Fielder: This is probably the last year in Milwaukee

[brewmann04]

sorry keep this till after the playoffs Prince woory about your fielding now and worry about not blowing this lead.

then don't let the door hit you . Sorry but this is not the time for this.

[jimmyjeromehardy7]

Sick of the media being blamed for the Krod and Prince comments. Sorry, but like it or not it's news when KRod says the Brewers deceived him. It's the media's job to ask Prince about next year. he could have answered like he has 1,000 times before. "I'm focused on winning a WS right now." or "I'm concetrating on THIS season, trying to win a pennant." That's not media speak, i would hope it's the truth. There's a time to temper Brewers' fans expectations, he can do that starting the day after the Brewers are eliminated.

Who made it the media's job to ask him about next year? Shouldn't they be asking him about the upcoming game/series, rest of the season? The media know the situation with his contract as does the rest of the baseball world. Why does it need to be asked in September? The media's job is to report on the news. Nothing new was coming out of the contract situation so what is the reason to report on that now? That is/was my point above.

 

 

[NievesNoNO]

He was asked a question and answered it honestly. I don't think that's casue for being a distraction. Non-story is my book. As long as he chooses not to play in the NL Central next season I'll wish him well. If he's a Cub next season I will have lost some respect for him

[wisniewski]

sorry keep this till after the playoffs Prince woory about your fielding now and worry about not blowing this lead.

then don't let the door hit you . Sorry but this is not the time for this.

I am firmly entrenched in this camp as well. Just odd timing. Sure, his honesty is wonderful, but not really necessary given the context of everything else going on.

 

I mentioned before, if Boras conned an MLB GM into giving Jayson Werth 128 million, I shudder to think what he's going to get for Prince.

 

If the Brewers do get Lance Berkman, is it really that much of dropoff in production at the plate? Defensively, it's a wash.

[bucksman4]

This leads me to propose the question...if the Brewers got swept in the first round of the playoffs and Prince signs elsewhere this off season would you be disappointed that the Brewers didn't trade him prior to the season or at the deadline, seeing as though he is arguably the most valuable trading chip the Brewers have had in decades.

[Invader3K]

This leads me to propose the question...if the Brewers got swept in the first round of the playoffs and Prince signs elsewhere this off season would you be disappointed that the Brewers didn't trade him prior to the season or at the deadline, seeing as though he is arguably the most valuable trading chip the Brewers have had in decades.

No. The impression I got was that the Brewers did try to shop around Prince this past off-season, and there wasn't really much interest. It was better keeping him and getting the comp picks this year than trading him for a mediocre return.

[Roderick]

This leads me to propose the question...if the Brewers got swept in the first round of the playoffs and Prince signs elsewhere this off season would you be disappointed that the Brewers didn't trade him prior to the season or at the deadline,

No. I don't complain about the CC trade, nor will I complain about the Fielder non-trade. The after-the-fact that you got swept is irrelevant to me. A playoff shot is a playoff shot and once you are in, who knows. Those only come around every so often, so you better take your shot when you can. I'm sure there are numerous teams that had young very good players that thought they would be in the playoffs every year for many years, but then an injury here, a bad year here, etc and where has the time went.

[jeffy]

This leads me to propose the question...if the Brewers got swept in the first round of the playoffs and Prince signs elsewhere this off season would you be disappointed that the Brewers didn't trade him prior to the season or at the deadline, seeing as though he is arguably the most valuable trading chip the Brewers have had in decades.

 

No, because first of all the strategy was to go for it because they were apparently not going to get a big return by trading him. Even if they did not make the playoffs that would not mean it was not worth trying to do so this year. Secondly the goal is to make the playoffs, after that there is a lot of luck involved in how far they go.

[FoxyFoxes]

Wait...so in 2008 on my birthday.. the Brewers fire Ned Yost.

This year....Prince Fielder decides it is his last year.

Talk about a 180.

[CheezWizHed]

Winning Baseball, Division Championship Banner, Playoff baseball.... After years of ineptitude, its nice to have (or have a good shot at obtaining) again.

 

This year....Prince Fielder decides it is his last year.

 

If it helps, he has decided nothing until the ink dries on that new contract.

[FoxyFoxes]

I still hold a glimmer of hope that winning a World Series with his buddy Rickie would go a long ways............Now if only they won the World Series..

[NievesNoNO]

bucksman4[/b]]This leads me to propose the question...if the Brewers got swept in the first round of the playoffs and Prince signs elsewhere this off season would you be disappointed that the Brewers didn't trade him prior to the season or at the deadline, seeing as though he is arguably the most valuable trading chip the Brewers have had in decades.

