Puig=2years of team control. Braun=4years+1option year of team control. Yes I'd take Braun's 4/80 over Puig's 2/16.45 contract and control. There's the deferred payments and already the payment of Braun's signing bonus which for Milwaukee means less than 4/80 impact. The contract on Braun lessens after two seasons so if he production reduces even to an .800 OPS vs .900 he's not grossly making too much money for the production. 4years/80 for other teams, sure can be a risk, but in 2seasons 2/34million isn't as bad a risk should you convince Braun to accept a trade. Maybe we're not as close to contending(Mets-itis of TJs) and Braun in twilight of career seeks out a contender his last 2 seasons+ potential option season. So while he'll have 10-5 rights, he's open to a trade to a contender. Whatever happens, after 2018 Braun can still be traded. If you're going to hold onto Braun for 2 more years, you might as well hold onto him for 4 and hope for the best. If he's still producing, by then we should be close to contention and want to keep him anyway. If he's not, he won't be worth nearly as much anyway. By waiting 2 more years on Braun, you're risking injury, decline, and Braun gaining more leverage through 10/5 rights. Doesn't make much sense to me. I have a hard time seeing his value in the next 4 years being much if any higher than it is now, but I could see it getting a lot, lot lower. There was an article in fangraphs earlier in the year, I want to say April or May, where basically every team that traded for an aging player with a big contract has regreted it with the exception of Detroit and Ian Kinsler. It was an ugly list. Carl Crawford, Prince(this was pre-career ending injury) Matt Kemp, I forget the rest. Even "healthy" this year you are only getting 140 games out of him. Which is great, but it's not like you should expect to get 150 or even 145 out of him next year. This could be the high water mark. Even if he plays like this the next two year, so what? We're not going anywhere. By the time we're ready to win, those last two years of his contract we will be wishng we would have traded him. By then it will be a salary dump.