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Olney really lets Braun have it ....
 Marc Serota/Getty ImagesRyan Braun will sit out the rest of the season, but the hard feelings won't end there.There was a moment recently when the shift in the attitude of Major League Baseball players toward PED cheaters blossomed fully, when the last stages of evolution came into view.
Because the players have changed on this issue from the time the first gossip of steroid use in baseball began, in the 1980s, moving from ignorance to ambivalence to acceptance to frustration to resentment to the current DEFCON 1 anger.
A pitcher drilled a hitter in a game this season, and when the inning was over and he returned to the dugout, the pitcher explained to his teammates that he had plunked the guy because he’s a juicer -- a cheater, a PED user. And the teammates who heard him understood.
The names of the players involved are irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. What is significant is what an incident like this now signifies: PED cheaters have become pariahs, and increasingly regarded as thieves among the brethren, because they are stealing jobs and money that rightfully belong to others. A PED cheater is now viewed by the MLBPA something like the college kid who pilfers stuff from the rooms of others in his dormitory.
For Bud Selig and Major League Baseball, the bust of Ryan Braun is an extraordinary moment when they can rightfully claim the high ground. Over the last decade, they have increasingly worked to do the right thing in their fight against performance-enhancing drugs.
But all along -- back to the first evidence of steroid use -- it is the players’ union that has wielded the ultimate power on this issue, because no drug testing nor changes to the agreement could have happened without its assent. For years, the silent majority was more likely to complain individually and privately to sports writers about the rise of steroids than to stand up and say something in a union meeting, but now they are loud and angry, and they’ll drill a guy with a fastball if that’s what it takes.
This is why Braun will never regain his reputation with other players. He lied to them, and he cheated them -- and incredibly, he kept lying and kept cheating even after getting caught, with the positive test in the fall of 2011.
He would probably still be lying and cheating if he wasn’t caught a second time, through the persistence of drug-fighting machinery developed by the players and MLB. Braun’s statement was nothing short of appalling, fully qualified, structured in such a way that he never really took any responsibility. It was a statement designed to protect his money, rather than to convey remorse:
"As I have acknowledged in the past, I am not perfect. I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions. This situation has taken a toll on me and my entire family, and it ... has been a distraction to my teammates and the Brewers organization.
"I am very grateful for the support I have received from players, ownership and the fans in Milwaukee and around the country. Finally, I wish to apologize to anyone I may have disappointed -- all of the baseball fans especially those in Milwaukee, the great Brewers organization, and my teammates. I am glad to have this matter behind me once and for all, and I cannot wait to get back to the game I love."
Consider the sheer brazenness of these sentences, one by one:
As I have acknowledged in the past, I am not perfect.
No, that’s not really what he meant. He said flatly he was innocent, to indicate that he was perfectly innocent. He referred to his own integrity. He played the victim in the past.
I realize now that I have made some mistakes.
Just now? You mean almost two years after the positive tests, after sliming collector Dino Laurenzi Jr. in that victory-dance news conference after the successful appeal in February 2012? After saying time and again that he was ready to cooperate in any investigation?
I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions.
How magnanimous. Glad he could work it into his schedule.
This situation has taken a toll on me and my entire family, and it ... has been a distraction to my teammates and the Brewers organization.
Who’s responsible for that? Is this sentence meant to make anybody feel sorry for him, when he created all of the mess?
I am very grateful for the support I have received from players, ownership and the fans in Milwaukee and around the country.
Sure, support that was built on Braun’s lies.
Finally, I wish to apologize to anyone I may have disappointed -- all of the baseball fans especially those in Milwaukee, the great Brewers organization, and my teammates.
Wait, what? ”May have disappointed”? Really? Like there’s some question about that. And there’s no specific mention of the collector or anybody else -- sponsors, etc. -- a trapdoor presumably built by his lawyers.
I am glad to have this matter behind me once and for all, and I cannot wait to get back to the game I love.
If Braun actually thinks he can put this behind him fully, well, he can forget it; it’s a permanent part of his résumé. He is the first former MVP ever suspended by Major League Baseball for PED use.
And without a serious apology and sincere contrition, he’s got zero shot of restoring any semblance of a respectable reputation with other players. The lawyer-washed, sanitized statements will not play, because he’s making it clear that the most important thing to him is protecting his money.
Many of the other players have been rooting for him to go down, and to go down hard. He may be allowed into the union meetings, he may get union benefits, he may even carry a union card. But most of them will never again regard him as one of them.
Notables
• Braun left the ballpark without speaking to the media, as Tom Haudricourt writes, an approach very different from the day when he won his appeal. At that time, he could have accepted the arbitrator’s decision with minimal comment and moved, but instead, Braun chose to come out with the full indignation of a man who had been wrongly accused.
• Jonathan Lucroy is among those who feels deceived, writes Adam McCalvy. Here’s the AP story with reaction from players. From the piece:
Jason Bay watched it on television, just like everyone else.
"I think for me what makes me mad," the Seattle outfielder said, "basically it just kills all the credibility of anybody."
Reaction poured in after Major League Baseball banned Braun without pay for the rest of the season and the postseason, the beginning of sanctions involving players reportedly tied to a Florida clinic accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs.
Plenty of it was pretty harsh.
"I think everybody's frustrated, especially the players. I think we all feel a little bit cheated," Mariners pitcher Joe Saunders said.
Schumaker thinks Braun should hand over his MVP award to Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp, who finished second in the 2011 balloting.
"In my opinion, he should be suspended -- lifetime ban. One strike, you're out. It's enough. It's ridiculous," Schumaker said. "He lied to a lot of people. I was convinced, after that MVP, that he didn't do it."
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