Braun gets snubbed

Not much needs to be said here, since Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel summed it up real well here. But to give you the basic idea, we are already seeing proof that Ryan Braun is not getting the fair treatment he deserves in this year's voting.

If you watched the Tigers dig themselves into a 0-3 hole in the World Series, you may have seen the awards ceremony where the Hank Aaron Award was given to AL winner Miguel Cabrera and NL winner Buster Posey. The Hank Aaron award is supposed to be given to the best offensive player in each league.

As Haudricourt notes, Braun was clearly the best offensive performer in the National League this year. Posey only topped him in Average and On-base Percentage (where Braun was ranked 3rd), whereas Braun surpassed him in runs, hits, RBI, SB, Slugging, HR, OPS. In every one of these categories (except SB) Braun ranked one or two in the league and ahead of Posey in each of those instances, sometimes by a wide margin such as hitting 16 more HR, of which Braun ranks 1st and Posey 22nd in the league).

So how does Posey win? The only real argument is that Posey plays in a tougher hitter's park. But baseball is a game built with uneven home fields, so that argument should not be an excuse for such a wide disparity in numbers. Additionally, while Posey's power clearly increases away from home, his average/obp (the only two numbers he surpassed Braun in) were quite better at his home park than on the road. So the only areas where Posey showed to be a better hitter, may have benefited from his home park as well. AT&T has after all some interesting dimensions and forced OF to cover a lot of ground.

But lets be honest. The real reason seems to be that Braun is again getting treated as a cheat, because of a positive drug test that was overturned a year ago. In the name of fairness, voters have been most unfair to Braun. Whatever you think of Braun's offseason, bottom line is the failure of the process to maintain confidentiality has made people privy to info they should not have had. And any one of us in a legal or work situation would expect that we not get blamed when the system of judgment swings in our way, since it is supposed to be done to remove doubt. But more than that, even if you think Braun cheated in 2011, does that mean he is not deserving in 2012 to be awarded the way he should? Isn't that cheating him - and the game - just as much?

Anyone upset about Braun's 2011 being without consequences should be upset at MLB then, who failed to give him the punishment you think he deserved (instead of being upset about Braun using the appeal he did, perhaps people should be upset that the system in place allowed for that appeal). But if you think Kemp should have been MVP, or Braun should have been suspended, giving Posey the Hank Aaron award is not only a poor, but an illogical form of justice. The same goes for this year's MVP award. The only thing that would make sense would be giving Kemp last year's award (which BWAA said they would not do) since he is the only one who really has any grounds to demand an MVP to have been stolen away. Instead, this is an act of vengeance on Braun. People without all of the facts of the case are passing judgment, and more than that, are not concerned with making things right, they are concerned with snubbing Braun.

Dispense all arguments that this is fixing MLB's problem. Not only is it not that, but it is not their task to do that. What it really means is they want Braun to not win, even though he should. It really shows that these awards are nothing more than popularity contests in the end. Sure you have to have good enough numbers to be in the conversation, but it also shows that numbers matter about as much as image in this game, but not more. The All Star game starting lineups is this way for the most part, however there are methods to at least put most of the deserving players still on the roster. But think of the saying that someone is a good enough hitter to win a gold glove, because too often players are clearly not the best fielder at their position but strangely are one of the better hitters and win the gold glove.

So why don't we say that? The Hank Aaron award is said to go to "the most outstanding offensive performer in each league", but it should insert the word 'popular' in between 'outstanding' and 'offensive'. MVP should include notes that past performance, and off field issues will go into determining the winner. The same is being said now of HoF. The BWAA (who also vote on MVP) have established a track record of believing character and image, scandal and misconduct (apparently even unproved and overturned misconduct) matters more than the performance the award supposedly honors.

If voters of all forms, for all these awards and honors, were willing to vote according to the criteria, not only would Braun be the Hank Aaron Award winner, but then future generations could simply complain about Braun and the 2011 award, instead now the 2011 MVP, 2012 Hank Aaron, and as Haudricourt suggests, soon the 2012 MVP will all be debated awards and what turned from a bad moment regarding one player and one award turns into a smeared tradition of awards and honors. Regardless of one's opinion of the overturning of the 2011 positive test, and the BWAA's decision to not take away the 2011 MVP, no one should be happy when this year's awards are meant to deliver a message rather than honor the rightful winners.

Until things change, let's call a thing what it is. It wasn't an award to Posey, it was a snub to Braun.