"Let's trade Prince Fielder"

[1992casey]

And mods, if this is out of line, please feel free to remove it.

 

I don't think the observation is out of line at all. There's one response in particular that's incredibly condescending, and there's another that crosses that line in a somewhat lesser fashion.

 

That said, the lead is flawed, too. "I told you so" posts--and especially "I told you so" leads--don't sit well with either the membership or the mods.

 

Additionally, as pretendastronaut says, the lead is "aimed at the totally wrong audience," and there isn't "justification for remotely believing a majority of Brewerfan.net members wanted to trade him off last year." The wrong people are being told to eat crow.

[Ennder]

It might have been an innocent statement, but for someone who hasn't had injury problems, just to throw that in

 

I wouldn't read anything into it. Every player in baseball throws in a 'I hope I can stay healthy' comment whenever they discuss their future. I doubt Pujols really means anything by it.

[JUNT4twan]

I agree with TheCrew07, objectively, Prince could very well be at his highest trade value. It's simple buy low/sell high market ideals. IMO, this is a very strong sell signal. Prince's glove has been great, his plate discipline even better, and he's doing what he's supposed to(big HR and RBI numbers), all along with hitting well over .300, with the cherry-topper being winning the HR derby. I can't think of one thing that he can be criticized for. It's as though he's been playing a nearly perfect season, which as we all know, isn't possible in the game of baseball (outside of Mr. Pujols).

 

He's 25. he's under contract for more than one season. He has maximum national exposure with teams and their fans drooling over the dream of having him in their lineup.

 

The problem is that baseball is weird when it comes to paying players. It's as if teams think players will automatically progress season-to-season, even if their already putting up great numbers. The Yanks paid A-rod like he was going to be hitting over .400 with 50HRs and 160 RBIs every year. The problem is, there is an invisible cap in the game that only allows you to do so well. The Yanks will never be satisfied with A-rod because of the way they projected him. I would be in shock if I ever see someone hit over .400 again in this game. The game is too informed and advanced to allow for one player to just absolutely dominate all the time(Pujols is the closest). Everyone has a weakness, which is exposed by the specialization of players as well as all the other tidbits of info that can be needled with.

 

Basically, when someone is at the top of their game, the percentages are in your favor with both getting top value back for them, as well as the almost inevitability of the player not getting much better. When you're the Milwaukee Brewers, you need to balance the short-term and long-term goals. There are so many variables involved with the thought of trading someone like Prince (projections, signability, effect on team performance, effect on fanbase, etc). That's why we're chatting about it on a message board, and not in upper management chatting with the brass.

[TooLiveBrew]

He's 25. he's under contract for more than one season. He has maximum national exposure with teams and their fans drooling over the dream of having him in their lineup.

 

I just have to remind myself this is a Milwaukee Brewers player you're describing. Awesome. I will have to try hard to keep in mind the tremendous value we should get in return once he's gone, because it is going to suck to see him eventually leave.

[Menace II Sobriety]

I have been living in Wisconsin my entire life but in my opinion this ideal of the Brewers is getting a little long in the tooth. I root for the crew every game and never root for another team. There is no way that any top player that the team could ever establish wouldn't entertain playing for the top 2 nationally recognized teams in the nation is pure nonsense.

 

There is no way any of our players were in little league hoping that one day they would play for Milwaukee unless they are from this state. I love this team but we have to realize that even once we have people in this franchise sometimes the grass is greener for them in perception. We just saw Prince have his coming out party this week 2 years after he hit 50 home runs. We have to realize that even if a player loves the franchise we are still the A's. Twins, and Rays of the world. We can debate all we want about the validity of this (which I deeply believe in) but at the end of the day every player at the level of Prince wants to play for the best of the best.

 

As a sidenote; after seeing the growth Prince has shown this year I would do all I could to keep him here as long as possible he is truely an elite hitter.

[dayzedcrewfan]

Menace I love your post. It speaks to the realism of the true fan. We need to realize that in the realistic world of baseball that top tier players will not stay in a small market area. I would love for Prince to stay in Milwaukee but realistically he wont after his contract is up. He will most likely be in pinstripes or in Boston colors. But I hope he realizes Bores is not the answer and loyalty is the key. FINGERS CROSSED!!!

[gumby]

Now that we are at .500 again and Prince's perceived value could not be higher, how about trading him now? Could we get a Josh Beckett for Hanley Ramirez type deal from anyone (where Prince would be the Josh in the deal)? How much could be extract from Boston right now besides Buchholz? Also, maybe we could force the (high payroll) trading partner to take Billy Hall.

[Invader3K]

It would be worth exploring, but I just think trading Prince right now creates a huge void not only at 1B, but with the offense in general. It would probably net the haul to end all trade hauls, though.

[JoeHova]

No matter how good Buchholz looks (I personally think Boston has done a masterful job of overhyping him), he's still just a pitching prospect. Give me hitting prospects every time. If Prince is going to be traded, I hope they get a surer thing than one pitcher. It would be nice to have Buchholz, don't get me wrong, but not at the price of 2.5 years of Fielder.

[Invader3K]

Why would the BoSox want Prince though? I guess maybe as a DH, but they already have Youkilis, Ortiz, and now LaRoche (who they could easily re-sign).

[hawing]

They'd want him so the Yankees couldn't get him.

[pebadger]

The topic of Prince is ceratinly worth discussion, and the downturn of the last several weeks ceratinly brings the idea of trading him sooner rather than later to the fore.

 

 

That said, there is no way that the Brewers can trade Prince any time before next year's trade deadline without completely sabotaging the past few years of goodwill they have banked with the team's fans. Not the hardcore that you find here at BF.net, but the casual fans that turn 20,000 attendance into 40,000 attendance. So long as the Brewers don't mess that up, they will be able to strive for sustained competitiveness. If they lose the fans, it will be very easy for team to slip back to struggling with Pittsburgh near teh bottom of the division.

 

If/when Prince goes, it will probably be over the winter so that fans have time to digest the trade and prepare to welcome the new guys. If Prince does go at the deadline next year, it will likely only be because the Brewers are sufficiently out of the race

[TooLiveBrew]

Why would the BoSox want Prince though? I guess maybe as a DH, but they already have Youkilis, Ortiz, and now LaRoche (who they could easily re-sign).

Even if Ortiz doesn't decline soon, Mike Lowell might not be able to be an everyday player at 3B anymore. Adding Prince would mean Youkilis slides back to 3B & Prince assumes 1B... then takes over as DH once Ortiz is done.