MILWAUKEE — It was a display of financial muscle unlike any in Milwaukee Brewers history.

Indeed, when the Brewers signed 24-year-old Ryan Braun to a franchise-record $45 million, eight-year contract Thursday, it was both memorable and purposeful.

Memorable because it showed fans that the Brewers finally are committed to spending money to field a competitive team. Purposeful because it showed the rest of the team's young nucleus that they don't have to leave town to find fortune and fame.

"I think what this says is that we can keep our young players here and, more importantly, that we have young players who want to stay here and want to play here," said owner Mark Attanasio, the only person in the organization with more job security than Braun.

"I think that's a real message to the community and it's frankly a message to Ryan's teammates and it's a message to other players we might trade for or draft, that this is a good place to play if a guy like Ryan Braun ... wants to commit to this team and this city."

The hope, of course, is that the young guns who came up with Braun — Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, J.J. Hardy, Rickie Weeks and Yovani Gallardo — will be more inclined to stick around if they think the Brewers will stay competitive on the field and take care of them financially.

"I'm hoping it has an effect on the other players," general manager Doug Melvin said. "The biggest ripple effect is that our owner has stood up and has extended a contract to a young player."

Braun, who is signed through 2015, became the face of the franchise with one stroke of a pen. Fielder previously held that distinction, but he and his agent, the notoriously difficult Scott Boras, have rejected overtures for a long-term deal.

Some figured Braun's contract would anger Fielder, though Fielder said he was happy for Braun. Some figured it will leave the Brewers too poor to lock up Fielder, though Attanasio said the team was in "a very good financial position."

Actually, the biggest reason the Brewers will be hard-pressed to keep Fielder is because the players' situations are so different.

Braun, who was called up last May, traded three years of arbitration and two years of free agency for guaranteed financial security. Under Boras' guidance, Fielder is not inclined to follow Braun's lead. He has two more years of major league service than Braun and seems content to be a year-to-year guy, going through the arbitration process and hitting free agency after the 2011 season.

Still, Attanasio is hopeful the Braun signing will have a positive impact on the Brewers' ability to keep Fielder and the others.

"I think all these young guys like playing together and I think having one of them commit will (help)," Attanasio said. "It's like when you build a house, you've got to start with a foundation. We put offers out to a few of them and Ryan was the first one we happened to click with. It's a very personal process. I don't want anybody to think we chose Ryan first or anything like that. We chose to tender or start discussions with a number of players."

Some of whom, it now appears, have a chance to remain Brewers for a long time.