Your morning Ryan Braun roundup

If, like a lot of people, you read HBT at work for the most part, you missed out on Ryan Braun insanity last night. Here’s a roundup of it:

Braun’s appeal prevails, his suspension overturned;
Why? Because of a chain of custody issue.
Fine, that’s what the arbitrator said. But … wait, was it really a chain of custody issue?
Whatever the case, should we still think less of Braun because he won on a “technicality?”

Finally, I went on NBC SportsTalk last night, about a half hour after it all went down, to talk to Russ about it all. Check it out here:

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I’m sure we’ll have more on it today. Maybe even some baseball too!

Free agent first baseman Matt Adams has signed a one-year, $3 million pact with the Nationals, the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports. The contract comes with a $1 million buyout on a 2020 option, bringing the total value to $4 million. Official confirmation is still pending completion of a physical.

The 30-year-old infielder will return to familiar turf in Washington after spending the first half of the 2018 season there. He was dealt to the Cardinals in late August for cash considerations and finished the season batting a collective .239/.309/.477 with a career-high 21 home runs, .786 OPS and 0.8 fWAR through 337 plate appearances for the two National League clubs.

Despite his impressive display of power, Adams experienced a significant decline at the plate over the second half of the season, batting well under the Mendoza Line as the Cardinals pushed for a postseason berth against the division-winning Brewers and Wild Card-contending Cubs. Still, he saw enough early success in Washington to merit a second look and should provide a sturdy backup to Ryan Zimmerman at first base in 2019.