Ryan Braun has been the starter in RF for the Brewers for almost a decade. However, he has battled several thumb injuries, and is now 32 Years Old.  Since Milwaukee will not likely be contenders for the next 3 – 4 years in a tough NL Division, they should really start to rebuild.  Toronto also needs to look past 2016 – when both Encarnacion and Bautista are Free Agents.  If they can’t come up with the funds to sign either of them in extensions, they should pursue Braun in the next 6 – 8 months.

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The Toronto Blue Jays have played it conservative for 2016, but still have a realistic shot to win in 2016 because of their offense.  Going beyond 2016 looks extremely difficult when you factor in they may lose both Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista following next year.

This would be a shame, but both players should be able to command around $20 MIL per year for at least the next 2 – 3 years after this upcoming one.  That may be too much for the Canadian club to afford.

Our website has spoken at length of how Toronto must capitalize on this opportunity.  As of right now, I don’t think they have enough pitching to get it done in the playoffs either.

Free Agency will be a tough sell for the franchise to bring in any ace pitchers or premiere offensive stars in the coming years.  You also may have a tough time to crack those deals when the Canadian dollar is hovering around 70 cents for every American Greenback right now.

I say go after Ryan Braun via a trade in the next 6 – 8 months.

Much like the 2011 version of the Texas Rangers coming within 1 out of the World Series that year, the Blue Jays could stack the deck offensively -and try to bash their win to a World Series. The Canadian franchise will also have a tough time drawing Outfielders and DH’s. Braun still has $111 MIL left on his 6 year contract. This would be a decent contract AAV of about $18 MIL.

If I were the Jays, I would be willing to part with Kevin Pillar, Devon Travis and/or Aaron Sanchez to make the deal legit.

A team like Toronto could part with Pillar and Travis in exchange for a OF that is locked up for the next 6 years. 

Braun makes $111 MIL over the next 6 years, but would be a perfect replacement for Joey Bats in RF, or even as the clubs primary DH for Edwin Encarnacion past 2016.  For the one year, all would be under the same umbrella.

Ryan Braun has his best season in 3 years during the 2015 campaign – with 25 HRs, 84 RBI and a .854 OPS in 507 AB last year. Braun would be perfectly suited for an American League Designated Hitter.  Braun’s extension deal is worth at least $100 MIL over 5 years, with a 6 year being a $15 MIL Mutual Option or a $4 MIL Buyout that would add $11 MIL for the 6th year.  Perhaps the team could just extend Jose Bautista for a similar AAV.  The whole purpose of this trade idea – is for the club to go all in 2016 though – where they would have Joey Bats, EE, Donaldson and Tulowitzki all on the same team.

Toronto could always move Ben Revere to CF to make this happen. Can you imagine a right handed hitters murderous row of Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, Ryan Braun, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki?

You could move EE to 1st Base, and Braun could DH and play LF, with Michael Saunders reversing the role to play both as well.

Justin Smoak and Chris Colabello could still be your best guys off the bench, with Darwin Barney and Josh Thole rounding out the guys coming in.

The Jays really have to start thinking about how to prolong their window to win beyond 2016.  It is awesome that both Josh Donaldson, TULO, Marcus Stroman, Russell Martin and Roberto Osuna will be with the club for at least the next 3 years,  but you have to start exploring ways to replace Bautista and Encarnacion.

Carlos Gonzalez may be another option for the Toronto Blue Jays in going forward for at least 2016 and 2017.  CARGO only makes $37 MIL over two years. I would offer the same kind of package midway through next campaign, that offers Aaron Sanchez, with another player for the man and a Reliever from Colorado.

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com and their partners***

A Big thanks goes out to our chief writer Hunter Stokes for preparing today’s feature post.

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