Ryan Braun - Worst Contract in Franchise History?

[JJHardy7]

Let me start of by saying Ryan Braun was by far my favorite player in my lifetime (not quite old enough to have Yount or Molitor in the discussion). I followed his stats religiously through the minors and I thought he was the special kind of player that could make the Brewers a relevant baseball team. I thought I was right for a few years and then the news of performance enhancing drugs and that saga played out.

 

Braun is now my least favorite player of my lifetime. I don't want to speculate too much, but to me this wasn't a one-time thing or isolated incident. The Brewers owe Braun $122M (counting his buyout which there is no doubt we'll do).

 

I know Suppan, Riske, Gagne, Hall, etc are mentioned as terrible contracts, but when is Braun going to be in this discussion? There is likely little chance he is going to get better as he gets older. His contract is likely untradeable (I hope the Brewers offered him up for Josh Hamilton).

 

What are bf.net's thoughts on Braun? Am I alone thinking he has crippled the franchise to a certain extent?

[SoupTown]

I am a lot like you. He was a big fav of mine. Then I was line ball (after the PEDs). I conned myself into thinking the PEDs were a one off to fix some niggles. Yet, we have now have a $20 mill year player that could be replaced by any AAAA guy. If this year continues as it has started, and next year Braun plays similarly, I would actually CUT HIM and wear the cost and make a STATEMENT. However the three bozos in charge of this franchise currently would not have the nerve to make such a move.

[DHonks]

Isn't he still an above avg OF, playing good defense, and has had about 6 flyball outs to the fence? He's basically trying to shake off two years of rust and injury woes. I've liked what I've seen.

[pacopete4]

Yep. I have seen Braun work counts and hit balls hard. I didn't see that much last year. Sure it would be a horrible contract if he never does hit but it's way too early in the season to make this judgement on him. To me it sounds more like a fan that has hurt feelings because he lied to them.

[JJHardy7]

To me it sounds more like a fan that has hurt feelings because he lied to them.

 

No doubt there is a little of that, but his production is nowhere near justifying that contract. Maybe he plays closer to prior years than last year, but I personally think he will never make another all-star game. I feel like these nagging injuries he almost always has post PEDs suspension are going to eventually create a lot of stints on the DL.

 

If he gives us the production he did pre-PEDs suspension, more power to him. I just think he's going to fall way short of living up to those extensions (he's still in the last year of the first extension).

[SRB]

Absolutely could not care less about the PEDs and him "lying" and wish people would stop endlessly droning on about it, but yes those type of mega-contracts (even a relatively reasonable mega-contract like Braun's) usually do not work out unless the player ends up being HoF caliber. Braun had HoF caliber talent for the start of his career, but through injuries and other issues it seems unlikely he will produce like that going forward, so it's going to be a bad contract.

 

I don't think it was a dumb contract at the time like, say, signing Prince Fielder for >$200M.

[danzig6767]

It's pretty amazing that 16 games in and Braun only has one extra base hit. One home run and not any doubles or triples. That's almost hard to do. Hell, bench guys Hector Gomez and Herrera have more extra base hits than Braun has.

[AZBrewCrew]

Don't flame me *too* hard on this, but I think Braun is an absolute genius. He knew what he was doing and knew he would get caught eventually. By signing that "team friendly" backloaded contract he ensured he would still get his payday long after he returned to being an average baseball player. Sure he has some glimpses of old Braun from to time, but hes not the elite player he used to be and he isnt getting younger either.

[crossface21]

These contracts that are over $100 million don't usually work out for one reason or another for the teams. For the players it always works out for because the contract is guaranteed. A team like Milwaukee needs to lock up their players for long term before they get to the point of sniffing FA otherwise there's a good chance they'll take off for more money. Part of the risk the smaller market teams need to take. There was a good chance that the Braun contract wasn't gonna work out for the Brewers for any number of reasons at some point, unfortunately that point came before the extension even kicked in. I still thought it was a good idea. And at least it was on a position player, not a pitcher. I'm not writing off Braun yet. He does look better at the plate this year than just about anytime last year. But it's understandable that people are antsy of his production because of his salary.

