Is Ryan Braun turning into a primadonna?

[BrewerSuperCollector]

While I didn't think the comments you cited were that far out of line, this is not the first time Braun has made some fairly asinine comments. Early in the season, Jeff Karstens hit Braun with a pitch that was clearly not intentional...just a breaking ball that got away from him if I recall correctly. After the game Braun went on a lengthy tirade about how that 'kid' was throwing at him, and I believe put blame on his pitchers for not retaliating. It certainly seemed like a huuuuge overreaction for something that didn't appear intentional to anyone except for Ryan. I found it comical that Braun would call Karstens a kid, considering Kastens is actually a year or two older.

As a Brewers fan I want to like him, but I just can't.

I was at the game mentioned and Braun was so upset he let it get to his head. He was going to steal 2nd....everyone in the stadium knew what he wanted to do. So did Karstens, he picked off Braun.

Braun gets upset every time he gets a walk or gets hit by a pitch. I wish he would just walk to first and not show his anger.

I don't have any doubt that 2 years from now Braun will be whining on how underpaid he is. I can see it now.

 

[jrinne]

I would say that Braun is the captain of the team and in my opinion he said nothing wrong. Melvin messed up by not going for a big pitcher during the off season so if anyone is to blame for the Brewers problems its him.

 

[HoustonTeams4Me]

While I didn't think the comments you cited were that far out of line, this is not the first time Braun has made some fairly asinine comments. Early in the season, Jeff Karstens hit Braun with a pitch that was clearly not intentional...just a breaking ball that got away from him if I recall correctly. After the game Braun went on a lengthy tirade about how that 'kid' was throwing at him, and I believe put blame on his pitchers for not retaliating. It certainly seemed like a huuuuge overreaction for something that didn't appear intentional to anyone except for Ryan. I found it comical that Braun would call Karstens a kid, considering Kastens is actually a year or two older.

As a Brewers fan I want to like him, but I just can't.

I was at the game mentioned and Braun was so upset he let it get to his head. He was going to steal 2nd....everyone in the stadium knew what he wanted to do. So did Karstens, he picked off Braun.

Braun gets upset every time he gets a walk or gets hit by a pitch. I wish he would just walk to first and not show his anger.

I don't have any doubt that 2 years from now Braun will be whining on how underpaid he is. I can see it now.

And there you have it! :lol: I told myself that I wouldn't comment as I'm not trying to get into the verbal quarrel that this has turned into, but upon reading "Brewers"SuperCollector's response admitting Braun's arrogance I figured that an unbiased view had just been made & it is now safe to post without catching a stray shot to the head! :lol:
As for Pence, I do not think I've EVER seen a player hustle as hard as he does while at the same time enjoying/loving/& respecting the game! As posted before by trevor, I in no way think Pence has the pure talent that Braun does but I'm not ruling out that Pence can't outperform Braun with pure grit & hustle (depending on what path Braun ends up going down in the near future....the pity-party/poor-me/"I should be paid more" route, or the "We above I"/team player/ give it all to win road that he seemed to be on when he started his career in the big's)...If Braun goes down the latter path then I could definitely see him being one of the elite for year's to come, but if he gets his head wrapped up in what the team owe's him; he'll be a waste of talent!

 

[hive17]

'm not sure why people think Braun will go down the path of "gimme me my damn money!" He had the opportunity to play those games and be a ****** after 3/4 of a good year and a playoff-producing grand slam. But he went against the wishes of the MLBPA (I assume) and signed a longer contract for what some thought was less than he could have got. I hear everyone slob the knob of Longo for this, but Braun doesn't get credit for this?

If anything, Prince is the prima donna on the team. Everyone knows it. Plus, it'a a team of younger guys at the core. They have known collective success at all the previous levels of pro ball. When you "grow up" professionally in an environment of winning, you tend to be a little cocky. It's when you can't let it go and understand the team concept (like, say, again, Soriano) that you should be considered a dick.

Braun has a cocky intensity, no doubt about it. The whole team sort of does (although, they are getting taken down a notch recently); but to call him out for it and say he plays the game disrespectfully is just wrong. He rubs you the wrong way, fine, just say that. But don't make up vague notions that he is some sort of bad person. If that's cool to do, I'm gonna go post a rant about how much I hate Carlos Zambrano :twisted:

 

[BrewerSuperCollector]

I think what I'm trying to say is ...If you look at most of the elite hitters of all time they take their walks. They don't get upset about it...they walk to first knowing that eventually they will get good pitches to hit. They don't swing at many bad pitches.

I don't understand why more pitchers don't bust him in on the hands. If your going to hit him, hit him on the hands and the wrists.

I truly want to like him. He signed that contract because the Brewers only had to pay him 400,000 or so this year and not much more the next couple of years.

 

[Lars]

If Prince Fielder made the exact same comment word for word, he'd be the one strung up in media and among fans.

Braun was annointed the face of the organization and he is going to have the freedom to talk his mouth off with most fans either agreeing with him or looking the other way.

 

[Tom Oates]

Did anyone catch the David Wright quote on ESPN this morning? He said many of the exact same things that Braun did. The only thing he didn't do is call out management to bring in some more talent.

You can make a case that they are equally qualified to express their opinion. Similar age, similar batting average, edge to Braun in HR average, edge to Wright in tenure, edge to wright for playing a more skilled position. In either case, we have relatively young players with a lot of emotion and passion for the game. They want to win. I do agree that Braun needs to mature and stop acting like a spoiled brat... and I like Braun. No one is going to "give" you respect. You have to earn it. IMO, Wright is earning respect, Braun is losing respect by wearng his emotions on his sleeve.