Prince Fielder signs with Tigers - 9yrs/$214 million

[fondybrewfan]

I have to imagine the Tigers will regret this eventually; but jeez that will be a good team in 2012.

 

I am happy for the guy and shame on me for underestimating Scott Boras once again. Well played sir.

[bullox]

Prince was the first player that I checked minor league box scores for on a daily basis. What an amazing ride it has been. That being said, I'm glad he got paid and no way would want the Brewers to have paid that much. Hopefully he's still playing well at the end of that contract.

[Nottso]

I'm very sad. Good luck, Prince.

[brettac1]

If I were Joey Votto, I'd get on the horn to Boras immediately.

[Viva La Grinch]

Great news for Brewers' fans, IMO. First, he signed a contract that the Brewers had zero chance of giving him. No regrets on that end for us, then. Second, he's in the AL on a team that isn't perennially dominant (i.e. Yankees, Red Sox, etc.). So we have excuse to continue to like him. Last, we get another first round pick out of it.

 

I can't really think of another team I'd rather have him go to.

All of this.

 

I would have been truly sad had he taken something we could have rationalized affording i.e. 5 years $125m or something of the like. Instead we will always be able to fall back on the fact that a 9 years $214m deal with the Brewers was just never even remotely plausible. I wish he could've continued here in Milwaukee for the rest of his career but I was glad we had him for the time we did.

 

It is rather amazing to me how much bigger of a deal in terms of total dollars he got than the following 1B who are arguably just as good if not better than Prince:

 

*Adrian Gonzalez 7 years $145m

*Mark Teixeira 8 years $180m

*Ryan Howard 5 years $125m

 

This is why if I would have anything close to major league level baseball talent I would hire Scott Boras as my agent. He is the devil to us small market fans and he has his occasional hiccups (see Madson, Ryan) but most of the time he flat out gets people paid.

 

Thanks for the memories Prince.

Somewhere today, Joey Votto is wearing a big smile after seeing what Prince got. Its weird to think that with the losses of Pujols, Prince, Pena, Lee and probably soon to be Votto, you could have an entire division have to replace their 1B/cleanup hitter in a one year period.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'm more upset that Boras got a team to apparently bid against itself, thus perpetuating that in baseball it's not supply and demand but super agents that set the market.

 

Detroit overpaid. Good for them. I know the auto industry has come back some but the Tigers would need to increase their attendance by oh, say another 7 to 800,000 or more(assuming more of their unsold tickets were of the nosebleed type seats last year) to pay that salary. That's not going to happen.

[TooLiveBrew]

Also, this was a "mystery team".

Agreed, so maybe the 'Boras really screwed Prince' comments can stop. Congrats to Prince, super happy for him, & the Tigers are a new favorite team for me.

EDIT:

I have to imagine the Tigers will regret this eventually; but jeez that will be a good team in 2012.

And '13, and '14, and '15...

This is a mega-move by Dave Dombrowski. It's like the all-in move(s) Melvin made in '11, but for at least a three-season window.

[Warning Track Power]

Great news for Brewers' fans, IMO. First, he signed a contract that the Brewers had zero chance of giving him. No regrets on that end for us, then. Second, he's in the AL on a team that isn't perennially dominant (i.e. Yankees, Red Sox, etc.). So we have excuse to continue to like him. Last, we get another first round pick out of it.

 

I can't really think of another team I'd rather have him go to.

All of this.

 

I would have been truly sad had he taken something we could have rationalized affording i.e. 5 years $125m or something of the like. Instead we will always be able to fall back on the fact that a 9 years $214m deal with the Brewers was just never even remotely plausible. I wish he could've continued here in Milwaukee for the rest of his career but I was glad we had him for the time we did.

 

It is rather amazing to me how much bigger of a deal in terms of total dollars he got than the following 1B who are arguably just as good if not better than Prince:

 

*Adrian Gonzalez 7 years $145m

*Mark Teixeira 8 years $180m

*Ryan Howard 5 years $125m

 

This is why if I would have anything close to major league level baseball talent I would hire Scott Boras as my agent. He is the devil to us small market fans and he has his occasional hiccups (see Madson, Ryan) but most of the time he flat out gets people paid.

 

Thanks for the memories Prince.

Somewhere today, Joey Votto is wearing a big smile after seeing what Prince got. Its weird to think that with the losses of Pujols, Prince, Pena, Lee and probably soon to be Votto, you could have an entire division have to replace their 1B/cleanup hitter in a one year period.

And the scariest thing of all...