[JJHardy7]

Absolutely could not care less about the PEDs and him "lying" and wish people would stop endlessly droning on about it, but yes those type of mega-contracts (even a relatively reasonable mega-contract like Braun's) usually do not work out unless the player ends up being HoF caliber.

 

Why do you having lying in quotes? He very much did lie and I understand it can get old at times, but when small market team signs you to an unprecedented contract for the franchise and you act the way Braun did you aren't going to be very well liked. I do think though that if Braun performs at the high levels he did in the past all the PEDs talk would go away from Brewers fans as it has with other players in the league.

[Lee16]

Absolutely could not care less about the PEDs and him "lying" and wish people would stop endlessly droning on about it, but yes those type of mega-contracts (even a relatively reasonable mega-contract like Braun's) usually do not work out unless the player ends up being HoF caliber.

 

Why do you having lying in quotes? He very much did lie and I understand it can get old at times, but when small market team signs you to an unprecedented contract for the franchise and you act the way Braun did you aren't going to be very well liked. I do think though that if Braun performs at the high levels he did in the past all the PEDs talk would go away from Brewers fans as it has with other players in the league.

 

JJHardy7 hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned. If people want to believe Braun didn't lie, that is their choice. It doesn't make it true.

 

I might be the only one, but I read the "Worst Contract in Franchise History" part of the title, thought of Jeffrey Hammonds and then immediately threw up in my mouth.

[MrTPlush]

Isn't he still an above avg OF, playing good defense, and has had about 6 flyball outs to the fence? He's basically trying to shake off two years of rust and injury woes. I've liked what I've seen.

 

He is not even close to being average in the field. He has been pretty bad in RF. Also yes he has 6 opposite field warning track flyouts. That is all he can do post 2012...no power to LF and anything that way is typically on the ground.

 

He has been even worse than last year with no signs of improvement. Not sure how anyone could think he has looked better than last year. Striking out just as much(20%), walking is non exsistent, already rolling into DPs left and right, still no pull power, way too many ground balls, always behind on the ball...I could go on for days. Ryan Braun has been brutal to watch. Last year type production might just be the best to hope for.

[JimH5]

I don't care about the terms or length of the contract. All of these guys want to get paid, and he actually signed for a lot less than other players on other teams. Pujols, Hamilton, Fielder, Andrus, Verlander, ARod, Teixeira, Howard. . .there's a lot of bad, big money deals out there.

 

It's only the worst in Brewers history if they don't learn from it. The Brewers have more revenue than ever, playing in a newish stadium. They can afford the contract, and yet it's so costly, it might actually force them to do a total rebuild, instead of trying to go for it every year.

 

If Braun has to face some scorn over the next few years, then so be it.

[rondoman]

Braun is and always was a scumbag who only cares about himself and pretty much conned the Brewers out of millions and millions of dollars that will probably set this team back years.

[rondoman]

That contract was different than other guys mentioned since Braun had years of control left. Isn't it still the record contract for someone with his service time?

[logan82]

Braun's deal isn't hurting the Brewers. Sure it sucks and we knew it would when he signed it. The Brewers are never going to be able to buy enough players to win so money isn't holding us back from competing.

[adambr2]

Don't flame me *too* hard on this, but I think Braun is an absolute genius. He knew what he was doing and knew he would get caught eventually. By signing that "team friendly" backloaded contract he ensured he would still get his payday long after he returned to being an average baseball player. Sure he has some glimpses of old Braun from to time, but hes not the elite player he used to be and he isnt getting younger either.

 

Absolutely agree. It's not a coincidence. Almost 5 years away from free agency and he basically agrees to sell the rest of his career? And he gets to play it off like he's just a big franchise guy who just loves to be here and gives a hometown discount.

