Would you hire Michael Vick as a dog sitter? No, because he went to jail for hosting dog fights. Would you let MC Hammer handle your finances? No, because he quickly found fame and found bankruptcy even quicker. These are easy decisions.
The common thread is society has a hard time forgiving people for their colossal mistakes, struggling to respect them after it’s all over. The same thing is happening to Ryan Braun, and it’s a travesty.
Braun’s urine PED-positive sample from last December was eventually proved invalid, and he therefore avoided a 50-game suspension to begin the 2012 season. Brewers fans and the front office were finally able to breathe. While his stats have him in the running for NL Most Valuable Player, the faulty sample has him running into trouble.
The 2011 NL MVP is as deserving as any other candidate, yet the odds are against him, based not on what Braun has done in the MVP hunt, but rather on who gets to decide the award.
A privileged few from the Baseball Writers Association of America are given MVP votes each year, and while they will speak loudest when the choice is made, there is a common perception Braun cannot win this year’s award.
His MVP chances are extremely limited simply because a test linked to his name included the phrase “performance-enhancing drugs.” It is easy to understand, but it isn’t right. Ryan Braun should trump the competition of Buster Posey and Andrew McCutchen to win his second-straight MVP award.
I would like to start by dissecting the acronym MVP. What makes any particular player the most valuable of all the players in the league? For me, traits of consistency, demand and magnitude – when combined with statistics – constitute the overall value of a player.
The fact the Brewers have a pulse is one reason for Braun’s candidacy, because they probably shouldn’t have one. Let’s flash back to July 29, when Milwaukee traded away its ace pitcher, Zack Greinke.
Sitting at 11 games under .500 and 12 games out of the wild card race, the Brewers had finally seemed to give up on the 2012 season, siphoning what they could in prospects by dealing Greinke, Braun’s biggest aid in carrying Milwaukee.
How did Braun answer to the call? By hitting .315 throughout August and September, tallying 12 home runs and 34 RBIs in just 45 games. The Brewers are now five games over .500 and just two and a half games out of the final playoff spot.
Posey passes this test as well, as the Giants have 15 more wins than losses over that stretch. McCutchen is the exact opposite, however, as his Pirates have faded, going 16-31 since.
But Braun hasn’t just been great since Greinke’s departure – he has been great all season. An easy way of measuring Braun’s consistency is looking at his best and worst months of the year. Braun’s best was probably August, batting .312 with eight home runs and 22 RBIs. His worst came in April, when his .294 average, seven home runs and 17 RBIs seemed, at the time, rather paltry. Fancy that.
Braun’s biggest competitors have flopped at different points this season, Posey in May (.253) and McCutchen in August (.252). For a season that stretches 162 games, the Most Valuable Player should be inherently valuable through the entire season.
Braun has done just that, and with minimal help from teammates, proving his enormous demand. Everything Ryan Braun does, his team needs every ounce of it.
When you visit the Brewers’ statistics page on ESPN.com, five pictures displaying Braun’s smile blanket the page, showing he is the team leader in nearly every statistic. How’s that for valuable?
Posey has been magnificent, but the demand for his greatness hasn’t been as large. His now-suspended teammate Melky Cabrera is going to win the NL batting title. Braun’s best helper on the Brewers is batting just .294.
With likely the worst bullpen in the league (NL-leading 27 blown saves), the Brewers have desperately needed every one of his league-leading 40 home runs. He also leads the league with 105 RBIs as well as total bases and extra-base hits.
After losing Prince Fielder to free agency, Braun was the only sure thing returning to the Brewers lineup in 2012. The cleanup spot was left rather bare, forcing Braun to repeat his 2011 magic and then some.
He has done exactly that, matching most of his statistics from a year ago. Only now he will finish with more home runs and even more RBIs. Did I mention he also steals bases?
The magnitude of Ryan Braun doesn’t just cover the balls that soar into the stands. With just a pair of steals in his final 15 games, Braun will reach the 30 home runs-30 steals mark for the second consecutive season. Only Alfonso Soriano has completed that feat in the past decade.
So what if Braun doesn’t have as many hits as McCutchen or as many doubles as Posey? Put those hits into context and a different story arises, one in which Braun appears more and more valuable to Milwaukee.
With two outs and runners in scoring position, possibly the moment a player can prove most valuable, Braun is hitting .286 – 51 points higher than Posey (.235) and 13 higher than McCutchen (.273). He has delivered 16 hits in situations where he was needed most. That’s value.
The final 15 games of the season will have a large impact on his MVP chances, but his defective sample of 11 months ago should not.
In the end, the MVP race should be left in the hands of the thoroughbreds that have been running this whole time. Someone is sure to go home unhappy, it just shouldn’t be Ryan Braun.
Sean is a junior majoring in journalism and communication arts. Should Braun’s test keep him out of the MVP race? Let him know at [email protected].
