Ryan Braun has become the Lance Armstrong of baseball. (The Dana Files, Creative Commons)

Well, former baseball royalty Ryan Braun went from The Hebrew Hammer to Lyin' Braun after it was announced that he will be suspended for the rest of the 2013 Major League Baseball season for the use of performance-enhancing drugs. How do we know he's guilty? Braun shockingly (or maybe smartly, read on for why) did not appeal, which confirms his guilt. 

Here are a few of my thoughts on Braun, his punishment, MLB's drug policy and Jews in baseball.

A. Braun's punishment was a 65-game suspension without pay, which means he'll lose a little over $3 million. However, Bud Selig and MLB had a perfect opportunity to send quite a scare into the minds of all current and future PED users. They did not make an example of Braun, who I thought got off rather lightly.

Braun has been bothered by a nagging thumb injury throughout the season. He's had a disappointing season thus far, and that could be the big reason why. Now with the suspension, Braun gets the necessary time he needs to rehabilitate his thumb, and to possibly even get thumb surgery if it still hasn't improved. 

Additionally, the Milwaukee Brewers are 41-56 which is good for last place in the National League Central and the second-worst record in the NL. They don't need Braun for the remainder of the season because even with him, they have no chance of making the postseason. If the Brewers were in the middle of a playoff chase, then this punishment would have bigger implications.

In terms of money, Braun is still very well-off. In fact, the $3 million lost doesn't hurt him one bit. He's under contract with the Brewers through the 2020 season, in which he will be paid $117 million over that span. The Brewers can't even void the contract either.

B. However, the player I expect to be punished severely is Alex Rodriguez. He's already admitted that he's taken PED's to the public before, but he's never been suspended by baseball for his drug-fueled antics. In that same confession, A-Rod stated that he hasn't used any illegal drugs since the 2003 season with the Texas Rangers. 

If MLB can prove that he lied about stopping his steroid use, they can surely inflict a bigger punishment. Additionally, as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times notes, baseball must have had a lot of evidence on Braun for him not to appeal, which makes it harder for other baseball players to deny the credibility of this damaging information. 

While Braun will lose a lot of fans, it's impossible to be more universally disliked than A-Rod. A-Rod is baseball's best chance to set an example for how future cheaters will be punished. No one will complain, and it will be a monster reputation-killer, or it will kill whatever A-Rod has left of it.

It's looking like a bigger possibility that New York Yankees fans will never have to see A-Rod in pinstripes again. 

MORE: The Steroids Debate: Will The Real Record Holder Please Stand Up?

C. Braun cheated all the kids that idolized him, the city of Milwaukee and the game of baseball. However, he should apologize to these people first.

Braun won the 2011 NL MVP after he led the Brewers to an NL Central crown and postseason berth. That year, the MVP race was hotly debated as fellow outfielder Matt Kemp also had a monster year. While Kemp can't be given the MVP award now (just like how Roger Maris cannot be the single-season home run king), Braun needs to beg Kemp for forgiveness since he robbed the deserving, clean MVP. 

That postseason, the Brewers faced the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS. They won in five games, in large part because of Braun. He had nine hits in 18 at-bats in the series, including five extra-base hits and one home run. His 1.460 OPS was simply absurd. The Diamondbacks certainly deserve to feel cheated out of that postseason. At least the Cardinals vanquished the Brewers in the NLCS before the situation could become even messier.

Finally, and most importantly, Braun needs to apologize profusely to Dino Laurenzi Jr. Don't recall the name? Laurenzi was the urine sample collector who Braun used as his excuse to escape his first drug punishment. While there was no evidence that Laurenzi tampered with the sample, Braun still went off on the poor guy.

"There were a lot of things that we learned about the collector, about the collection process, about the way that the entire thing worked, that made us very concerned and very suspicious about what could have actually happened," Braun said after he avoided a suspension.

The honest career and reputation of Laurenzi was destroyed, because Braun unjustly labeled him as a liar. While Braun's suspension proves "what goes around, comes around", at least he has the endless amounts of money to fall back on. I doubt that Laurenzi has that same fallback. 

D. Unfortunately for Jews across the nation, including myself, we lost our top current representative in Major League Baseball. Now, a new favorite Jewish baseball player must emerge.

At first glance, Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis seemed worthy to take over the role. He's in the midst of a fantastic season, and he's arguably not even in his prime yet. I even came up with a good Jewish nickname for him, "Yom Kipnis", which rivals "The Hebrew Hammer". However, a Twitter follower pointed out to me that Kipnis actually practices Roman Catholicism. 

So it looks like our new guy to take the crown for top Jewish baseball player is… Ian Kinsler! While he's not putting up the gaudy stats that Kipnis is this season, the All-Star second baseman has established himself as a stud for the past few seasons. 

Now, to fully embrace him, Kinsler needs a fantastic Jewish nickname. If any of these readers have a suggestion, hit me up with it on Twitter or in the comments section.

Reach Senior Sports Editor Max Meyer by email.

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