How many millions has Fielder cost himself in the last month?

[JohnBriggs12]

It was not too long ago the speculation was the Fielder would break the bank in arbitration this offseason and get something similar to the $10 million Howard got.

 

I have to believe Fielders' woeful performance of late has cost him at least $3 million so far and that he can't expect more than $7 million next season and that could even go lower if he keeps up this awful pace.

[Fatter than Joey]

Thats an interesting question -- He sure isn't helping his cause at all. I suspect though you may be right.

[bklynbrewcrew]

He definitely has cost himself tons of money but Im more concerned on what he has cost the team. He is a major reason why the offense has collapsed of late and his trade value isnt what we need it to be in order to trade him. He has gained a ton of weight this season and it has adversely affected his play.

[brwrsfan]

Anyone else see the clip last night of the 5 HR inning? They showed Prince hitting the final one and all 3 guys I was with exclaimed the same thing:

 

LOOK HOW SKINNY HE WAS!!!

 

He's easily added 40 pounds since then and it's obviously hurting his production. He's killing us right now.

[bklynbrewcrew]

I totally saw that clip and its not the first time I have seen a clip of Prince from 2 or 3 years back and the differences are startling. Anyone that says Prince has not gained a ton of weight in the last few years just isnt watching closely.

[joepepsi]

Anyone else see the clip last night of the 5 HR inning? They showed Prince hitting the final one and all 3 guys I was with exclaimed the same thing:

 

LOOK HOW SKINNY HE WAS!!!

 

He's easily added 40 pounds since then and it's obviously hurting his production. He's killing us right now.

So you're saying he weighs 300 pounds now? I can't buy that, but I bet next Spring we will hear stories about how much weight he lost over the winter.

[Fatter than Joey]

So you're saying he weighs 300 pounds now?

 

The official weight is 270 -- my guess is that he weighs more than that.

[datrain711]

He might end up hitting under .250 if he doesn't turn this around. Not only did he lose a lot of money in potential arbitration money, but if he doesn't drop some of that weight and start playing better, that contract he turned down is going to look a lot better to him.

[JohnBriggs12]

Anyone else see the clip last night of the 5 HR inning? They showed Prince hitting the final one and all 3 guys I was with exclaimed the same thing:

 

LOOK HOW SKINNY HE WAS!!!

 

He's easily added 40 pounds since then and it's obviously hurting his production. He's killing us right now.

I couldn't agree more. It's why I started this thread. All the fingers get pointed at the pen and they deserve a lot of blame, but when your cleanup hitter does nothing for over a month, no team can survive that.

[Klements Bratwurst]

How many clean up hitters in Major League Baseball, especially those in the middle of a playoff race go almost a month without hitting a homerun? I believe it is this Wednesday or Thursday the date from one month ago that marks the mighty Prince's last HR. That is completely unacceptable. Oh, and last year he could at least have a prayer against lefties, now he is an automatic ground ball out to second base.

 

Now, if he gets going, I can think of no better time than NOW for him to go on a Prince Fielder tear that he has done before, but this long streak of "suckiness" coupled with that terrible string he had on the road trip earlier this summer (Atlanta, Minnesota, and Arizona) is awful for any clean up hitter.

 

Prince should have taken the deal the Brewers offered, because he may be a Mo Vaughn in a few years, breaking down before he breaks the bank.

[jwill535]

While he may or may not have gained alot of weight, one this is for sure is that he is flabbier that he was back then. Where he was a bigger but still put together guy a few years ago, he is getting into the sloppy fat range.

 

As for his batting, it is getting to the point that it resembles when a pitcher comes up in a rally for me. I see that Prince is coming up and I pretty much assume a K or a grounder to the first baseman. To be fair, I am starting to feel that way for Braun or for that matter any player on this team except for ironically Parra.

[JJHardy7]

that contract he turned down is going to look a lot better to him.

 

That is if the same contract is still on the table, which if I'm the Brewers I think I've withdrawn the offer.

[kalle8]

He definitely has cost himself tons of money but Im more concerned on what he has cost the team. He is a major reason why the offense has collapsed of late and his trade value isnt what we need it to be in order to trade him. He has gained a ton of weight this season and it has adversely affected his play.

 

 

i was shocked, i didn't realized it.

maybe with all the veggies he started to eat it is only gas that doubled is size, maybe is lighter than air, that's tha answer for his lack of power

[bcf5575]

dont confuse being vegetarian with eating healthy. pie, soda, doritoes, donuts, etc are still in play.

 

i too have noticed that he looks a lot bigger this year too. it is effecting his whole game - he looks like he cant bend over to get ground balls in the field either...

[colbyjack]

That's a good call John, one I was thinking about the other day. I would say $7 million is the max he could expect this offseason, and if he doesn't get his body turned around, he could be looking at losing a lot more money in years to come.

 

It's funny, because all of the things we were worried about this guy even before the Brewers drafted him (conditioning and defense) are starting to come back and haunt us (surprise surprise).

[fondybrewfan]

I am not even sure he will get $7 million. This situation screams an arbitration hearing to me. Prince and Boras are going to want the wold because of his 2007 year and the Brewers are going to low ball him because of his crappy 2008. I could easily see the Brewers offering like $5.5M and Prince asking for like $9M. I don't see any way that this doesn't go to a arbitration hearing this offseason.

 

The likelihood of a Prince trade this offseason is growing by the strikeout, and our return package is shrinking. Earlier this year we wondered if Fielder could get Cain or Lincecum, now their is absolutely no chance of that happening. Maybe Jonathon Sanchez. You could make a case that he is the worst 1st baseman in the division at this point when considering offense and defense. I am not so sure I wouldn't take LaRoche, Votto, Lee, Pujols, or Berkman over him at this point. I'd take the last 3 in a heart beat obviously.

