12:42pm: The Brewers have indeed placed Braun on the DL and activated Guerra, per a club announcement.
May 26, 8:30am: Braun will head back to the DL with the same calf issue from which he just returned, the outfielder tells Haudricourt. “I knew, obviously, when I came back I wasn’t at 100% but I was hoping it was good enough,” said Braun. “I was optimistic I’d be able to work through it.”
Haudricourt writes that given the recurrence of the original injury, Braun is likely facing a DL stint that’ll be lengthier than the 10-day minimum. However, there has not yet been any indication of an exact timeline on his recovery. As Haudricourt point out, the Brewers can simply swap out Braun for right-hander Junior Guerra, who is expected to be activated from a calf injury of his own. Of course, that could be a short-term move, as flipping Guerra and Braun would leave manager Craig Counsell a bit short-handed in terms of position players.
[Related: Updated Milwuakee Brewers depth chart]
May 25: The Brewers will place outfielder Ryan Braun on the 10-day DL, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter links). The veteran left tonight’s action with left calf tightness.
Braun, 33, has been his typical self at the plate thus far, carrying a .265/.353/.529 batting line with seven long balls through 116 plate appearances. He has helped the Brewers to a surprisingly solid start, though the team still faces a big challenge to stay in contention all year long.
Clearly, his absence will tell. Though there’s no reason at present to think it’ll be an extended one, there is added concern here given that Braun was only just activated. Milwaukee will surely hope to allow him to recovery fully before bringing him back. Whether the injury could have any bearing on Braun’s potential summer trade candidacy isn’t apparent at this time.
There’s no word yet on a replacement, but it’ll be interesting to see whether Milwaukee gives the nod to top prospect Lewis Brinson. The exciting center fielder has compiled a .308/.396/.483 batting line over his 144 trips to the plate at Triple-A this year. Though he has fallen off a bit of late, it’s notable that Brinson has already managed 16 walks to go with thirty strikeouts — after drawing just 21 free passes (against 87 strikeouts) in 434 plate appearances in 2016.
jay13
Of course… I’m still salty the brewers kept braun over Prince Fielder(WHO knows what happens with his neck). I understood it from the business stand but Fielder was more valuable IMO.
metseventually
I don’t know about that…a 30/30 guy over someone who hits home runs?
fisher40
The Brewers had no choice but too let fielder go at that time. He was asking for way, way too much money and when Scott Boras is an agent your dealing with.. it was a no win situation for the Brewers. No reason to feel salty when you don’t know all the facts
jay13
I do know the facts. I was saying I personally felt Prince Fielder was more valuable. He was a far more popular player in milwaukee. He was everywhere and was really good for kids of Milwaukee. Great community player unlike Braun.
I also think losing Prince hurt Rickie Weeks a lot too. All brewer fans know how frustrating it was to see Rickie fall of the face of the earth.
I knew Scott Boras was going to go huge with Prince. I understand the small markets can’t put so much capital in one player. I understand Prince was a bigger human being and would fit better in the AL. I know all the negatives. Its just I personally wanted Prince more then Braun. Not taking anything away from Braun at all. Production is there but Prince wasn’t a slouch. Just never got the right vibe off Braun.
Lance
signing Braun or Fielder shows the danger of signing players to long term contracts.
HalElliott
Amazing how these steroid users (former?) keep getting hurt.
davbee
You mean like Nelson Cruz (36 years old, 155 and 152 games played the past two years) and Melky Cabrerra (32 years old, 158 and 151 games played the last two seasons).
XabiaI
This.
ARKScout
I don’t know what I’m missing here…but if a player is injured…and a drug, even a steroid type drug will cure what is ailing him….Isn’t that just an advance in medicine?? I mean…shouldn’t mlb at least consider legalizing certain steroids as long as they are being administered under a doctor’s supervision for a specific ailment and not being used purely as a performance enhancer. I mean…I guess technically bringing a player from an injury to health is technically enhancing their performance, but why should something that heals the human body be outlawed. I just think it’s something to consider.
gocincy
Scientifically, are you suggesting that steroids could help Braun’s calf muscle tightness? I do not believe there is evidence to support that notion.
If your point is more general, then I’d argue MLB allows for therapeutic uses of banned drugs. Players request and receive medical therapy use exemptions all the time. It’s admittedly a grey area.
37santobanks
Just rub some steroids and lies on it. It’ll be fine in no time.
BlackBeltJones
Seems as though he should have never been activated in the first place. Perhaps a result of the Brewers being in first place at the time? I know ball players are never 100% once the season starts, but “hoping it was good enough” sounds to me like a rushed decision to me.
daveineg
Swapping Guerra for Braun simply puts them back at 13 pitchers where they’ve been most of the year. They were likely to have just DFA’d Franklin to make room for Guerra. Now he gets a reprieve. Meanwhile they’ll use Perez, Thames, and even Sogard in LF. I don’t sense they’ll see this as time to take a look at Brinson. They’ll have to DFA Franklin first.
vinscully16
Zero respect for Braun. None. Shameful how he attempted to destroy the reputation of the supposedly crooked delivery driver in order for Braun to save face. Braun should have that same delivery service run his MVP trophy over to Matt Kemp’s house.
jayfaraday23
Butt hurt dodgers fan here
socalblake
Kemp was juicing too, but no one wants to admit it. He basically said it when he boasted of a 50/50 year.
davidcoonce74
I don’t recall a Matt Kemp PED suspension.
davbee
The delivery driver destroyed his own reputation by being incompetent and not doing his job properly.
socalblake
Whether or not the delivery man did his job properly has nothing to do with Braun lying directly to the public to save face.
davbee
No, it has to do with delivery driver being incompetent at his job.
socalblake
The Dude, “okay, well…that’s your opinion, man.”
tuna411
You are in denial. Try going back and reading about the process the driver followed. It was EXACTLY what WADA has transportation do in that situation.
The FACT is, braun tried to make it like the driver screwed him. HA. The driver making $30,000 a year vs the ball player making $30,000 a game.
braun is a piece of chit. About as chitty human being as there is out there.
raef715
ever since i had a calf strain, i pay a little extra attention everytime a major leaguer has one, and it seems like 90% of the time something similar happens; the guy thinks it is going to be a short amount of time because you don’t feel it too much when you’re just walking around, but if you don’t give it the proper time to heal, you absolutely are going to strain it again and be out alot longer than you originally thought.
there is no point in trying to come back before you are 100%, and team trainers should know better.