Do we still want Prince and Braun on Long Term Contracts?

[twobrewers]

There have been a few on this site that are perfectly happy with Prince and Braun going year to year through arbitration.

 

But it seemed as though the majority was in favor of giving both of them long-term contracts - assuming they would sign. After 13 games, has anyone changed their mind?

 

1. Prince has really struggled at the plate. He is batting .222 and slugging .289. But my bigger concern - Prince looks fat. He used to be "barrel chested", not he looks sloppy fat. He looks like he has been putting on 20 lbs a year. I am not so sure we still want him in 3 or 4 years. He very well might have peaked last year.

 

2. Braun has been moved off of 3B. Playing LF certainly limits his value. He had significant problems last year drawing walks. He hasn't shown any improvement this year. If he isn't able to exhibit better patience - he severly limits how successful he can be as a Brewer.

 

My point is, why would we pay Prince and Braun based on career years?

[Roscoe Chill]

As far as Prince is concerned, he does look sloppy fat. I don't think his early success has agreed with him for the most part. Whether it's the diet or the money comments (and then of course not taking an offer for money right now), I just get a bad vibe about him for some reason nowadays. And again, his vegetarian diet doesn't seem to be agreeing with him either. If I'm an animal rights guy or a pro veggie guy, I don't want his new diet to be made public at all, it's like a commercial for eating meat it seems to be making his large body in to jelloy mush.

 

Braun on the other hand, I really don't understand how everyone has jumped ship on him at all. Yes, he's looked terrible. But come on.

 

For sure I want Braun long term, but it's unnecesary right now.

[kramnoj]

You don't have to draw walks to be a good hitter. Kirby Puckett put together a great career and never got 60 walks in a year, and didn't draw 50 walks in a year until he was 30 years old.

[PKBadger]

twobrewers, I completely agree with you about Fielder. The same thought was going through my mind as I was watching last night's game. I have no real opinion about his diet (we've already had a thread about the pros and cons) but Prince looks terrible. Plus with LaPorta coming up, and the Boras thing - it really wouldn't bother me if he didn't sign the extension.

 

Braun I think has more value, but he is looking like Francoeur Jr. out there.

[kilgore37]

wow 12 games mvp to bum. Talk about overboard

[brewerjamie15]

A nice little hot streak and this question will be moot.

It's a bit early to be asking about it. OF course we still want them around for an extended amount of time.

Those two guys although in a rough patch right now can combine for an approach at 90 homers.

[Tailgat0r76]

wow 12 games mvp to bum. Talk about overboard

If you read his post you would see that he also included legitimate concerns not regarding their production in the first 14 games

 

[PKBadger]

wow 12 games mvp to bum. Talk about overboard

 

Let me clarify that I'm not about to go into "sky is falling" mode about Prince's early struggles. I still expect him to mash and put up MVP-like numbers. But I do agree with twobrewers' comments about his physical condition.

 

[nullbyte]

After 13 games, has anyone changed their mind?

No 13 baseball games would change my mind about anything.

[twobrewers]

wow 12 games mvp to bum. Talk about overboard

I think a better example of going "overboard" would be failing to read a post accurately and turning a legitimate question (Long-term Contracts vs Arbitration) into implying others are calling them "bums"

[kramnoj]

Also, we don't know how Braun's move to LF has affected his value. His defense at 3B was awful, severely lowering his value to the team. If Braun gets close to the same offensive production, and is merely below average defensively, he may have actually increased his value to the team.

[Raw Biz]

I agree that Prince's body looks a lot different this year, like he got bigger but not in a good way. I know we had a thread about his diet already but I didn't know where else to put this, as I didn't want to start another thread. I've heard from someone who works in the clubhouse that since Prince isn't eating meat, he eats big salads. Except he just drenches them in ranch dressing and piles on a ton of cheese. That just doesn't seem healthy to me and could be a cause of some of his (body) problems.

[Gobias Industries]

I'd still like to lock up Prince. I don't notice his body looking any different. If we can get at least a year of FA in there it would be great. It would really give us more flexibility if we want to trade him a few years in, as more teams would be able to afford him.

 

I wouldn't be looking to lock up Braun yet, so my opinion hasn't changed since his awful start. Another year or two, sure. But not now.

[Weirdos19]

If Prince even had two home runs this conversation would not be going on.

 

Just seeing that we are 8-6 and everybody except Hall, Hart, Kendall, and Kapler are scuffling at the plate, makes me think this team will hit 90 wins when Prince and Braun get on track.

 

They are pressing, that's all. Prince hit 5 HR last April, so he's 2HR behind last April's pace. No big whoop.

