Braun and Brewers are BFF’s

What did you do on your day off? If you’re like me, you probably sat around in your underpants playing video games until your girlfriend yelled at you.

If you’re like Ryan Braun, you signed a $105 Million extension that basically insures your place in a Brewers uniform for the rest of your career.

Which one would you rather be?

The deal isn’t “officially official” yet, and a press conference at Miller Park is scheduled for 4PM CST today to finalize the process, but it looks like Ryan Braun will be a Milwaukee Brewer until 2020.

There are some interesting points to the deal, as well. The extenstion is set out from 2016 up until 2020, with a $10 Million signing bonus. In 2021, there is a mutual option in place for $20 Million, with a $4 Million dollar buyout should he decide to go somewhere else. Also, Ryan Braun has agreed to defer some payment of his salary to keep the team competitive if need be.

We have Ryan Braun for a DECADE people! This is a fantastic turn of events for a number of reasons. First, he has a no-trade clause in his contract, so he’s pretty much committed himself to the city of Milwaukee for the next ten years no matter what. Another great thing about this is it lessens our need – slightly – to go swimming in the free agent pool as much as we have been and focus our efforts on the cheaper, more long term aspect of working on our farm system and grooming more little Ryan Brauns from in-house.

The guy has 133 HR’s and a .308 average in first four seasons; matched only by Albert Pujols in terms of active players. In terms of former players who had the kind of start that Braun has, Joe DiMaggio, Chuck Klein and Ted Williams are the only other people who come close. Imagine having that to look forward to for the next ten years. He’s also got a great attitude, loves the city, its fans and Wisconsin, which must be a real stretch for a California kid.  I can’t tell you how exciting it is to see a guy like him become a lifer in Milwaukee. It’s rare enough that you see elite players like him sign with a team for life, and even rarer to have an elite player show up in Milwaukee in the first place. Now let’s hope we can keep building a great team around him.

So here’s to you Brauny: thanks for making Milwaukee your home.