Braun's sensible deal

Friday, May 16, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin bumped into Ryan Braun a few days ago, and although there were still some T's to be crossed and some I's to be dotted in the negotiations for Braun's eight-year, $45 million deal, Melvin assured Braun, "This is going to get done."

Because it just makes too much sense for the Brewers, who have a chance to save themselves a lot of money at the back end of the contract, assuming that Braun will continue to progress into a star offensive talent -- as the Brewers expect he will. And it makes too much sense for Braun, who, at the age of 24, is guaranteed a sum of money that will assure Braun and his family extraordinary wealth even if he were to suffer a major injury or to regress.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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