The Hebrew Hammer... Just in Time For Easter!

I swear to you that just this past Monday I was starting a rough draft for my next article, which was to be on Ryan Braun.

The topic was going to be regarding Braun's team-friendly 8-year $45 million contract in comparison to the 7-year, $140 million contract just signed by Carl Crawford. Looking at their statistics and what they bring to their respective teams and comparing the dollar for dollar benefits.

For the sake of well, Carl Crawford, I was not going to include any of this seasons statistics. My argument was going to be a great stat by stat comparison and conclude with the argument that Ryan Braun was now the most underpaid player in Major League Baseball.

I was going to do that. Then, I saw this article on FoxSports.com posted by Ken Rosenthal yesterday: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Ryan-Braun-Milwaukee-Brewers-contract-extension-details-042111.

That's right folks, Ryan Braun is getting what he deserves, a nice, fat, contract extension keeping him (theoretically) in Milwaukee until 2020. That would be 5 years, $105 million for those keeping score at home. This works out to $21 million annually for those years, making him a higher paid performer than Carl Crawford. In my opinion, deservedly so. Braun is only the third player in Major League history to sign a deal worth an average of at least $20 million a year at age 27 or younger. The others were Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer last year and Alex Rodriguez in 2001.

Braun has been picked to start each of the last three All-Star Games. In his first four seasons, Braun is only one of five players in history to hit at least 125 homers and post a .300 batting average, joining Joe DiMaggio, Chuck Klein, Albert Pujols and Ted Williams whom also share that feat. That's pretty good company, 3 Hall of Famers and 1 future Hall of Famer.

The best part of this deal, Milwaukee is maintaining viability. They have locked up their centerpiece in Braun. Rickie Weeks is developing into a premier second baseman and they may very well re-sign Prince Fielder... who knows? What I do know is that it is nice to see a deserving player get a contract that should keep him with one team for his entire career.

Tops Of The Ninth

It's official! Adrian Gonzalez has finalized a 7 year contract extension said to be worth around $154 million dollars to stay in Boston. Gonzalez's contract is the ninth richest in major league history and makes him (deservingly) one of the highest paid players/first basemen in Major League Baseball.

With the ink now dry on this contract, the Boston Red Sox have solidified their young core of stars for long term contracts, making the next 4-7 years in Boston very, very interesting. Carl Crawford, as we know is a $20 million dollar man, here for the next 7 years. Clay Buccholz just signed a four year extension, following in the footsteps of Jon Lester and Josh Beckett.

Before last season, Dustin Pedroia locked himself into a contract extension and Kevin Youkilis is signed through the next several seasons. This team is young, getting younger, and when the chemistry starts to click... they will be scary. Its time for a slight reality check. The Boston Red Sox are 2-9. Their best hitter is Jed Lowrie. Now, not to take anything away from Lowrie, something tells me he won't keep up the Ted Williams pace he's on and the average will go south of its current .438 rating. On the flip side of that coin, players that historically hit closer to .300 are all slumping at once: Crawford .152, Ellsbury .189, Youkilis .182. Adrian Gonzalez is starting to get over the early season slump, posting a batting average of .268 and climbing. Dustin Pedroia has been a maniac, batting .366 consistently.

This team is not very far away from turning on the jets and bypassing the rest of the American League East offensively.

Once the lineup starts putting up career average numbers, this team is going to be a tough one, and remain a tough team for many years to come, anchored by #28 on first.