People will point to his incredible numbers; his .312/.371/.563 career slash line, his .402 career wOBA, his 25.2 career fWAR, and his 161 home runs, and talk of them as if they mean nothing; as if every last ounce of talent in his being is caused by some synthetic elixir of the Gods that changes ordinary people into Babe Ruth.
If Braun is found guilty, the angry mob will demand a retraction of his MVP award, claiming that he would never have won it had be not been doping. In fact, one writer has already done that.
This is not to say that Braun should not be suspended if he did something wrong; if he broke the rules, then he should pay the price. But if he’s guilty, the insistent drone of the industry will proclaim Braun to be of bad personal character and claim that his numbers are hollow and now mean nothing; they will say all of this without a shred of real evidence or authority on the subject.
Of course, the only reason we’ll even remember all of this in a few years is because Braun is an excellent baseball player; and a power-hitter to boot. We don’t remember, or selectively forget, that J.C. Romero, Guillermo Mota and Edinson Volquez have all tested positive and been suspended under the new drug testing system. We don’t remember that Astros infielder Angel Sanchez was suspended while playing in the minors. And I don’t imagine anyone much cares. Those players don’t hit home runs after all.
