Re: 2011 Baseball Thread

[D.B. Barnes]

Reports: Tigers to sign Prince Fielder

The Detroit Tigers and slugger Prince Fielder are close to agreement, a source told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick.

CBSSports.com and Yahoo! each are reporting the deal has been agreed to between the Tigers and the free-agent first baseman. The sites say the deal is for nine years and worth $214 million.

Even though he never expected to re-sign Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin called his departure "somewhat of a sad day," in comments to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Melvin said the Brewers never made Fielder an offer once the team found out the terms that agent Scott Boras was seeking.

"Scott said from Day 1 it was going to be $200 million," Melvin told the newspapper. "When you hear those kinds of numbers, we couldn't get involved in that. All I can say is we had the feeling it was going to be very difficult to keep him."

Detroit, coming off an AL Championship Series loss to Texas, will fill a void left by the knee injury to slugger Victor Martinez.

Martinez hit .330 with 103 RBIs in 2011, helping Detroit win the division in his first season with the Tigers. He signed a $50 million, four-year contract before last season. But he tore his ACL this offseason and might miss the entire 2012 season.

The addition of Fielder would mark an about-face for the Tigers and general manager Dave Dombrowski, who last week said the first baseman and his team weren't a good fit because Boras, likely wouldn't consider a one-year contract.

"Of course we'd consider Prince Fielder," Dombrowksi said last Thursday, according to MLive.com. "But realistically, it's probably not a good fit."

Dombrowski had emphasized the team's need for a one-year contract since the Tigers anticipated Martinez's return in 2013. The Tigers also have slugger Miguel Cabrera currently entrenched at first base, although he began his career as a third baseman for the Marlins.

The 27-year-old Fielder made $15.55 million last season with the Brewers, including a $50,000 bonus for starting the All-Star Game, after signing a record single-year deal for an arbitration-eligible player last January.

He hit .299 with 38 homers and 120 RBIs as the Brewers won the NL Central for their first division title since 1982, when they were still in the AL.

A first-round pick by the Brewers in 2002, Fielder became the youngest player in big league history to hit 50 homers in a season when he did it in 2007, and he's appeared in all but one of Milwaukee's games over the last three years.

He is a career .282 hitter with 230 homers and 656 RBIs.

Pretty hefty contract for the big boy.

[TeamRAD]

I'm shocked he managed to get 200-plus. Just wow.

[k1]

Oh yeah? Well the Sox signed Cody Ross! Suck it Tigers! 

[D.B. Barnes]

Oh yeah? Well the Sox signed Cody Ross! Suck it Tigers! 

Awww. He's taking his adorable little hoppity hop to Beantown.

[k1]

Oh yeah? Well the Sox signed Cody Ross! Suck it Tigers! 

Awww. He's taking his adorable little hoppity hop to Beantown.

I don't mind the signing too much since he is sort of a Trot Nixon dirt dog type player.

But trading away Scutaro on the other hand... 

[Nunyerbiz]

As a Tigers fan, I am excited for the Prince signing... I will probably be less excited in 2017 thru 2020... when we will likely have a vastly overpaid DH killing the payroll... But if it brings them a title or two over the course of the deal, then it's money well spent.

[TeamRAD]

Oh yeah? Well the Sox signed Cody Ross! Suck it Tigers! 

Awww. He's taking his adorable little hoppity hop to Beantown.

But trading away Scutaro on the other hand... 

I wish we knew he would've been available this past December. I'm sure we would've been all over that. The Yanks and yourselves lack of spending this offseason has been interesting to follow. You both must be spooked by the new luxury tax payout stemming from the new CBA.

As a Tigers fan, I am excited for the Prince signing... I will probably be less excited in 2017 thru 2020... when we will likely have a vastly overpaid DH killing the payroll... But if it brings them a title or two over the course of the deal, then it's money well spent.

I'm happy for Tiger fans & him. Looking back at it, when we supposedly offered 6/120 shortly after the completion of last season, and Boras countered w/ an 8/176, who would've thought that would've been a bargain?

Defensively, it's gonna be a circus w/ Miquel moving back to 3rd coinciding w/ Prince's lack-of-range at 1st. Nevertheless, I'll be cheering for you guys, and hoping Prince can rake throughout the majority of that contract.

Brewer-related, I'm loving this:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/01/zack-greinke-open-to-extension.html

And Marty,this was hinted about last Fall, and the speculation broaden a bit more last week...

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/01/26/report-phillies-first-baseman-ryan-howard-could-have-been-a-milwaukee-brewer/

...that could've proven interesting.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I'm not sure about that Ryan Howard thing, in all the speculation people seem to ignore the big contract Ryan just got.  Hard to see how any deal favorable or even nutral for the Phillies could have been made.

Spring training only about a month away, guess we'll start getting more updates on him then.  I hope he's back to normal this year.

I wonder if it didn't tear if it would have continued to be weak?  All season they were throwing out various reasons why he couldn't run at times, either they really didn't know what it was or they did and he would have been in surgery the day after the season ended like a bunch of other Phillies were....

[TeamRAD]

I'm not sure about that Ryan Howard thing, in all the speculation people seem to ignore the big contract Ryan just got. 

Nobody was ignoring it; the Phillies were rumored to eat a 1/5 of the contract. This thing really had some legs, and I totally could've seen it happening. It had Attanasio/Melvin written all over it, and the majority of our fanbase would've been beyond stoked. In addition, you get younger. However, I'm happy w/ our offseason as is as I don't think we could've replaced Prince any better than w/ our upgrades to 3rd/SS plus the wildcard in Gamel at 1st.

I'm so ready for the season.

[k1]

Head to Head & Razzball invites to previous managers just got sent out.  Roto will follow once Fil sends them out.

If anyone wants to join, they're free, they're on Yahoo.  We don't take things too seriously. Blah blah blah, etc. 

[k1]

http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1

Razzball sign ups: John Lackeys Chicken Shack
League ID#: 2328
Password: cluckcluck

Head to Head sign ups: Prince Fielders Vegan Army
League ID#: 2168
Password: burgers

Roto to follow at some point soonish.

[D.B. Barnes]

Signed up for the head-to-head league!

[k1]

Signed up for the head-to-head league!

Sweet!




Wakefield announced his retirement this morning.  HE WOULD BE THE RED SOX ALL TIME WINS LEADER IF OUR BULLPEN COULD HAVE KEPT IT TOGETHER, OR HE COULD HAVE HAD SOME RUN SUPPORT, OR THEY DIDN'T KEEP BOUNCING HIM TO THE BULLPEN!

This concludes my Tim Wakefield rant of the day.

[Bob]

I did not think knuckleballers retired until they were 90.....

[D.B. Barnes]

I did not think knuckleballers retired until they were 90.....

Indeed! I was surprised to hear Wakefield was stepping down. I half-expected that rubber arm to be on the mound into his early fifties. Kudos on a great career.