 

On January 24, 2012, I'd take Votto over any other 1B in baseball.

 

[CheezWizHed]

In the "Prince Fielder signs with... " thread in the transactions forum TooLiveBrew was the first to utter "Detroit". Looks like you and Prince are the big winners of the day. You have earned yourself 0% of Fielder's winnings... http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/wink.gif

 

And we were so close to getting him back for a 1 year $20M contract...

[TooLiveBrew]

You have earned yourself 0% of Fielder's winnings

 

I would've taken the Miller Park Special Cut -- 1/10th of 1%. Sadly, that would be $214,000 that I don't actually get to have.

[CheezWizHed]

Well, I was going to give that much in deferred money, but I unfortunately invested it in a ponzi scheme...

[jjfanec]

I wonder if Detroit had any real interest before Martinez went down? They are in a very winnable division. They now have the best pitcher and the two best hitters in the division. They look pretty good going forward.

[Bikeage77]

Assuming Prince can do what he did in Milwaukee, they'll retire his number and he'll go in the Hall of Fame as a Tiger. Neither thing his father did. Eclipsing his father's legacy in Detroit ten fold. Giving Prince the final laugh.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Didn't see this coming at all. But I'm pretty happy with it. I wanted him to go to an AL team that I didn't hate. Now I can still pull for him. Happy for him. He got the money he wanted, and I'm sure he'll be happy to erase his father's memory from Detroit.

[fondybrewfan]

I guess I really didn't think about the HOF question. If he were to put up the numbers I suppose his Tigers career might well eclipse is Brewers career. That would be a very interesting question down the road if he were able to keep up his production.

 

I think the Tigers will like the first 4 years; the next 2 might be OK, with the last 2 being pretty bad. I sure hope that they didn't backload it (I guess I shouldn't care if they did or not but it seems like it would be pretty dumb if they did)

[gregmag]

I'm more upset that Boras got a team to apparently bid against itself, thus perpetuating that in baseball it's not supply and demand but super agents that set the market.

 

Detroit overpaid. Good for them. I know the auto industry has come back some but the Tigers would need to increase their attendance by oh, say another 7 to 800,000 or more(assuming more of their unsold tickets were of the nosebleed type seats last year) to pay that salary. That's not going to happen.

Yeah, this is what I'm wondering about too. Where is the money coming from? It isn't an enormous media market. That is really going to be an albatross contract, maybe when they're only halfway through it.

 

Good for Prince, and best wishes to him. Watching him grow up as a player has been a lot of fun, and he'll always be a big part of the Brewers' legacy (such as it is).

[brettac1]

Look for Hot and Ready pizzas at Little Caesar's to go up to $6 now.

[owbc]

I'm happy for Prince. He gets to be on a perennial contender and the city of Detroit needs him. He will be motivated to eclipse his father. He did everything we could have asked for in Milwaukee and I'm sure he will always be welcome here. Maybe we can sign him back for a year or two when he is 38-39.

[bjkrautk]

Out of curiosity, is there any player on the market that Detroit could sign that would leave us Sabbathia'd out of first-round compensation?

 

 

Happy for Prince that he's getting paid, and happy as a Brewers fan he's getting paid in the AL (and not in Chicago). I just hope he wins a ring (in a year when the Brewers aren't in the series, of course). In hindsight, it makes complete sense that Detroit would be able to justify the largest contract to get Fielder, given the fanbase's ties to his father. He will keep fans in the seats.

[Raw Biz]

Out of curiosity, is there any player on the market that Detroit could sign that would leave us Sabbathia'd out of first-round compensation?

No, I mentioned it in other threads. The only player rated higher than Prince was Pujols.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

Look for Hot and Ready pizzas at Little Caesar's to go up to $6 now.

Especially the Veggie's Lover

[LouisEly]

All it takes is two teams to bid against each other - Detriot and Washington. If there was another mystery team in there bidding I'd say it was the Orioles - they desperately need to make a splash in their division.

 

Glad he went to the AL and not Chicago or St. Louis. As I type this, ironically, from St. Louis. But I wouldn't get real excited about pick #27/28. Not a lot of impact players taken around there. Hopefully they can get lucky and find a Wainwright or a Colby Rasmus or Gio Gonzalez. Not many impact bats there; the odds of landing an impact pitcher are better.

[DocBrewPack]

wow, how does Boras always do it.

[logan82]

wow, how does Boras always do it.

Except when he doesn't.

[yoyo49]

Congrats to P. He gave everything he had during his six-plus years in Milwaukee. Hope he gets a ring with Detroit.