Prince Fielder signs with Tigers - 9yrs/$214 million

[Funketown]

Best wishes to Prince. Hopefully he gets a good ovation when he comes back to Milwaukee in the future.

 

He's an elite batter, but that contract will almost certainly end up as an albatross. That's pretty much Albert Pujols money for Prince, and I'd be pretty scared about this deal if I were a Tigers fan (though I'd obviously be excited).

 

I laughed at Boras when he said Prince wants 10 years, and I laughed when he said Prince wanted $200MM plus. Unbelievable to see him get the 4th largest contract in MLB history.

[davego]

I'm not sad Prince is over, I'm happy Prince happened.

[brettac1]

wow, how does Boras always do it.

Except when he doesn't.

He deserves a ton of credit for this, though. You had blowhard buffoons like Mitch Williams (and other media morons saying that he might take a one year deal) saying that Prince should be mad that he wasn't signed earlier, etc., but you never heard that come out of Prince's camp. The market came to them and they got an unreal deal.

[JimH5]

Awesome job by Boras to get the big payday. Congrats to the Tigers on getting a great player.

 

It's too bad that the Brewers just didn't have the funds to keep him here, but that's the way it goes.

 

Maybe this will be something that brings Prince and his dad closer together. I hope it all works out for everyone involved.

 

And of course, I hope the Brewers get great value in those draft picks.

 

It's a sad day, but we knew it was coming.

[crewcrazy]

I'm more upset that Boras got a team to apparently bid against itself, thus perpetuating that in baseball it's not supply and demand but super agents that set the market.

 

Detroit overpaid. Good for them. I know the auto industry has come back some but the Tigers would need to increase their attendance by oh, say another 7 to 800,000 or more(assuming more of their unsold tickets were of the nosebleed type seats last year) to pay that salary. That's not going to happen.

Yeah, this is what I'm wondering about too. Where is the money coming from? It isn't an enormous media market. That is really going to be an albatross contract, maybe when they're only halfway through it.

Their owner (who also owns the Red Wings) is loaded, and probably sacrifices more of his personal fortune to pay for players than anyone in the game. They've been 6th in the AL in attendance the past couple years, but were around 3rd annually before that (granted, you're getting back to 2009/2008, before the economy really hit the city hard). I have no clue what their TV deal is like, but it's a great fanbase that supports the hell out of the team when they can.

 

It's interesting to see the speculation that this move was done over Dombrowski's head, like previous big-money deals there for Magglio Ordonez and Pudge Rodriguez, though. I can probably buy that, since he hasn't seemed like the type to make panic signings like this on his own accord.

[mothershipconnection]

I'm not sad Prince is over, I'm happy Prince happened.

 

'Tis better to have loved and lost than to have been excited about Brad Nelson.

[brettac1]

I'm not sad Prince is over, I'm happy Prince happened.

It was a great 6 year relationship. Lots of fun times.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I'm not sad Prince is over, I'm happy Prince happened.

It was a great 6 year relationship. Lots of fun times.

Being happy Prince happened is a great way to put it. I think everyone should feel this way too. I know I do.

[Eye Black]

I never imagined I would be so upbeat on the day that Prince officially moved on from Milwaukee. I really enjoyed the past 6 years with Prince, and I am confident I will enjoy the next 9 without him. I genuinely wish Prince and the Tigers well over the next decade, and I will have no problem rooting for them vs. the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, etc.

A few thoughts...

- Kudos to the Angels and Tigers for making mega deals under-the-radar or as many say, as the "mystery team". They handled negotiations very opposite of the Marlins, who showed their hand early and were even reactive about notifying their own star player of a potential position change. The first reaction is both teams severely overpaid for their new superstar, but the essence of free agency is that the team willing to overpay gets the player.

- Somewhere Ryan Madson just threw his hands up in the air. I would have been willing to bet good money that Prince wasn't going to touch the $200 million mark. No matter how much we hate him, Boras is the absolute best at his craft. Looks like at the same time the market for relief pitchers is plummeting, the market for premier sluggers only continues to skyrocket.

- There has been so much talk about TV contracts around the league. I haven't heard the Tigers mentioned as a team with an sizable TV contract. Seems like they would be closer to the Brewers in this regard. I realize their owner is worth $2 billion, but still curious what their TV deal is estimated at? Seems like Detroit's population and disposable income has been dropping over the past several years.

- If it is true that the Brewers 2010 offer to Prince was countered by Boras at 8 years / $176 million, that now looks like a steal!

