My five thoughts on this matter are as follows.
1) In law, truth is an absolute to speaking bad about someone (slander).......while baseball is not law, this concept applies in this situation
The main comments he made about starting pitching were
"No matter who is in there, we have to find a way to throw the ball better for us to have success,"
and
"I think when you're constantly behind in games, it's not easy and it's not fun."
While the Brewers starting rotation is short-handed, (they have had to go to the bullpen (McClung) and AAA (Burns) to fill in their starting rotation, these pitchers still have the responsibility to NOT give up 7 runs in 4 or innings or less. Also, even if the comments weren't tactful or hurt some feelings, Braun's just calling them like he sees them.
2) If nothing else, it shows he wants to win.
This isn't a TO/Favre type situation where he wants to hold a team hostage because he has nothing better to do. He was frustrated that the Brewers struggled in a key series, spoke honestly and straight to the point about what was on his mind.....he just happened to make these comments to the media.
To my main point, the fact that he's addressing his frustrations shows that he cares and that he's willing to say things people don't like.....if he thinks it will motivate the Brewers to win some more games.....which brings me to my next point
3) The other times this has happened the Brewers started playing better.
This isn't the first time Braun has vented his frustration about the team after a bad series. This isn't the second time. The current count is at 3. Honestly, i'm glad he did this. Why? Because the last couple of times the Brewers started playing much better in the immediate aftermath.
Last year, he vented his frustration after a bad series in Boston. At the time the Brewers had fallen to 20-24 and last place. Afterwards, the Brewers well enough to get into contention which led to getting CC Sabathia which led to making the playoffs.
In April, he made some comments after a bad weekend series. Within a month and a half they played well enough to stay in first place for a month...With the way the Brewers have played in the last month, it was a matter of when and not if that Braun would vent his frustrations.
4) This might have been the start of an event chain that lands Roy Halladay (maybe....hopefully.....please)
So i'm not sure how far along Doug Melvin was in the process of acquiring a much needed starting pitcher before Sunday, but rumors have seemed to speed up since (due to unrelated events...but it's still happening). The timing has coincided with the Blue Jays telling teams that ace pitcher Roy Halladay can be had at the right price.
Whether or not the Brewers get him it's too early to tell, if nothing else i'm glad they're amongst the teams that have expressed an interest to acquire him. They're not necessarily the front-runners but at least Melvin is doing what he can. It may not look likely (but then again I never would of thought the Brewers would have ever been able to pull off a CC Sabathia caliber trade.)
5) This makes me glad the Brewers have a strong bullpen
If not for their bullpen, the starting pitching the Brewers would be more than 2 games out of first. Obviously, having Trevor Hoffman at 6/10 the price of a washed out Gagne. However, he is not the only Brewers reliever having a strong year as the Brewers have gotten strong efforts out of pitchers such as Todd Coffey, Mark DiFelice and Mitch Stetter.
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