Prince Fielder signs with...

[RedFlash2]

Brewer fans I can assure you...............the Cubs are not signing Prince Fielder. I think letting ARam walk, shopping Garza (anytime between now and the start of the new year I expect Garza to be dealt), trading Sean Marshall all but assures the Cubs are going rebuild mode. Personally, I think Prince ends up either with Texas or with the Nationals. My gut feeling is that the Cubs 1b next year will be someone like Anthony Rizzo, or I hope so cause I don't want Bryan $%!$%' LaHair as starting 1B. Cubs are out on Prince and if you hear the Cubs name still connected to Prince, I guarantee you it will be because Boras is trying to use the Cubs name to up the negotiations. The Cubs are definately going to be battling the Houston Astros for 6th in the Central.

[Kelbysdaddy]

Prince to Washington is the ideal result in my opinion. That's about as high a pick you're going to get for him. With KRod accepting arby, getting a second round pick for Fielder would be a terrible outcome.

i'd have no problem with toronto signing him as well

[co2mac]

Prince to Washington is the ideal result in my opinion. That's about as high a pick you're going to get for him. With KRod accepting arby, getting a second round pick for Fielder would be a terrible outcome.

And then wouldn't that make Michael Morse available via trade to play 1st for Milwaukee.... just a thought, I have no idea what the asking price would be but I would personally explore it. I attended a Nationals game last summer and had a lengthy conversation with the head usher and she said that he is the most personable player to ever play for Washington and is quickly becoming a fan favorite type of player. What team couldn't use that?

[TooLiveBrew]

If ever there were a player to make the case that the Brewers should go with Gamel, it's Morse. Guy didn't get a fulltime shot until well into his 20s, & what do you know, he didn't forget how to hit from the time he was a 3rd round draft pick out of H.S. (Gamel was a 4th rounder).

[GAME05]

i'm not the biggest Gamel fan, but i still don't see how it makes much sense to pick up any other First Baseman who is about at the same level of Gamel.

[jjfanec]

Tom H is reporting the Nationals are the favorite for signing Fielder. This would be great for the Brewers. First round draft pick and he isnt in the NL Central. It would also be a good move for the Nationals.

[Invader3K]

Scott Boras says of Prince Fielder "He's a combination of Henry Kissinger and Frank Howard."

[brettac1]

I LOL'd at Tom Boswell's column in the WaPo the other day when he said Adam LaRoche should keep the Nationals from signing Fielder... The same Adam LaRoche of the .172/.288/.258 line last year and that is almost five years older than Prince.

[TooLiveBrew]

That seems like a great fit. It would be awesome to live in DC, too.

[Invader3K]

That seems like a great fit. It would be awesome to live in DC, too.

Well, I'm guessing the Fielders' permanent residence would stay in Florida. I do agree that Prince makes sense for the Nats.

[jerichoholicninja]

That seems like a great fit. It would be awesome to live in DC, too.

Really? From everything I've heard outside of the few blocks of government buildings DC is a ghetto.

[TooLiveBrew]

Yeah, the nicer part of town is kind of where I'd expect him to live. (or NE Virginia)

[jjgott]

That seems like a great fit. It would be awesome to live in DC, too.

Really? From everything I've heard outside of the few blocks of government buildings DC is a ghetto.

It's getting a lot better. I'm not saying there aren't bad parts, but most of NW DC and Downtown is all gentrified. Chinatown has tons of high-rise luxury apartments and that's where a lot of the younger Nats/Capitals players live. Even down by the new ballpark a bunch of new apartments and condos are being built. The bad areas are getting pushed further and further east of the Anacostia river.

[gregmag]

That seems like a great fit. It would be awesome to live in DC, too.

Really? From everything I've heard outside of the few blocks of government buildings DC is a ghetto.

It's getting a lot better. I'm not saying there aren't bad parts, but most of NW DC and Downtown is all gentrified. Chinatown has tons of high-rise luxury apartments and that's where a lot of the younger Nats/Capitals players live. Even down by the new ballpark a bunch of new apartments and condos are being built. The bad areas are getting pushed further and further east of the Anacostia river.

