Braun turned 34 in November. I'm not sure when the "steroid era" ended, but ESPN's sort engine goes back to 2000. from 2000-2010, there were 40-some players a year that were 34 or older, getting 300+ PA/year. Since 2011, there are 20-some guys per year who are 34 or older getting 300+ PA/year, and only around 10 of them post a WAR of 2 or greater. Whenever a team signs a player to a contract into their mid-30's, they are betting against the odds. It's not a matter of if, but when the player will hit the wall. Braun has been pretty much untradeable for a while now, so all we can do is hope that he can stay reasonably productive for as long as possible. Oh, and we can stop signing players to big contracts that take them into their mid-30's. Yes!!!! Although if all teams continued to do this more the players would continue to scream collusion.... even tho its perfectly smart logic!