Who’s on first? Prince signs huge deal with Tigers

By Sean Napfel, on January 24th, 2012%

Prince Fielder hit 38 homers with 120 RBI last season with the Brewers. (By Jeff Curry, US Presswire)

DETROIT (AP) — Free agent first baseman Prince Fielder and the Detroit Tigers agreed Tuesday on a nine-year, $214 million contract that fills the AL Central champions’ need for a power hitter, a person familiar with the deal said.

CBS first reported the agreement.

The person told the Associated Press that the deal was subject to a physical. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract was not yet complete.

Detroit boldly stepped up in the Fielder sweepstakes after the recent knee injury to star Victor Martinez. A week ago, the Tigers announced that the productive designated hitter could miss the entire season after tearing his left ACL.

The Tigers won their division by 15 games before losing in the AL championship series to Texas. Adding Fielder gives the Tigers two of the game’s premier sluggers, pairing him with Miguel Cabrera.

The move also keeps Fielder’s name in the Tigers’ family. His father, Cecil, became a big league star when he returned to the majors from Japan and hit 51 home runs with Detroit in 1990. Cecil played with the Tigers into the 1996 season.

Several teams had shown interest this winter in the 27-year-old Fielder, who had spent his entire career with Milwaukee. He visited Texas, and the Washington Nationals also got involved in the discussions.

The beefy slugger hit .299 with 38 home runs and 120 RBIs last season. He is a three-time All-Star and was the MVP of last year’s event in Phoenix.

Fielder has averaged 40 homers and 113 RBIs over the past five years. He’s also been among the most durable players in the majors, appearing in at least 157 games in each of the last six seasons.

The deal is only the fourth $200 million contract in baseball history, following Alex Rodriguez’s $275 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees, A-Rod’s $252 million, 10-year deal with Texas and Albert Pujols’ $240 million, 10-year contract last month with the Los Angeles Angels.

Among current players, his $23.78 million average salary is behind only A-Rod ($27.5 million), Ryan Howard ($25 million), and Cliff Lee and Pujols ($24 million each).

Detroit general manager Dave Dombrowski said last week he felt finding a replacement for Martinez was a short-term problem, but he left himself some wriggle room, saying it depended who the player was.

Acquiring Fielder opens all sorts of possibilities, such as moving Cabrera to third base or having one of the two sluggers be the designated hitter.

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Where will Prince Fielder play next season?

By Sean Napfel, on December 14th, 2011%


*A tip of the hat to Tim Dierkes over at MLB Trade Rumors for this post. This is exactly what I was planning on writing about today. Please click here for Tim’s article and to participate in the poll as to where Prince Fielder will end up playing next season and for how long.

  •  Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports writes and wonders, isn’t Fielder entitled to an Albert Pujols-like contract, as a 27-year-old coming off a monster season?
The short answer to that question is, absolutely! Fielder is, what? Four or five years younger than Pujols and is technically still in his prime.

The problem is the marketplace, however, writes Morosi.  The teams with the biggest payrolls don’t appear to be fits for Fielder.

  • Last week, MLBTR posted this poll about Fielder’s destination.  While the Cubs led with 24% of the vote, they almost seem to be the default pick for Fielder since there is no obvious favorite.

I agree with Dierkes’ assessment. I doubt the Cubs would do an eight, nine, or ten-year deal for Fielder.  I’m having trouble finding any team that would do so, assuming an average annual value around $25MM is required.

“Super Agent” Scott Boras certainly has his work cut out for him. The Prince needs a place to play next year. Not only that, but he needs to be happy. A happy Prince translates to a productive Prince. I’m of the belief that the best fit for Fielder is the Texas Rangers. Here’s why:

With C.J. Wilson gone, the Rangers now have to consider other options. Fielder fills their biggest weakness. Relative to the rest of the league, first base was the only position where they received below-average output in 2011, a .271/.331/.422 combined line from Mitch Moreland with some Michael Young and Mike Napoli mixed in. With Napoli flashing a better glove behind the plate than Angels manager Mike Scioscia ever believed, and Young being surprisingly inadequate at first base, Fielder would provide a significant upgrade at first base. Fielder’s not winning any Gold Gloves any time soon, but he should be able to handle first for a few more years before his performance begs for a move to DH.

Rangers officials said at the Winter Meetings that they don’t currently see how Fielder fits into their financial plans. Of course, things can change. But the Rangers also want to keep as much of this core group together as they can in the future. They are looking at not just 2012, but beyond. They want to increase their playoff chances for the long haul and just sticking with the core costs money.

So if Fielder wants an 8- or 10-year contract, that doesn’t seem to matchup with what the club has planned. Walking around the lobby of the Hilton Anatole last week, it was clear that scouts and officials with other teams certainly expect the Rangers to jump into the Fielder sweepstakes. But the club is trying to look big picture. If Fielder can fit into that picture, I’m sure they’ll look into it. If he doesn’t, they won’t overspend just to counter what the Angels did.

ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden listed four possible locations for free-agent Prince Fielder to eventually land. The list: Rangers, Cubs, Mariners, and Orioles. You can read that here (insider).

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