More bizarre than Ryan Braun. I might put it as the most bizarre story (note: In general I don't consider the steroid scandal very bizarre outside of the entity that is Jose Canseco.) since the George Steinbrenner ban. I'm almost as interested in the punishment as the crime, can MLB even do anything with regards to draft picks and post-season bans? I feel like if they try that the MLBPA will mutiny and we'll all have a bad time.
There's some vague wording in the CBA so I think the answer is we won't know until they try. I anticipate something akin to the arbitration process -- MLB won't come down too hard because they're not sure what line they might cross that would cause the MLBPA to sue, and correspondingly the Cardinals will accept whatever punishment gets sent down in the interest of cooperation and image-repair.