- I have a good feeling about a Grienke extension getting done. At least I am rooting for it to happen!

[umphrey]

IMO Fielder will be a good/great hitter for a long time but he had to move to DH as soon as possible or he would be costing many runs on his defense.

[hawing]

I'm not sad Prince is over, I'm happy Prince happened.

There you go. I'm going to do my best to stick to this line of thinking.

 

Anyone else thinking back to this game tonight? Here is one of my all-time favorite bf.net posts, this one courtesy of PeaveyFury:

Prince!!!

 

Hahaha.....

 

So this is what it feels like to play winning ball....

 

...and even better to know that help is on the way, and it's not overrated at all. The future is very, very bright.

Thanks for playing, Prince. I'm happy you happened to us.

[TooLiveBrew]

Anyone else thinking back to this game tonight?

Ab-so-lutely! Even at the time, I knew I was going to always be glad I was there to see that game. Prince/Rickie first career HRs! And Prince's was huuuuuge.

[clancyphile]

In one sense, I enjoy the memories of Prince Fielder with the Crew... but I also just feel, in a way, that it's like Molitor leaving all over again.

 

A player who is likely to be a Hall of Famer leaves Milwaukee. It stinks, and it hurts, and it's gonna hurt for a while.

[hawing]

Oh, here's another happy-memories post from that same IGT (and also courtesy of PeaveyFury):

 

Wow... talk about attitude. Prince came to the plate, and he looked

like he knew he was going to destroy the first pitch, and made me at

home know that he was going to destroy that pitch.

Good, good times.

[brewmann04]

well at least we know what draft picks we get and move foward

[TooLiveBrew]

A couple of nice images via discussion of this signing on reddit...

http://i.imgur.com/70PdG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7yXKR.jpg

Seems like the only thing that needed to match, as far as mini-Prince was concerned, was the Zubaziness of each garment.

[reillymcshane]

Well, Prince got his big payday. Good for him. I don't begrudge him. He played hard for us and produced. I can only thank him and wish him well. Lots of great memories.

 

I will say that, in some ways, I'm happy the price was so high - both on dollars and years. That way no one can really complain about him going.

 

I'm excited for 2012. We'll miss prince, but I'm excited about the team. We'll be better at SS and 3B. I'm excited to see how Gamel, Aoki and Green can do. We get K-Rod for a full season. And Greinke. With a few breaks, we can be in the pennett race.

[Baldkin]

There has never been a ball player who swung as hard at the ball as Prince Fielder. Nor have I ever heard a crowd make the same noise as when he would take one of those hacks.... and miss.

 

Still, though, oddly, my fondest memory of him, is of a foul ball, he hit up into 406 (or so) one game a couple years ago.

I was sitting in 421 that day (behind home plate), and I still can't believe that anyone could hit a ball up there.

[thumperden]

So, coming back to Milwaukee really isn't going to happen?

[PeaveyFury]

Wow, thanks for the love, Laura. It was a great 6 years with Prince, and it's really hard to believe all that time has passed since that first HR game back in 2005.

[jjfanec]

Glad Prince was on our team and really glad we didnt give him a contract anywhere near that amount! I like the Tigers so glad they got him

[Ennder]

In the short run the Tigers payed like $20M to gain 1 win for 2012 because Fielder is a marginal upgrade over VMart at best. They are still a 87 win or so team who can miss the playoffs if things go poorly for them. 2013 this makes them a monster though assuming VMart is healthy.

[SZBrewerFan]

WOW....wait all winter and the one day I have to attend a seminar and I'm away from the computer all day this happens. I am really happy for Prince and his family and I am confident we enjoyed his best years. Upon coming here and reading that my initial thought was "that is the worst contract I have ever seen". Only time will tell, but I am very thankful Detroit, and not Milwaukee, is saddled with that one. Best of luck to Prince and the Tigers and I hope to see you in the World Series some day!

[GB12]

http://i.imgur.com/7yXKR.jpg

Seems like the only thing that needed to match, as far as mini-Prince was concerned, was the Zubaziness of each garment.

He probably weighs as much as the player behind him.

On a semirelated note, this news made me google Cecil Fielder. My god, has daddy gotten big.

http://joshfrancis50.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/tig.jpg

 

[danzig6767]

Glad Prince went to the AL and i'm happy for him, but it's just hard for me to believe that this offseason two players were given a 10 and 9 year contract worth over 200 million each. Man, both have a chance to become massive albatrosses for quite a few years, even with the DH available for Prince/Albert.