Milwaukee Brewers: Tiny Violins – Poor Ryan Braun Wants Hourly Wage
Ryan Braun’s favorite Spring Training at-bats are first-pitch double plays to get the games over with as quickly as possible, as he is not being “paid by the hour.” While the comment is not garnering any sympathy for poor Mr. Braun, does he have a point that Spring Training is too long?
Break out the world’s smallest violin for Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun. Anything more than a one-pitch at-bat in Spring Training is cause to complain. In a “I’m serious” comment to Adam McCalvy, the Brewers beat writer for MLB.com, Braun whined about how long Spring Training is:
“My favorite spring training at-bat is a first-pitch line out to center. Or even better, a first-pitch, line drive double play. Because we’re all in the business of saving time. We don’t get paid by the hour. I’m serious. I’m not kidding.”
Granted, Spring Training is a relic from another time. It was a chance to bring the players from your team together to get in shape ahead of the season and work off the rust that built up doing their “winter jobs” like selling suits or insurance. With the salaries today’s major leaguers receive, the expectations are that winters are for staying in shape, re-adjusting a swing or working on new skills. Today’s major leaguers stay in shape 365 days a year and probably only need a couple of weeks to warm up and get to know their new teammates.
Where baseball differs from pre-seasons in the other professional sports is the evaluation required for six or seven minor league teams. Many minor league players need to have jobs in the winter in order to continue to put food on the table and pursue their major league dreams starting at Spring Training in Florida or Arizona. Front office personnel executives likely need more time than Spring Training allows to properly evaluate around 150–200 players fighting for minor league roster spots to comprehend the level of talent that they have throughout their farm system.
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Back to major leaguers, though: 30-35 games in Spring Training is equivalent to just over 20 percent of the MLB regular season. It is comparable to the NFL that has a preseason equivalent of 25 percent of the season, but MLB players don’t have dictionary-sized playbooks to know backwards and forwards like in the NFL. With more aerobic demands than MLB, the NBA and NHL have pre-seasons equivalent in length to around 10 percent of their regular seasons. So does Ryan Braun have a point that Spring Training is too long?
Absolutely. Is he the right veteran to bring this extremely important issue to the realm of public consciousness? Absolutely not. Many people who do get paid by the hour would switch spots in a second with Braun to make $20 million a season to play baseball and spend six weeks in a warm climate leisurely getting up to speed. They would probably walk from wherever they live in the world to Matt Kemp‘s house and hand him the 2011 NL MVP award to make that switch happen.
Next: Scouting Report on Pirates' Austin Meadows
As soon as the Winter Meetings are over, baseball fans count down to the day pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. Teams should start camps in early February with only minor leaguers and welcome the major leaguers early in March to make sure they are available when families start arriving to sunnier climates for Spring Break. It would give minor leaguers a chance to make an impression and give major leaguers the three-week pre-season they need to be truly ready for when the games count in the standings. A good example – Ryan Braun’s first at-bats this year were March 10.