[TooLiveBrew]

If Prince were 25-25 with 25 HR I still wouldn't feel any differently than I do now, or did before he started the season 'cool-ly'. Do not sign young, arby/pre-arby players to extensions unless you get at least one year of FA in return. Even then, if it's only one FA season, I'm not convinced it's worth the gamble.

[pitchleague]

this may be a "silly" question, but could both players' struggles be because of the contract negotiations? perhaps things are kind of stressful with the talks and they are pressing on the field and in their minds. I know I've read many interviews with players saying that they wished they'd get the negotiations done because it's affecting their play. Or players stating after they signed the deal that they wished they got it done during the off-season so they could have concentrated better during the season. Just a thought.

[theavrock]

This is Prince now and.....

 

http://www.keynews.org/archives/fielder.jpg

 

This is Prince last season. Maybe someone can tell me how and when he got "sloppy fat."

Give the whole diet thing a rest guys seriously. He is cold right now that is for sure, but no need to question his conditioning or desire. Prince has always been a very motivated and intense player. I haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise

[logan82]

Nothing I have seen to this point in the season changes my mind about long term contracts with either player. Contracts that are longer than 4 years are irresponsible for a club like Milwaukee. Signing either to a contract that doesn't buy out at least 1 year of free agency is also a complete waste. It is also way to early to make any judgement about either player with regards to their performance.

 

Prince may have gained weight or maybe he is wearing a sloppy looking loose uniform.

 

Pitchers have adjusted to Braun. He needs to show some patience and adjust back. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. Hard to make any guess at future performance with under 600 PA. Keep in mind he had a .361 BABIP and a LH OPS split over1.000 last year so we shouldn't expect him to be as good this year as last year.

[JJHardy7]

I've never really wanted to sign Prince long-term as it became more clear that he's going to try and get every penny (his agent is Boras). I see more risk in signing Prince long-term than I do Braun. Fielder's defense also has regressed IMO since 2005 which makes me wonder what kind of 1b he'd be in five or seven years.

 

13 games hasn't changed my mind on Braun and the fact that I get the vibe that his contract would be more reasonable.

[BrewCrewForever]

I like Prince, but I would rather sign Braun and Sheets long term. But that is just me.

[naivin]

Newsflash: Prince is a fat guy. Prince always has been a fat guy, and Prince always will be a fat guy.

 

Sloppy Fat...what does that even mean? He looks like the same fat guy he was last year, and will be next year.

 

He's not hitting, and I can ssure you it has nothing to do with steak, or chicken or cheese or ranch dressing. I find it absolutely comical that people conclude that Prince is not hitting because he changed his diet. Then to what do you attribute Braun not hitting? Soriano? Adam Dunn? Ryan Howard?

[JJHardy7]

I don't think I agree with "sloppy fat" and he has always been a big guy and that's one of the reasons I'd be cautious with signing him long-term. We really don't know how big Prince has got this year (or if he even got bigger) in a large part due to the Brewers inability to get him a uniform that comes close to fitting -- I'm sure that's the way Prince wants it. It'd be nice to see Fielder and Gagne at least come close to wearing uniforms that fit. Prince may weigh the same as last year, but it kind of looks like he's "hiding" something.

[Roscoe Chill]

You can be a large man, which Prince is, even appear "fat" but really not be all that fat, more thick. This year he looks sloppy fat. It's a thing you notice just looking at him. There's nothing solid about him, he looks big and soft. Different than last year. I guess if you don't see it, you don't see it. One thing's for sure, he hasn't lost a pound, judging from the eyeball test.

[TooLiveBrew]

Is that based on watching on TV, or in person? I'm more inclined to trust an opinion if it's from an 'in-person' report.

 

Nothing I have seen to this point in the season changes my mind about long term contracts with either player. Contracts that are longer than 4 years are irresponsible for a club like Milwaukee. Signing either to a contract that doesn't buy out at least 1 year of free agency is also a complete waste. It is also way to early to make any judgement about either player with regards to their performance.

 

Preach on, brother logan! I have nothing to add, aside from that I enjoyed reading this.

[Raw Biz]

I agree with the "sloppy fat" comment although I don't know if I would call it that. Last year, though he was big, looked a lot harder. This year he looks a lot softer and pudgier. Maybe it's the loose uniform or whatever but his body type seems to have changed from looking at it (at least on tv). And I don't think anyone is seriously saying that Prince's diet is the main reason why he isn't hitting, just that maybe it's a factor. And it probably is. Whenever something changes, it will always have some kind of an effect on everything, be it small, large, positive, or negative.