I don't think I'm contradicting anyone with what I'm going to say, because I know we're talking about where a wealthy athlete might choose to live. There are many fantastic neighborhoods in D.C., including some of the older parts of town populated by families with deeper local roots, which tend to be more heavily African-American than the gentrified areas. Any suggestion that D.C. is primarily "a ghetto" is way off base, in my view. There are certainly some very poor areas of town with higher crime rates, like in any city. But like any city, D.C. has a lot of variety, along all kinds of lines. I lived there for six years, back in the 90s, and I loved it.

[Oldcity]

Am I missing something? What's this talk about Adam LaRoche at first for the Nationals? Mike Morse had a .910 OPS last year. Are they moving him to the outfield to make room for Adam Freaking LaRoche?

[trwi7]

Stevo wrote:

---

Am I missing something? What's this talk about Adam LaRoche at first for the Nationals? Mike Morse had a .910 OPS last year. Are they moving him to the outfield to make room for Adam Freaking LaRoche?

It's not like they have anything in LF. Last year they had Roger Bernadina, Laynce Nix (signed with Phillies I believe), Jonny Gomez (free agent I think and not better than LaRoche anyways), Jerry Hairston (signed with Dodgers) and Brian Bixler in LF. Morse in left and LaRoche at 1st is their best option currently.

[RightFieldCoder]

I like how Kilgore claimed it was Fielder's "star power" that caused 3.3 million fans in Miller Park. And here I was thinking it was our 2nd best record in the NL, or best home record in baseball that was causing that many fans to show up.

[Oldcity]

Yeah, or the fact that the Brewers are selling tickets for next year at a record pace.

[RockCoCougars]

I'll just be glad when Prince signs somewhere because I'm getting tired of reading JSOnline blog posts from Tom H. where he spends half his words trumpeting his 'guesses' on how things will play out. He acts like he was the only guy in Wisconsin who predicted that Prince was leaving the Brewers.

[clancyphile]

I almost wonder if an 8/$176 million offer would get Prince back to Milwaukee...

[TheCrew07]

And where is the money going to come from? The Brewers are already over budget, Melvin has said as much. They have a payroll near or exceeding 100 million, is spending more money really the answer to any of the teams' remaining problems? You'd need to trade 2 existing large contracts just to make room for him, maybe 3.

 

That ship has sailed...

[jerichoholicninja]

And where is the money going to come from? The Brewers are already over budget, Melvin has said as much. They have a payroll near or exceeding 100 million, is spending more money really the answer to any of the teams' remaining problems? You'd need to trade 2 existing large contracts just to make room for him, maybe 3.

 

That ship has sailed...

You package Wolf with Gamel to someone and trade K-Rod getting a 4 or 5ish starter in one of those deals and that pretty much does it and really doesn't make any holes.

[brettac1]

And where is the money going to come from? The Brewers are already over budget, Melvin has said as much. They have a payroll near or exceeding 100 million, is spending more money really the answer to any of the teams' remaining problems? You'd need to trade 2 existing large contracts just to make room for him, maybe 3.

 

That ship has sailed...

You package Wolf with Gamel to someone and trade K-Rod getting a 4 or 5ish starter in one of those deals and that pretty much does it and really doesn't make any holes.

That's for one year. That deal would cripple the franchise going forward.

[CheezWizHed]

Be the Marlins. Sign people to huge deals, win the WS, then have a fire sale. (not sure if that should be in blue or not...)

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

Will anyone being irritated if Prince ends up inking a 5/125 deal with either the Bluejays or the Nationals? I'm starting to think he's going to need to accept a 5 year deal, and i can't see someone going over $25 per. I still don't see how we could have afforded $25 per... but over a 5 year deal, it might have been worth it

 

Actually, I could see:

2012: $20 million

2013: $22 million

2014: $24 million

2015: $26 million

2016: $28 million

2017: $30 million option, $10 million buyout

 

Deal becomes 5/130 or 6/150