Bob Nightengale reported on Monday that Brewers slugger Ryan Braun forfeited $3.85 million in salary by accepting a 65-game unpaid suspension for violating MLB’s joint drug program.
But a suspension of an equal length (however unlikely) would have cost Braun even more financially in 2014. Braun’s base salary in 2013 is $8.5 million, but swells to $10 million next year and $12 million in 2015, meaning the longer it took before he was suspended, the more money he would lose per day during that suspension.
If Braun realized he would eventually be suspended based on the evidence the league had against him, he made a reasonable financial decision to confess now rather than pay more later — especially since both the league and the players union have suggested that the standard 50- and 100-day terms for failed tests don’t necessarily apply to players suspended following the Biogenesis investigation.
Braun has also struggled with a thumb injury that cost him the bulk of June and July, and his Brewers have the second worst record in the National League. If Braun knew the ax would eventually fall, he and his advisers must have realized that this would be as good a time as any for him to miss a huge stretch of a season.
Of course, the smartest move would definitely not have included getting caught using performance-enhancing drugs. But once Braun was past that point, he made the best possible choice both for his wallet and his team by stepping up and bowing out now.
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