 

Yeah, he knew exactly what he was doing. And he no doubt knew the CBA and knew we would still owe him every penny regardless of whether or not he was caught. Actually, it benefited him to get caught when he did so he could serve his suspension in a lower paying year rather than lose $5M + later for a 65 game suspension.

 

So, knowing he'll never get another contract again in his career, it's a pretty easy decision now to give up the PED's to make sure he doesn't lose another dollar to suspension. He'll suck for the duration of his deal, but it makes no financial difference to him now, the damage is done.

[brewcrewdue80]

Rush to Judgement it seems. He hasn't even reached the contract extension and it's being considered the worst ever? How about things of the past in giving out the contract. A superior ballplayer. A team who was just about to lose Fielder. A team that had lost out on a CC Sabathia FA pick that instead of 25 was given 39. This was a player who was commanding less than what Fielder was for an extension. A face of the Franchise. This is before Qualifying Offers. There was nothing that would make it appear like it was a poor contract given. 2011 happened. Then 2012 did that would make one think he was fine. They were MVP type seasons. Even now the deal is for under 20mil per year and when you look around teams like the Yankees have have 5...20% of their team making more than that per year. It was a contract handed out to a MVP player for less than what the future going rate is.

 

Heck when his contract is over, I imagine the Qualifying offer(if there's still one) will be for more than what Braun is making! And that's based on a top 75 pay avg! Legitimately Braun was top 5 in all of Baseball when the extension was written. It's not the worst contract in Franchise history at all.

[logan82]

Braun always had nagging core injuries. Not sure why we would expect that to improve with age. Add in his second contract covers typical decline years and it was a bad idea the day it was signed.

[JJHardy7]

Braun's deal isn't hurting the Brewers. Sure it sucks and we knew it would when he signed it. The Brewers are never going to be able to buy enough players to win so money isn't holding us back from competing.

 

I'm not sure I understand it. When it was signed, I don't think anyone thought it would suck. Most loved it. We didn't know he was cheating...and IMO that is why he was so willing to sign it. Regardless, so $20M per year of dead weight potentially won't hold this franchise back at all? He struggled last year and so far this year, but in regard to dead weight I'm thinking 2019 and 2020...I am guessing he will still be the highest paid player at that time or at least in the top 3. I'm not sure I understand how this doesn't significantly hurt the franchise.

[adambr2]

I can't understand the logic that the contract doesn't hurt us. Of course it hurts us. Even if we rebuild it's less cash that Mark A has to invest for the future, it's less we have for extensions for future stars of this team. It's not a death sentence, but yeah it hurts.

[Ennder]

We didn't know he was cheating...and IMO that is why he was so willing to sign it

 

That is a very huge stretch to come to that conclusion. A lot of players have signed deals just like that even before Braun. Braun has had nagging injuries his whole career, of course he was eager to get extended.

 

My vote on this squarely goes in the it depends, April stats are more or less worthless for judging future production so I need to see how he plays into May and June. If he puts up say Corey Hart type numbers the rest of his career I don't think it is the worst deal in their history, if he is just worthless than yeah he might be.

[JJHardy7]

That is a very huge stretch to come to that conclusion. A lot of players have signed deals just like that even before Braun. Braun has had nagging injuries his whole career, of course he was eager to get extended.

 

I'm not saying you are wrong and you would know more than I would...but how many players have signed 2 extensions with similar service time that Braun did with similar or more money?

 

Also, Braun played in at least 150 games pre-suspension (besides rookie year when he was called up after season started).

 

And this isn't just an April thing...he wasn't very good last year. I guess he is still somehow getting a pass from some Brewers fans for whatever reason.

[logan82]

$15m isn't going to look like much in a few years. It will hurt but not much. We don't have much talent that will demand much money by 2020. The Brewers have shown they will spend money within reason if needed.

[rondoman]

Braun's deal isn't hurting the Brewers. Sure it sucks and we knew it would when he signed it. The Brewers are never going to be able to buy enough players to win so money isn't holding us back from competing.

 

Lol yeah whats like 20% of the payroll on one crappy player for the next 5 years...