 

No. The time to trade him would've been at the deadline last season. He's also the most valuable hitter the Brewers have had in decades. I may feel differently if they hadn't made a concerted effort to make a run at things this season, but only 8 teams make the playoffs each season and if you're in you have just about as good a chance as any team there.

[brettac1]

I hope people don't hold this type of stuff against him. He was going to be a Brewer for his six years and move on from the day he was drafted, and there was nothing wrong with that. If both parties know going in that it's for a finite period of time, and then it's over, nobody gets hurt (is that still about baseball? I'm not sure). Every move both parties made over the years pointed toward him moving on, from the Brewers committing to Braun/Weeks/Hart/Gallardo, to Fielder hiring Boras, etc. Big deal, and have a great rest of your career in Baltimore or whichever AL East team you wind up with.

[chickinbrickin]

To me this team looks dead and doesn't care if they win or lose.

 

I don't know how someone can look at Braun's walk off HR and think this team doesn't care if it wins.

 

I think he was more pumped about getting closer to 30-30 than winning the game.

[benji]

It doesn't bother me one bit. Prince is not worth the money he will get. His WAR is 4.4 on fangraphs which is barley in the top twenty of players. For what he will cost the Brewers will do much better upgrading SS and getting a better defensive 1B.

[theavrock]

I don't hold this against him. I hold him choosing to answer this reporters question this way at this time of the season. It has been emblazoned on ESPN and all of the local media outlets. I don't know whether or not this is distracting but why take the risk?

 

This franchise has won the division once in their existence and we should be taking every precaution necessary to make that happen this year not talking to the media about foregone conclusions that could wait until after the year is over.

 

Shut your mouth, give the PC answer and go out and hit some home runs to let me enjoy you while I have you.

[jeffy]

Michael Hunt: Maybe this comes off as a little hypocritical from a sports writer. I've asked Fielder plenty of times over the years about his future, and he's always said something along the lines of what will be will be. And anyway, it was a pointless question.

 

I don't know if it is hypocritical, but what do you call it when a reporter keeps asking a (in his own words) "pointless" question but hopes the person he is asking it of does not give a real answer? I think Hunt is maybe just annoyed that Fielder only ever gave him the pat non-answer but BA got something more out of him.

[dlk9s]

then don't let the door hit you .

What's with the venom?

[brewmann04]

I am sorry but 20 Million dollars a year with a team you grew with and Friends and a city that loves you and you turned it down.

Maybe i ticked at the Greddy players maybe just ticked that it came out now instead of the end of the Season.

[endaround]

I fully applaud Fielder's leadership skills here. Instead of people focusing on the poor recent play of the Brewers all attention has gone to something that was obvious since April 1st.

[pitchleague]

at least Boston is making sure Milwaukee isn't alone. The Sawx had a pretty darn big lead, too, and have blown it almost completely.

[wisniewski]

I fully applaud Fielder's leadership skills here. Instead of people focusing on the poor recent play of the Brewers all attention has gone to something that was obvious since April 1st.

For the life of me, I can't tell if this is sarcasm. There's no way in the world this is a serious post.

[brewmann04]

Yes thanks to Boston noboby but us fans and the Cards fans have noticed the lead shrinking.

[pebadger]

Prince made his statement in the context of a longer-form sit-down talk with BA. That is the kind of media interaction he rarely does. From my perspective, if he wasn't going to be a bit more open than he usually is then the whole enterprise was pointless. A sit-down talk is a lot different than the short give-and-take stuff that goes on in the clubhouse every day and night.

 

He didn't say he hated Milwaukee. He didn't say he was gone for sure. He said "probably". In a lot of ways it sounds like he was sort of reminiscing about the good times he has had here with Braun. The underlying sentiment is that he really hopes he can go out, if he does go out, on a high note. Everybody in that clubhouse knows the score. He didn't say a single thing to change that. Maybe some people outside the clubhouse had their sensibilities ruffled a bit, but from the perspective of the clubhouse right now, who cares?

 

So yeah, maybe Prince never should have agreed to the interview. But if that's the case, and he leaves Milwaukee, you never ever get that interview. He's certainly not giving a long-form sit-down interview during the postseason. So what do you want, Brewer fans? Do you want to hear from Prince now, or never (or at least until he's long gone)?

[TooLiveBrew]

I don't know why this would be either news or a distraction to anyone. Anyone with even slight knowledge of the Brewers should've had a really good idea he would be leaving via FA for a long time now.