Many in baseball knew that suspensions were coming for a number of top players that were linked to the Biogenesis clinic, but even with that knowledge, fans, media members and many in the sport were shocked to hear that Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun was suspended by Major League Baseball for the remainder of the season for his violation of the basic agreement.
According to ESPN.com, Braun will not contest the suspension, which is likely the part of the agreement between him and the MLB and he will not be eligible to play for the final 65 games of the season. Braun now will be the first player to get suspended for being connected to the Biogenesis scandal and it is not the first time that he has been connected to PED issues, as Braun was suspended for 50-games after testing positive for elevated testosterone levels, but he was able to get out of that suspension due to a procedural issue.
Braun will lose $3.25 million from his salary after being suspended for 65 games and he ends the season while hitting .298 with nine home runs and 38 RBIs and now the Brewers must play without him for the rest of the year. The Brewers are not in playoff contention with a 41-56 record and now without Braun it will be even harder to compete and the outfielder missed time with injuries in June. The 29-year-old was considered one of the best sluggers in the game and now looking back, he may owe a few people apologies, as he won the MVP award over Matt Kemp and also helped defeat the Diamondbacks in the playoffs that season while hitting .500, with nine hits in 18 at-bats.
Braun is ranked sixth in the majors since 2007 in home runs with over 200 and he is also sixth in RBIs and fifth in batting average, but now all of that will come into question. Braun was looked at by the Brewers as their own version of Cal Ripken when he was given a long term contract and now the franchise may wish that they could go back and pick Prince Fielder instead of him to stick with. The team let Fielder go as a free agent and now Braun may never be looked at in the same way.
Braun is the sixth ranked player all-time for home runs over his first six seasons, sitting one behind Mark Teixeira and on the same list as Ralph Kiner and Eddie Mathews. The entire trajectory of Braun's career now will be looked at differently and the Brewers franchise will also have to figure out a way to recover this season and in the future from what happened with Braun. This season the Brewers were 27-32 with Braun in the lineup and were 14-24 without him in the starting lineup.
