There's a pretty easy narrative to regurgitate about Ryan Braun. It goes something like this: After a disastrous 2013 that ended in July with a 65-game suspension for violating baseball's performance enhancing drug rules, Braun came back in 2014 and had his worst full season, setting career lows in all three triple-slash stats, wRC+ and WAR. For many, it's easy enough to connect the dots and leave it at that, arguing that Braun can't perform when he's "clean," however you define that.

But coming back from PED suspensions hasn't prevented Nelson Cruz or Melky Cabrera from performing well, and clearly Braun's own actions have left him without the benefit of the doubt, which is no one's fault but his own. But to merely take the 30,000-foot view and assume that Braun's time as one of baseball's best hitters is now over because of what's happened over the past 18 months risks glancing past some very positive signs for Braun, ones that indicate he could still be a very productive player in 2015.