One of the most interesting storylines as the Milwaukee Brewers enter the 2014 season is the return of embattled outfielder Ryan Braun, who served a 65-game suspension to close out the 2013 season for his connection to the Biogenesis clinic and use of performance enhancing drugs, but Brewers skipper Ron Roenicke said the recently-married slugger is a good guy who made a mistake.
CBS Sports reports that despite the fact that Braun served a suspension in 2013 and failed a drug test in 2011 before getting off on a technicality, Roenicke has accepted Braun back with open arms and believes he is a "good young man."
"If you are OK with people making mistakes -- which I certainly am -- you've got to look at what kind of person this guy is," Roenicke said Tuesday at the Winter Meetings in Florida via CBS Sports. "This is a good guy. Everybody knows he did some things he shouldn't have done and we move on."
Braun is set to move from left field to right field in the upcoming season.
Braun has publicly apologized for his actions and his deceit, and despite there being rumors that the Brewers may try to move Braun via trade and the fact that there is a lot of public outcry about Braun returning from fans throughout baseball, the Brewers haven't turned their back on the outfielder.
Though some players around baseball, members of the media and fans have blasted Braun, 30, for his betrayal and how his character is perceived after he was caught being involved with PEDs, Roenicke doesn't believe that Braun will have any issues with his teammates accepting him.
"I don't think it will be an issue with the players," Roenicke told CBS Sports. "But I'm wondering what will happen with the fans. I've said this many times -- you guys have heard me say it -- this is a really good young man. He made a mistake, but this is a really good young man."
Roenicke also defended Braun for not being specific about his PED use--such as when he used them, when he stopped using them and what exactly his relationship was with Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch.
"Anything he says at this point about what happened is never going to satisfy everybody," the skipper told CBS Sports. "All it's going to do is start up new controversy. It's going to come across as negative to somebody in the press. And for him to go through that stuff again, to tell you the truth, I don't think he needs to go there."
Braun married his model fiancée Larisa Fraser on Saturday in front of close friends and family in Malibu.
Braun hit .298 in 2013 through 61 games with nine homers and 38 RBIs before the 2011 Most Valuable Player was suspended.
While his manager and teammates have welcomed Braun in with open arms following his PED use, the rest of the baseball world may not be as easy on the embattled Milwaukee slugger.
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