Rob Carr/Getty ImagesWhile Bryce Harper and Manny Machado will be the biggest

Rob Carr/Getty ImagesWhile Bryce Harper and Manny Machado will be the biggest names on the free-agent market this offseason Tyson Ross Jersey , it could be a player already under contract for the foreseeable future who could make the biggest splash.Mike Trout.According to Jon Heyman of Fancred, the Los Angeles Angels are expected to approach Trout with extension talks that could lead to his being an Angel for life.Trout still has two years and $66.5 million remaining on the six-year, $144.5 million extensionhe signed back in March 2014, perSpotrac.Even though he is under club control through the 2020 season, Los Angeles would be wise to lock him up long-term. At 27, he is already widely considered to be one of the greatest players in MLB history.Since debuting in 2011, Trout has hit .307/.416/.571 with 234 home runs, 221 doubles, 44 triples, 188 stolen bases and 637 RBI. He has made the American League All-Star team in each of his first seven full seasons. Not only that, but he has won the AL Rookie of the Year award, two AL MVPs (including three second-place and a fourth-place finish) Allen Craig Jersey , two All-Star Game MVPs and five Silver Sluggers.Again, he turned 27 in August.The biggest factor that could keep Trout from agreeing to a lifetime contract with the Angels is that the club has made the postseason just once in his career despite his lofty numbers. Los Angeles was swept by the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 American league Division Series.Trout will getpaidregardless of when he decides to ink his next deal, but as one agent told Heyman, the outfielder would be wise to wait until after Harper and Machado sign, allowing his fellow All-Stars to set the market. New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton is the owner of the largest and longest contract in MLB history, a 13-year, $325 million deal he signed with the Miami Marlins in November 2014. To say Ryan Braun's career has been defined by ups and downs is an understatement of, well,Braunian proportions.In 2011, Braun hit his apex. He signed a five-year, $105 million extension with the Milwaukee Brewers鈥攖he only big league franchise he'd ever known鈥攊n April of that year.He promptly led the National League with a .994 OPS, swatted 33 home runs and won the NL MVP award.The following season http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-tony-gwynn-jersey , Braun again paced the Senior Circuit with a .987 OPS and 41 homers, and finished second in MVP balloting.In the process, he cemented his status as an undisputed superstar.In July 2013, the facade came crashing down. MLB slapped Braun with a season-ending suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.Rather than contesting the punishment and insisting upon his innocence like he did after the initial positive test in 2011, Braun issued a contrite statement dripping with guilt."As I have acknowledged in the past, I am not perfect," Braun said. "I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions."In 2014, Braun returned to the Brewers lineup and posted a then-career-low .777 OPS with 19 home runs in 135 games. The question of whether PEDs had amplified his stats was all but settled...and not in his favor.More essentially, his place in the baseball hierarchy was drastically redefined.In late August, a new book about the PED-connected clinic Biogenesis cast further aspersions on Braun.He went from MVP to pariah, from hero to villain. Forgiveness seemed like a distant, unlikely dream.Dylan Buell/Getty ImagesAs we enter the stretch run of the 2018 campaign http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-dave-winfield-jersey , that dream is attainable.Since the All-Star break, Braun has raised his average more than 30 points (from .235 to .268) and his OPS nearly 80 points (from .711 to .789). In August, he slashed .299/.349/.494.Concurrently, the Brewers have remained in the thick of the postseason chase. Milwaukee has a solid hold on the NL's top wild-card spot and a chance to catch the Chicago Cubs for the division crown.Braun is no longer the leading man. On Monday, Christian Yelich hit for the cycle for the second time this season. Lorenzo Cain has been a well-rounded addition to the lineup.Braun, meanwhile, has been reduced to a supporting player in his age-34 season.That said, the Brewers are on track to ascend the October stage for the first time since 2011 and possibly make noise in the wide-open NL. If Braun's bat heats up, he could club his way to redemption.Morry Gash/Associated PressBraun owns a .379 average and 1.060 OPS in 64 playoff plate appearances. Small-sample caveats apply, but he's proved his mettle under the brightest lights.Drilling deeper, his .271 batting average on balls in play for 2018 is 56 points behind his career mark of .327, per FanGraphs. His hard-contact rate Rollie Fingers Jersey , on the other hand, is 40.8 percent, right next to a career average of 36.4 percent.There's rotten luck in the mix. Steroids and age-related regression aside, Braun's numbers should be more impressive.Milwaukee hasn't been to the World Series since 1982. It has never hoisted a Commissioner's Trophy. Braun could rewrite his legacy and etch his place in franchise lore."When you're on a small-market team, it's unlikely that you're going to be in this position every year," Braun told reporters. "When you do get opportunities, you have to embrace them and make the most of them because you don't get that opportunity every year."Matt Slocum/Associated PressHe's right. Opportunities don't come along every year. That's true for postseason sprints and swings at vindication.Braun will never erase his PED past. He'll always carry the stain.But he might engineer a final-act about-face. He can seize it by slugging Milwaukee past Game 162 and turning back the clock on his once-storied career.It would be intriguing. It would be noteworthy. And it would be a rewrite of Braunian proportions. All statistics current entering Tuesday and courtesy of Baseball Referenceand FanGraphs.