Well, so much for a "calm" and "uneventful" offseason for Ryan Braun.

Five days ago at Brewers On Deck, the 2011 National League Most Valuable Player was all smiles, feeling healthy and refreshed. The 2012 season was a tumultuous one, beginning with a leaked positive test for performance enhancing drugs, followed by his subsequent appeal and overturning of the test result and suspension.

Braun got through that – and some nagging injuries – to put up MVP numbers for the second straight year.

The past was quickly becoming the past.

Until Tuesday, that is, when the Miami New Times dropped a bomb on Major League Baseball. The paper uncovered that a Miami-based anti-aging clinic had been supplying performance enhancing drugs to players like Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera and Gio Gonzalez.

In fact, three of the players listed by the paper – Cabrera, pitcher Bartolo Colon and San Diego Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal – were all suspended by MLB last year for testing positive for PEDs.

Braun's name is nowhere in this story. No current player in the Milwaukee Brewers organization is. Yet it took only moments for others to begin to connect Braun to Biogenesis.

Why?

Because Braun attended the University of Miami from 2003-05, and the Hurricanes are directly implicated in this report – namely the program's strength coach Jimmy Goins.

Goins joined the Hurricanes staff in 2004.

And, one of Braun's former Hurricanes teammates, pitcher Cesar Carrillo, is also named in the report as having obtained PEDs from the clinic.

Unfortunately, this is the true price of that leaked positive test.

Whenever Braun retires, I'm sure the Hall of Fame (and whoever determines its inductees) will look at the trials he faced prior to 2012 as nothing more than a blip on his career radar. It'll be mentioned, but that's it.

But this? This is what he'll have to deal with for the rest of his career.

Although Ryan Braun's name was never used in the story, I wouldn't be surprised of he was this docalso. Clients have deep Miami ties...

— Scott L. Smith (@scottiesmith) January 29, 2013

Where did Ryan Braun go to college again? Oh right... #TheU

— Keith Costas (@keithcostas) January 29, 2013

How many of the players listed on the Miami News article are calling Ryan Braun? "Bro, help me out. How'd you do it?!" #PEDs

— Gerardo Garcia (@DeNunez27) January 29, 2013

Very curious to see this name blacked out... Could it be Ryan Braun? He did go to Miami... #PEDs #suspicious twitter.com/Billy_Woodward...

— Billy Woodward (@Billy_Woodward) January 29, 2013

Of course, he has his share of supporters, too:

Notice how Ryan Braun is NOT on the report of PED's.....

— Nate Katz (@nkatz92) January 29, 2013

Glad to read that Ryan Braun's name has not come up in the #MiamiPED stuff

— Robert J. Swansen (@RobertSwansen) January 29, 2013

Has any player accused of steroids ACTUALLY proven that they have never taken them except Ryan Braun #GiveItUp

— Christian Catania (@ccatania84) January 29, 2013

Ryan Braun's name not coming up in this scandal? Color me not shocked. #Brewers #MLB

— Mason Becker (@Mason3K) January 29, 2013

I'm sure, at some point, Braun's name would have come up in the coming days just by going through every player on the Hurricanes roster since Goins joined the team in 2004. But if the leaked test and appeal weren't made public – as they should not have been per MLB rules – the most that would've happened is a passing mention, or perhaps, Braun being asked his thoughts on the matter.

Now, not only will he be asked about it – he's already being proven guilty of something in many people's eyes. This loose connection to a lab in Miami is just an "affirmation" for those who didn't buy his appeal to begin with.

Trust me, I get it. Braun is a tricky case for the public. Did he technically test positive for PEDs? Yes. Did MLB overturn the test due to a flawed collecting system? Yes. Does one negate the other? To me, it does. He has no positive test on his record, no suspension.

According to Major League Baseball, he's clean. So that's that.

In the court of public opinion, however, nothing is ever so black and white. One side lines up yelling "He did it!" and the other yells back "He didn't!"

In the middle is Braun, who will forever have to deal with that. It's an unfortunate space to occupy.