[Fatter than Joey]

I have to think he has lost his opportunity for an extension as well.

[joepepsi]

He's in the middle of a terrible 20 game slump. The game before this slump set in his OPS had peaked for the year at .907, which currently would place him 3rd in the league among 1B.

 

No he's not having the same great year as 2007--that may never happen again. Yes, compared to that season his season has been disappointing. But even with this horrible slump he shares the 8th highest OPS among NL 1B with, ahem, Derrek Lee.

 

I suppose it's possible he's now so fat he's worn down. Maybe a day off would be good for him. It's also true he's not hitting lefties well this year. But those kind of splits can vary widely from year to year.

 

It's not like he's pulled an Andru Jones. I think this season is within a reasonable range of his expected performance. He's going to end up with 30 some homers, and an .850 or higher OPS. It that constitutes a bad year, then the Brewers are very lucky to have him for several more seasons.

[biedergb]

No, it's not a bad year, but for someone who looked to be the next superstar, and his financial comments this past spring training indicate he thought he could be paid as an elite player. So his offensive number are fair, but not great. But the two bigs differences between an everday player and a superstar is 1) carrying the team at some point and 2) making up for lack of run production with other contributions (ie, scoring runs by taking the base, playing good defense, moving runners up, not attacking your teammates). He's 0 for 4 on all accounts, with a mild increase in walks but I suspect (and someone may have the numbers) that for the number of times he's "pitched around" he doesn't actually draw the number of walks you would expect. He's playing awfully in the field. He seems (as was pointed out before) to pull a lot of grounders to 2nd which doesn't advance runners. He attacked Manny Parra in the dugout.

 

So while D. Lee, A. Jones may be able to make up for the lack of traditional production, Fielder is not, and that is why he is being singled out. I don't think it's unfair or inappropriate. Ryan Braun has had a mini-slump, but he carried our offense for a few stretches. He hasn't been a glaring deficit in the outfield. He will steal some bases, draw some walks.

[bork]

Not good when your 1B/cleanup hitter is being out hit by your shortstop and center fielder.

[colbyjack]

No he's not having the same great year as 2007--that may never happen again. Yes, compared to that season his season has been disappointing. But even with this horrible slump he shares the 8th highest OPS among NL 1B with, ahem, Derrek Lee.

 

True, and biedergb already did a good job responding to your point, but we're talking about arbitration here, and Fielder definitely cost himself several million dollars with Ryan Howard's season last year and record amount awarded through the arbitration process being the benchmark of what many, and I'm sure Fielder included, expected this upcoming offseason. I think it's a very interesting discussion because we are going to be hearing a lot more about this between now and January, which may very well make Fielder a popular name in trade rumors and proposals.

 

I could easily see the Brewers offering like $5.5M and Prince asking for like $9M. I don't see any way that this doesn't go to a arbitration hearing this offseason.

 

That's risky, because an arbitrator chooses one of the two figures, there is no common ground in the process, which is usually why you see the two sides come to an agreement before the hearings, which usually is the middle ground.

[logan82]

At the start of the year I was thinking Fielder would get in the $9M range. Just a bit below what Howard got. Fielder doesn't have an MVP or ROTY. Yes, I know the awards are arbitrary and don't mean anything, but they do when it comes to salary. I thought the Brewers could get him for $8M and he would probably ask for $10M+. Now, I would have to guess $7M max and probably less. I don't see much chance of this not going to arbitration unless Fielder changes agents.

[rluzinski]

Prince was always a terrible defender and gained some weight during the 06-07 offseason as well, but people largely ignored it because he hit 50 HRs and was an offensive power last year. I don't imagine his weight is helping him but to say his recent struggles is so obviously a result of weight ignores the facts. His weight is only one factor and has an unknown negative contribution to his ofensive and defensive performance.

 

And does the blame mob always have to find one guy to single out for every losing streak? It's so darn predictable. I'm sure you can find a number of underperforming players to blame if you felt so inclinded. I know it's not as emotionally satisfying to not have a single person to direct your frustrations at but at least try to remain objective?

[JJHardy7]

And does the blame mob always have to find one guy to single out for every losing streak? It's so darn predictable. I'm sure you can find a number of underperforming players to blame if you felt so inclinded. I know it's not as emotionally satisfying to not have a single person to direct your frustrations at but at least try to remain objective?

 

I agree that there's more to blame than one person. I do think that certain players are held more accountable than others and Prince is a clean up hitter and the team needs him. If CC or Sheets struggles for awhile, there will be threads on that because we need them to perform at a high level in order to win ball games.

[datrain711]

And does the blame mob always have to find one guy to single out for every losing streak? It's so darn predictable. I'm sure you can find a number of underperforming players to blame if you felt so inclinded. I know it's not as emotionally satisfying to not have a single person to direct your frustrations at but at least try to remain objective?

It seems to me that Ned, Gagne, Riske, and Prince are all getting blamed for the recent losing streak. This thread is specifically about Fielder, so people are obviously going to post things about him on here, but the majority of posts say things like "he's been a big part of the recent struggles", which is pretty accurate, and not things like "Fielder is the main reason we aren't going to the playoffs, etc"

 

BTW, I agree 100% with how it is easier to blame one person, and also that this board (including myself) can get carried away with piling on somebody when he's in a slump. However, I think that right now people are doing a fairly good job in spreading the blame around for the recent crappy performances.

 

Hopefully, we'll start playing playing better than we can have more threads about possible playoff scenarios http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif