Here’s what I wrote for Ryan Braun back in December when I wrote my top 10 for 2012 fantasy baseball: 1. Ryan Braun – Would I be happy to take Pujols third? Oh, hecksfire. I’ll bludgeon snitches for Pujols third. Still doesn’t mean Pujols is first. I’m not ranking Braun number one to be different than every Tom, Dick and Berry. Braun’s gonna be 28 and he’s headed for a Hall of Fame career. Pujols is a Latin 32. The 1st base eligibility is nice, but outfield isn’t exactly stacked in 5 outfielder leagues. I don’t think we’re going to get another season of 33 steals, but he steals 15 bases like a fat kid likes cake. He gets little bumps and bruises, but he also hasn’t played in less than 150 games in his career (excluding his rookie year). His average last year was on the high side, but he’s still a career .312 hitter. Are you paying for an MVP year by taking him first? Maybe, but his off year is better than 99% of players and he’s consistent. Give me consistent and let me gamble later in the draft. That’s not Rudy Gamble. 2012 Projections: 105/35/110/.310/15
That’s right. I had written that before the suspension. Then the drug test came and I put it away in my big virtual drawer of posts I’ll never use right next to my Elijah Dukes Fantasy Sleeper After Winning Humanitarian of the Year Award post. It was done. He was busted. No one comes back from that– Well, you know the story. Do I think it’s risky to take Braun first overall now? Nope. In fact, after all this mishegoss (The Hebrew Hammer will like me using that), I see Braun about to prove some snitches a thing or two about snitching. My rankings are being updated as we speak. As they said in the 90’s, Braun’s found serenity now:
