The trade value of Prince Fielder (part 1)

[chadomac]

So with the Giants needing offense and being in contention... is there any chance Fielder packaged with Hart or another player or two could get us Madison Bumganer?

 

Or would the Giants want to leave 1B open for Sandoval eventually?

[Oldcity]

Normally I would say the Giants would never give up Bumgarner, but they did trade Alderson for freaking Freddy Sanchez, so who knows. I wouldn't expect it though.

[JohnBriggs12]

So with the Giants needing offense and being in contention... is there any chance Fielder packaged with Hart or another player or two could get us Madison Bumganer?

 

Or would the Giants want to leave 1B open for Sandoval eventually?

No chance the Giants will part with Bumgarner or Matt Cain either as I've seen suggested. The current 5th starter for the Giants is Todd Wellemeyer. At some point soon, they will replace him with Bumgarner. The Giants are getting decent production out of Aubrey Huff at 1B. I'm sure they would have interest in Fielder but unless the Brewers were willing to take the likes of Travis Ishikawa, Daryl Maday and one or two other prospects for Fielder I don't see a match.

[nate82]

No chance the Giants will part with Bumgarner or Matt Cain either as I've seen suggested. The current 5th starter for the Giants is Todd Wellemeyer. At some point soon, they will replace him with Bumgarner. The Giants are getting decent production out of Aubrey Huff at 1B. I'm sure they would have interest in Fielder but unless the Brewers were willing to take the likes of Travis Ishikawa, Daryl Maday and one or two other prospects for Fielder I don't see a match.

I agree and I believe the Giants even if they weren't getting production from Huff they could always move DeRosa to 3B and Sandoval to 1B.

 

I also don't see the Angels as someone the Brewers should target no one in their system as far as pitching goes really wows me at all. I still like the Rangers and if they continue to not pull away from the Angels and if the Angels pick up someone like Konerko or Berkman then I could see the Rangers trying to get Prince. Though I believe the return value for Prince will be higher in the off season than it will be during the trade deadline. The Brewers may miss out on one less prospect from a team but there will be more teams bidding for Prince during the off season than there will be during the trade deadline.

 

The Red Sox will have to decide on Ortiz if they are going to keep him or not. I think they will dump Ortiz and will be interested in Fielder then more so now because Ortiz is putting up some solid numbers right now. A dark horse for next season will be the Nationals. The Nationals will have a rather nice young core of players and adding Prince and signing him to a long term deal would make them instant contenders in the NL East I would put them as the 2nd or 3rd best team in the NL East then and they would probably become a rather big power house in the NL East for a long time.

 

I still think it is too early to tell who is going to need what at the trading deadline but it is starting to become more clear. I believe a trade of Hart to the A's or even the Rays may make some sense and I believe Prince won't be traded at the deadline.

[Invader3K]

I agree that as things are starting to look, it may make sense to wait and shop Fielder this off-season. It seems like there may be more potential buyers for his services at that point. I sure hope Melvin keeps his eyes and ears open this summer, though.

[endaround]

The Red Sox and both Chicago teams could have 1B openings in the offseason. i really only see a big opportunity if Smoak continues to struggle in Texas(of course he's hitting .421 for June so he may start pushing his numbers up) or Atlanta decides to make one last big push for Chipper and Cox.

[sfl2hnq17]

or you keep prince until around next year is over and he is a type a free agent and you get a first round and sandwich pick.

[jjkoestler]

A dark horse for next season will be the Nationals. The Nationals will have a rather nice young core of players and adding Prince and signing him to a long term deal would make them instant contenders in the NL East I would put them as the 2nd or 3rd best team in the NL East then and they would probably become a rather big power house in the NL East for a long time.

I was thinking the same thing as I was watching the Nats game today. A 3-4-5 of Harper, Zimmerman, and Prince would be pretty nasty. What would the Nats have to give up to get Prince? I don't know much about their system.

[Invader3K]

or you keep prince until around next year is over and he is a type a free agent and you get a first round and sandwich pick.

Been there, done that, with Sheets and Sabathia. No thanks.

[Boisebrewer]

The problem with waiting until the offseason to trade Prince is that management gets this optimistic outlook and thinks we are a $12 million 35 year old pitcher away from the playoffs. I'm afraid that if we don't trade him at the deadline we will have to settle for draft picks. Of course I'd rather keep Prince for picks than trade him away for three AAAA players.

[thebruce44]

A dark horse for next season will be the Nationals. The Nationals will have a rather nice young core of players and adding Prince and signing him to a long term deal would make them instant contenders in the NL East I would put them as the 2nd or 3rd best team in the NL East then and they would probably become a rather big power house in the NL East for a long time.

I was thinking the same thing as I was watching the Nats game today. A 3-4-5 of Harper, Zimmerman, and Prince would be pretty nasty. What would the Nats have to give up to get Prince? I don't know much about their system.

Harper won't be up next season as an 18 year old. If the reasoning for the Nats is to get that 3-4-5, they might as well try to sign Prince when he is a FA. No sense in them giving up prospects for Prince's 2011 services.

[endaround]

The Nats have been talking about extending Dunn and Dunn at best is a 1B.

[nate82]

The Nats have been talking about extending Dunn and Dunn at best is a 1B.

But Prince would be everything that Dunn is and more. I would think that they would be looking to make a big splash in the market especially for next year even without Harper being in consideration. But with the Dunn talks I have been looking as the Nats being a dark horse since it would be a surprise if they don't sign Dunn long term but I believe signing Prince long term over Dunn would be a better decision and it would give the Nats three faces to their organization with R. Zimmerman, Prince, and Strasburg.

 

If it won't be the Nats it may as well be the Yankees or Red Sox and I am not sure that the Yankees are really a good match both prospect wise and if the Yankees would really be interested in Prince since the Yankees will have an excess amount of DH options already on their team Posada (DH only right now and playing some games at 1B/C), Rodriguez, Jeter, Swisher, and Teixeira. I don't really see a fit with the Yankees. The Red Sox though if they can't get Gonzalez will go hard after Prince but who will be competing against the Red Sox? The Rays definitely won't compete against the Red Sox for Fielder so you can probably count them out of it. You could add the Blue Jays to the mix along with some big question marks with the Rangers, Angels, Dodgers, and White Sox. Though I don't see the White Sox being a good trading partner nearly all of their good prospects were dealt to San Diego this last off season.

 

This trading deadline is even more bare in terms of teams needing a player like Prince since there is other value out there I would put Konerko having more value to a team like the Angels who are only looking for a stop gap at 1B and not really looking for anything else. That leaves Berkman and Prince as the next two players with a lot of value left. Again it will come down to the Rangers, Giants, Rays, and the Red Sox. I think you can eliminate the Rays and the Giants as possibilities for either Prince or Berkman. If the Rays need a DH they could always sign Delgado or Dye. With the recent performances of both Pena and Ortiz I think you can eliminate the Rays and Red Sox unless both of those players start to considerably under perform. I'm not sure either will do that. So barring any major injury I don't see a team that will have the prospects to give up nor the desire to give up said prospects for Prince at this time.

[endaround]

Prince will cost money and prospects, Dunn only money. I'm not saying signing Dunn long term is smart, only that looks to be where the Nats are headed.

 

I agree that the market for 1B at the deadline is slim. Oakland doesn't have the money, while Loney has turned back into Loney the Dodgers may not have the money either, the Giants could bring up Posey and actually play him, Smoak has started to hit in Texas, and Tampa likely doesn't have the money.

 

I think waiting until the offseason when the Red Sox, likely the Dodgers and both Chicago teams will be shopping will be a better choice if Fielder is traded.

[chuckiehacks]

I'm at the game, sitting next to a "casual fan" who is predicting that the Brewers will get Bucholz and Youklis for Fielder. Clearly any trade will be a PR disaster, even if it is the right move.

[logan82]

Clearly any trade will be a PR disaster, even if it is the right move.

 

Yup pretty much. It will be "same old Brewers" even though we signed Braun and Gallardo to long deals.

 

I would trade Fielder for an impact bat or two if the right pitcher isn't available. It isn't like our system is stocked with good bats right now.

[trwi7]

I'm at the game, sitting next to a "casual fan" who is predicting that the Brewers will get Bucholz and Youklis for Fielder. Clearly any trade will be a PR disaster, even if it is the right move.

 

It doesn't help that stupid radio hosts make it seem like it's actually possible to the casual fan.

[Invader3K]

I can't believe people are still clinging to the thought of a trade for Clay Buchholz (or Matt Cain for that matter). It's like, get over it already. If it was going to happen, it would have already.

[nate82]

Ask yourself this when you think about trading Fielder for Buchholz. Would you have traded Gallardo for Ortiz last year?

[TheCrew07]

That's a horrible comparison. 1 player is way past his prime, the other is at the start of his prime.

[nate82]

That's a horrible comparison. 1 player is way past his prime, the other is at the start of his prime.

OK pretend they are the same age. It is about the same thing why does everyone always get hung up on the semantics? If you want a comparison that fits your mold then would you trade Gallardo for 1.5 years of Fielder? Better?

[TheCrew07]

Our situation is hardly similar to Boston's, not in any way, semantics have nothing to do with it.. Asking what I would do in Milwaukee, having only 1 good pitcher, very limited resources, different expectations, different pressures to win, and so on... it doesn't matter what players you use the comparison just doesn't work, it's not relevant no matter how you spin it.

 

Of course I don't trade Gallardo because we only have 1 top of the rotation starter. I see trading a young starting pitcher for a glorified rental position player a tremendous step down in value. However, if I'm Boston and I'm desperate I try to go after Fielder with prospects because Beckett has been pretty bad. If Beckett was performing at all I could see trading Buchholz for Prince depending how desperate they are, they can resign him, and the could still go after Lee in free agency if they wanted for 2011. Teams make trades all the time that I don't think make sense value wise. It's not as far fetched as you make it sound as they would have still had Lester, Lackey, Beckett, and Dice K... unfortunately for us Lackey and Dice K haven't been very good and Beckett has been pretty bad.

 

Epstein has been pretty good with his money but his pitching situation could handcuff him for while if the older players continue to slide and they aren't even that old. Lackey and Beckett are only 30, and Dice K 29, I wouldn't have guessed Boston's pitching would be this bad outside of Lester and Buchholz.

[nate82]

Our situation is hardly similar to Boston's, not in any way, semantics have nothing to do with it.. Asking what I would do in Milwaukee, having only 1 good pitcher, very limited resources, different expectations, different pressures to win, and so on... it doesn't matter what players you use the comparison just doesn't work, it's not relevant no matter how you spin it.

You completely missed the point and I am just going to leave it at that.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Trade Fielder and Hart and Cash to Tampa Bay for Hellickson, Jennings.

[gobrew23]

Trade Fielder and Hart and Cash to Tampa Bay for Hellickson, Jennings.

While I would love this trade, there is no way Tampa would do it. They aren't looking to take on payroll.