If Ryan Braun’s 50-game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance is upheld, there should be a re-vote for NL MVP. And he should change his name to Ryan Brawn. Or maybe even Ryan Fraud.
The dirty little world of PEDs got a lot dirtier over the weekend with news that Braun tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and faces a 50-game suspension by MLB if the initial finding is upheld.
If this is all “B.S.’’ as USA Today reported Braun as saying of the initial test and result and Braun is cleared of any wrongdoing, he gets to keep his NL MVP and we can all consider it all a lesson in the new world that is Major League Baseball.
I do not feel sorry for the players, because this is the world they created by going over the top with PEDs during the Steroid Era. If players wanted to stop this early, they had the chance but there was too much money, too many records and quite a few MVPs at stake.
Barry Bonds was the NL MVP four straight years from 2001 to 2004, so it’s not like the Baseball Writers’ Association of America hasn’t already given the award to a cheater. Ken Caminiti got the ball rolling in 1996 when he won the NL MVP award.
If Braun’s excuse is B.S., then let the Milwaukee outfielder suffer the consequences of the choices he made.
Talking to a number of baseball people yesterday, they expressed shock at this result because Braun has been nothing but a model citizen. That’s how he was referred to by Brewers owner Mark Attanasio in a statement Saturday night.
Braun made no mention of the little problem when he was accepting all the accolades for winning his MVP. Braun is in the process of appealing the result that he tested positive for a banned substance.
ESPN, in first reporting the story on Saturday, said Braun tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, noting also that the World Anti-Doping Agency lab in Montreal determined the testosterone was synthetic.
I would imagine you don’t get to elevated levels of synthetic testosterone in your body unless you decide to put that stuff in your body. It’s not like you mistakenly drank someone else’s synthetic testosterone milkshake.
If Braun did cheat and is suspended, his MVP award and numbers for 2011 are synthetic. Also, if that’s the case, the BBWAA should hold a re-vote. I felt Matt Kemp was the NL MVP anyway. I did not have a vote for the NL MVP. If you have any problems with the NL Rookie of the Year Award, you can look me up. That was the category I voted on.
The way it works, BBWAA members who vote in the different award categories have to have their votes in by the end of the regular season. Perhaps in the future, votes should be tabulated after the MLB “testing season’’ is complete. That seems to be the way all this is going.
Jack O’Connell, the secretary-treasurer of the BBWAA, said in an email to The Post last night, “I am not against discussion on the topic, but I do not think we should have a rush to judgment. According to reports, the test on Braun was during the playoffs, after the MVP ballots were already submitted. I guess the question is: Do we want the option of conducting another election if it turns out that a candidate tested positive? And, remember, it could be any candidate, not just the winner, because we vote 1-to-10, so the points system could be affected by any one player.’’
Why do players take PEDs with the risk of being caught? That’s simple. They work. They make you a much better ballplayer.
Maybe even the MVP.