Sunday, July 5, 2009

Braun: McClung and Burns Suck, Help Wanted

Ryan Braun, not pulling punches again.

Should the Brewers make a trade for a starting pitcher?

"I wish I got to make decisions like that," Braun said with a smile. "I wish I was in those conversations. I know he’s trying to make our ball club better. I know he recognizes the importance of making a move and making it soon.

"At the same, I think everybody has recognized there are a lot of teams still in the race. There are not too many teams willing to give guys up and if they are, the asking price is pretty high.

"That being said, it would be nice to make a move and it would be nice to do something to help us out for the time being. The sooner we do it, the better."

Why trade for a starter?

Braun said the Cubs' starting pitchers are "a lot better than ours."

"They threw the ball a lot better than our starters did," said Braun. "They certainly swung the bats better than we did as well. Clearly, they were the better team.

"It was nice to at least get one win but they clearly outplayed us and outperformed us during the series."

"Their starting pitching was clearly a lot better than ours in this series. All four guys we saw in this series are No. 1, worst-case, No. 2 type starters. They make big pitches in big situations. You’re not always going to get hits in those situations."

A decent point - when you're outplayed by the 4th place team in the division over the course of a 4-game series, you might want to consider some changes to shore up some weaknesses.

But Ryan, Dave Bush is hurt and Manny Parra's brain is broken!

"Regardless of the reasons, we’ve got to find a way to throw the ball a little bit better for us to have success. When you’re constantly behind in games, it’s not easy and not fun."

I sure hope Ryan hasn't hurt the feelings of Seth McClung or Mike Burns. That would be a shame.

15 comments:

SD said...

I just gotta say, LOL @ "Manny Parra's brain is broken!"

Anonymous said...

I love the fake compliments he paid to the Cubs. Just setting them up...

But what he said about our pitchers wasn't appropriate. That would be like Yo calling out the offense after Wednesday's 1-0 game.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Braun has a future in blogging..... Everything he said was right on though, just not sure if he should have said it to 'the media'.

Been Cobra'd said...

my last three girlfriends say I drink too much... I Like It.

garcia said...

I would have agreed with Yo, had he called out his offense... someone has to!

garcia said...

I don't like the fact that he doesn't take responsibility for the offensive woes nor does he call out Cam or Hardy or Hart... These guys are playing every day and contribute next to nothing offensively... He shouldn't be mad that a AAA pitcher got rocked or that McClung hasn't looked good starting...

I think Brauny needs to get buzzed against St. Louis so it will light a fire under him... forget the pitching... Start hitting!!

(side note) I love Prince... he and McGehee are the only guys doing anything right now!

Matt said...

I'm fine with calling out Hart or Hardy, but Cameron has been fine. I'll never understand why people don't recognize what a good player he is. Yeah, he strikes out more than I'd like. But the power he provides from the CF position is not easy to find, never mind his defense. Look at the CF in the National League and tell me how many you'd rather have over Cameron right now, even with his well-documented warts?

Matt said...

I'll answer my own question - Beltran (who is hurt), Matt Kemp (not sure what his defense is like) and Andrew McCutcheon (again, I know nothing about his defense but he's fast as hell) would probably be preferable to Cameron right now, although I don't know what Beltran's deal is for the rest of the season.

It's not a long list.

However, the list of NL RFers I'd rather have over Hart is quite lengthy.

garcia said...

When you're hitting behind Prince and Braun, you have to make contact otherwise they won't pitch to you... he started off great, but he does that every year. Cam dropped 30-40 points in June alone. I do agree that cam has been better than Hardy and Hart, but he needs to make contact. The #5 spot is hitting like .220 this year... the only spot lower is the 9 spot! I guess that's why Macha moved Cam to 6...or McGehee to 5...that's more accurate

garcia said...

When I said "they won't pitch to you," I meant they won't pitch to Braun or Prince... poor wording...

woziszeus said...

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=468504

He's the 7th rated NL CF by VORP.

Take a look at the guy's on the list. After Beltran and Kemp, I'll put Cameron up against any of those guys.

Cameron does nothing but get on base at a good clip (+.350), hit bombs, and play a spectacular CF. The guy does nothing but put up consistent numbers year in and year out, which along with his handshake repertoire makes him a valuable player on this team.

Tim said...

I like the fact that Braun isn't afraid to speak his mind. Nothing he said is false. Could he have brought up the fact that the offense scored only 3 combined runs in games 2 and 4 of the series? Sure, but that isn't what he was talking about at the time.
Still, this is the kind of thing you don't say about your teammates to reporters. Leave that shite to the front office suits.

ken said...

Never had a problem with Braun speaking out after Boston in 2008 and earlier this season.

This he shouldn't have done. No reason to call out management, a AAA pitcher, and a converted reliever.

Just play the damn game and shut the hell up.

AP said...

Only two CF's in baseball had a higher OPS than Cameron in both 2008 & 2009; Beltran & Torii Hunter, both of whom make at least 7.5 million more this year than Cameron does.

Cameron leads all MLB CF's this year in walks. He's top 3 in HR's. He was top 7 in OPS last year, and he's top 7 again this year.

Cameron was arguably the Brewer MVP for the first 8 weeks.

Cameron is easily in the best handfull of CF's in all of baseball. It's going to really suck next year if he's not here. Any problems with the offense begin and end with Hardy, Hart, & Hall.

Anonymous said...

The boss ain't happy...

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/brewers.html