Ryan Braun

There's a certain stigma attached to Ryan Braun's name following last year's PED controversy, however, that shouldn't stop the writers from giving him a much deserved, second straight NL MVP Award.

Now before you jump to conclusions, I'm a Reds fan and have no bias favoring Braun. The fact of the matter is that Braun's numbers are far and above every other player in the National League.

With the fantasy trade deadlines coming up this week and next (I have four red-letter dates this Friday), it's time for owners to make one last pitch for baseball's elite categorical contributors.

AccuScore, a company that specializes in thorough game simulations, has made a few on-the-fly revisions to its seasonal projections.

Several teams have very good players in their three, four and five holes in the batting order. However I don’t think any are as good as the St. Louis Cardinals this season. Matt Holliday, Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman are as good as it gets.

As I write this article, Holliday is the National League’s leading hitter, and Berkman is in second place, both batting over .400.

In OBP, Holliday is in first place and Berkman in third.

More and more, teams are handing out big money to lock up their players long-term. That's really nothing new. When you have a big-time talent, you want to keep that guy in uniform as long as you can.

But what's interesting is the lengths teams have gone to recently to sign players to contract extensions that may or may not be necessary.

The Milwaukee Brewers today signed 27-year-old outfielder Ryan Braun to a five-year contract extension which will make him only one of two MLB players signed through 2020, the other being the Colorado Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki.

Ryan Braun cemented his place in Brewers history on Thursday, signing his second long-term contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in the last three years.

The Milwaukee Brewers have gone one step further to ensure they will be competitive for years to come by agreeing to a five-year contract extension with All-Star outfielder Ryan Braun.

It was first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday afternoon.

Braun released the following statement:

The Milwaukee Brewers announced that they have come to an agreement with left fielder Ryan Braun on a contract extension through 2020.

Heard This Blog ranked the top five Jewish current baseball players

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The Brewers just finished up their first of three games in a weekend series against the rival Chicago Cubs at Miller Park. Let me say that the game was not played crisply by either club. The 7-4 loss dropped the Brewers' record to 3-5 on the season.