez. I have been a pretty consistent Braun apologist, but he would not have been my first choice. It’s said the Clemente Award winner “represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement.” I’m not sure the Brewers Community Foundation did Braun a favor by nominating him and creating the opportunity for sports fans everywhere to have a laugh at his expense.
On the other hand, if Braun is going to earn back anyone’s goodwill you’d think visible acts of charity would be one way to do it. You may question his motives, but you can’t argue with results:
Braun has made $25,000 donations to [AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin] in support of families affected by AIDS, and in 2014 gave $25,000 in partnership with Brewers Community Foundation to support Make-A-Wish’s 30th anniversary. Continuing a tradition he has upheld since 2007, Braun funded 15 scholarships in 2014 worth $1,000 apiece for students from the Greater Milwaukee area whose families face financial barriers to affording college.
In the world of political journalism, they talk about “optics” all the time, and it’s hard to disagree the optics of the Braun nomination aren’t great. Still, there’s something gutsy about the Foundation putting up Braun for the Clemente Award knowing the collective eye roll it would prompt in the baseball world. And really, if fans are going to criticize Braun for giving to charity as a way of rehabilitating his image, they are probably unhappy, unreasonable people.
The fan voting phase of the Clemente Award is now open, and you can cast your online ballot here. My guess is Braun’s chance of winning are similar to the Brewers’ odds of making the postseason. But it’s fun to think about.
Buzzkill (Worst event/news of the week)
Nashville Sounds Break Up with Brewers: After a ten-year relationship, it looks like the Sounds told the Brewers “it’s not me, it’s you.” Doug Melvin has argued he did everything he could to make it work, but the Sounds owners left him hanging:
Even amid rumors that the Sounds were poised to drop the Brewers for a partnership with the Oakland A’s, Melvin heard [Sounds leadership was happy]. He says the Brewers offered to play preseason exhibition games in Nashville, and even to invest in the club if it helped move the sides toward an extension of their PDC.
Those overtures were declined without explanation, according to Melvin. He says he asked Sounds ownership three weeks ago, “If you’re leaning toward not having us, just give us a heads up so we don’t lose out on something else.”
“There was one out there that we would have liked to have gone to, we might have been able to go to,” Melvin said, “and now we lost out on it.”
The Brewers’ AAA team will relocate to Colorado Springs, and it doesn’t appear they had much of a choice. Colorado Springs may be lovely, but reports indicate that travel to and from the facility is a hassle, the weather in the mountains is volatile, and the elevation is a pain to deal with. By all accounts, the Brewers were pretty well stiffed on this deal.
Maybe they can make it up to the players by forgoing marijuana testing for the time being.
Have One on the House (Brewers player who deserves a drink)
Gerardo Parra: In the Brewers’ final victory in St. Louis this season, Parra had a few nice moments. He hit a solo homer to put Milwaukee on the board. He made a great catch to keep his team close in the late innings. But the most precious thing he did was give a ball to a fan.
[mlbvideo id=”36314007″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]Brewers fans haven’t had much to be happy about lately, so moments like these are a welcome relief from the usual torment.
Time to Sober Up, Pal (Brewers player who made me want to drink)
Jonathan Broxton: It’s easy to hate on Mark Reynolds for forgetting how many outs there were in St. Louis on Thursday, and not starting a double play to get them out of the eighth inning. When the Brewers went on to lose in extra innings, probably about the only person in Brewer Nation not blaming Reynolds was Broxton: “I walked those two guys. I mean, that’s on me, and that’s what hurt. Those two walks, that’s what kept them going.” Considering one of those walks came with the bases loaded and tied the game, you can see Broxton’s point.
The next day against the Pirates, Broxton coughed up four runs including a three-run homer. Too bad Reynolds wasn’t able to take the fall for that one.
Back on the Wagon (Thoughts on the week ahead)
Well, it’s the final week of the season. Does it ever make sense to hope for a miracle?
(Image: Jeff Curry/USA TODAY Sports)
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