ATLANTA -- Without Prince Fielder protecting Ryan Braun in the batting order, many national pundits predicted the Milwaukee Brewers star leftfielder's numbers would fall precipitously in 2012.
The general line of thinking was that pitchers would no longer give Braun much to hit, as opposed to the past when walking him with Fielder on deck could lead to a two-run homer. Braun is being "protected" this season by Aramis Ramirez, a right-handed hitter posing less of a threat to right-handed pitchers than the left-handed hitting Fielder.
Braun quickly dismissed any idea that he'll chase pitches out of the strike zone, however.
"Every year, my plate discipline has been a priority," he said. "I recognize that if my plate discipline gets better, I get better as a player. Every year, I've taken tremendous pride in it, and I think I've gotten a little bit better at it every year.
"The goal is always to swing at strikes. If I don't get strikes, I'm hoping I have the discipline not to swing at those pitches. I truly believe that our lineup is deep enough and good enough that I wouldn't pitch around me. Our Nos. 4 and 5 hitters (Ramirez and Corey Hart) are both proven, consistently productive major-league hitters. If it is any different, I have confidence with the rest of our lineup that we'll find ways to score runs."
Braun acknowledged that early in his career he wasn't selective enough at the plate. He drew only 42 walks in 663 plate appearances in 2008, finishing with a .335 on-base percentage, his lowest in the majors. He averaged 57 walks in each of the last three seasons, resulting in a .383 OBP over that span, including a career-best .397 mark during his MVP season in 2011.
"Plate discipline for me wasn't something that was inherent," he said. "It was something that was learned and I've had to work hard on. I don't think I had even heard about strikeout-to-walk ratio until at least college, maybe the minor leagues.
"The goal is not walking more or striking out less. The goal is to swing at strikes. If I do that, success is inevitable. The goal is to swing at pitches I want to swing at, not the pitches they want me to swing at.
"It's a constant battle; it's something I'm always working on. But I do feel like I've gotten better at that over time. If you don't prove that you'll swing at strikes only, what motivation do they have to throw you strikes?"
Through his first seven games, Braun strongly made his case with a .357 batting average and .406 on-base percentage. Batting behind him, Ramirez was hitting .111 with a .185 slugging percentage.
So much for protection.
Timing is everything
We'll never know if the Brewers would have been able to work out a contract extension with right-hander Zack Greinke without San Francisco's Matt Cain raising the bar considerably for pitchers of that class.
The Brewers hoped to find mutual ground with Greinke along the lines of contracts previously signed by Detroit's Justin Verlander, Boston's John Lackey, Seattle's Felix Hernandez and the Los Angeles Angels' C.J. Wilson and Jered Weaver, all of whom agreed to deals for five years at between $77 million and $85 million.
That changed when the Giants tore up Cain's 2012 contract and signed him to a six-year, $127.5 million deal. Suddenly, the market was reset from $16 million-$17 million per season to $20 million-$21 million for pitchers in the Cain/Greinke class.
And thus ended the talks between the Brewers and Greinke's new agent, Casey Close . The sides were so far apart in the parameters they sought, they agreed to break off talks.
Greinke called the prospect of reaching a deal "a long shot" to begin with, but the Cain deal made it even more so.
"Other contracts always affect players who haven't signed," said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin .
It is unlikely the Brewers will be able to stop Greinke from testing the free-agent market after the season. And, once other teams get involved, the price never comes down.
Greinke has made it clear that he likes it in Milwaukee, but the Cain deal put the Brewers in a bad spot in terms of working out a deal for a $20 million annual salary. They already are committed to seven players for a total of $52 million in 2013 and five players for $47 million (with $6 million deferred) in 2014.
Thief at work
When the Brewers faced Chicago Cubs nemesis Ryan Dempster a few days ago, the topic of tipping pitches arose. Dempster resorted to a glove "waggle" a few years back during his delivery out of fear he was tipping his pitches.
But there are many ways to tip pitches. In fact, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke was considered a master of deciphering deliveries when he coached for the Angels.
"Sometimes, it can be a facial expression (that tips a certain pitch)," said Roenicke. "Sometimes, his tongue comes out (on certain pitches). You see different things."
Roenicke said he actually developed this knack when he was a reserve player.
" I started doing that when I was sitting the bench so much in the major leagues," he said "Unfortunately, because I was sitting the bench I didn't get to use it for myself. I would help everybody else."
Plenty of good seats
If you attended any of the Brewers-Cubs games at Wrigley Field or watched on television, you no doubt noticed the many empty seats. The Cubs regularly announced attendances in the 36,000-37,000 range but the high number of no-shows was obvious.
The Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan noted that tickets were available for the Thursday afternoon matinee for $3 or less on Stubhub.com. The Cubs managed to hold onto their season-ticket base by turning over the baseball operation to Theo Epstein, but there wasn't much energy in the stands at the Friendly Confines after opening day.
"We understand what's going on," said infielder Jeff Baker. "We're not oblivious to it. It's a new gig here. You've seen the changes off the field and everyone wants to see the changes on the field.
"Sometimes, it just doesn't work that way. It's baseball. The game is hard and some days you get beat."
Still trying to fit in
Getting traded to Pittsburgh was not necessarily the best thing to happen to third baseman Casey McGehee, even if his job was taken in Milwaukee by Ramirez.
McGehee seems like a redundancy with the Pirates, also. They are committed to giving underachieving Pedro Alvarez the majority of the at-bats at third base.
McGehee also can play first base, but Pittsburgh has plenty of coverage there with power hitter Garrett Jones and rookie Matt Hague . That situation has McGehee as the odd man out currently, though he was batting .313 (5 for 16) with two doubles and a triple through his first five games.
"Of course I'd like to play every day; everyone wants to play," McGehee said. "But (manager Clint Hurdle ) says he is going to get me at-bats and I'm confident he will. The one thing you learn when you play professional baseball long enough is that it's a long season and things always seem to work themselves out."
A fan favorite
Kansas City Royals rightfielder Jeff Francoeur has bonded with Oakland fans in the stands behind him in a unique way at the Oakland Coliseum. On Thursday, he had 20 pizzas delivered to Section 149.
The connection began in an odd way two years ago when Francoeur was being razzed by Athletics fans and engaged in some friendly banter. The discussion somehow turned to bacon, so last year he tossed a baseball wrapped in a $100 bill to the fans, suggesting they buy bacon and beer.
"They're die-hards," Francoeur said. "Those are the people you feel bad for with all the stuff that's going on right now - whether they're going to move or not (to another city). Those are the fans who obviously love coming out and being a part of it."
On Tuesday, with rain delaying the game, fans presented Francoeur with a green shirt with the inscription "Second Annual Bacon Fest sponsored by Jeff Francoeur."
"I'm going to wear it, and they're getting me another one signed by the whole group," Francoeur said. "It's awesome.
"Baseball to me is fun. We can take it too seriously sometimes. It's nights like this that makes it a lot of fun to play this game. It's something more than just baseball. It's interacting with fans and having an experience you can talk about."
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