Prince Fielder's career ends due to medical issues

[MrTPlush]

Appears he will be leaving $96mil on the table to walk away from the game.

 

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/08/prince-fielder-likely-to-announce-retirement.html

[pitchleague]

Apparently, it is the end of the road for one Mr. Prince Fielder.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/08/prince-fielder-likely-to-announce-retirement.html

 

I guess I'm glad that we got his best years, but it's unfortunate that what has put him out to pasture is a neck ailment. We all probably thought it would be weight-related (unless the neck issue IS somehow related to his weight.)

[Invader3K]

Sad news. I didn't begrudge him for leaving when he did. We got to see his best years. I hope he comes back to Milwaukee and officially retires as a Brewer.

[Warning Track Power]

What a bummer to see. 9 years and $214 million reasons why he left Milwaukee but he will always be remembered for the great seasons he put up in Miller Park and the promise that he and the rest of the Baby Brewers brought.

 

Makes me long for the days of the lineups of 7-10 years ago:

1. Weeks

2. Hardy

3. Braun

4. Fielder

5. Hart

[Austin Tatious]

Very sad situation. Princie and Braunie together in their primes together was a sight to behold.

[pacopete4]

Damn. Must be pretty bad to walk away from almost $100 million. I hope Milwaukee invites him in to retire a Brewer if he will. Get the standing ovation he deserves from Brewer nation.

[502 to Right]

I don't think he's walking away from any money. It's a guaranteed contract. His "retirement" is related to a playing injury.

[rwa12]

I would assume there is a buyout. By retiring he comes off the books, teams usually compromise to encourage retirement.

[monty57]

I don't think he's walking away from any money. It's a guaranteed contract. His "retirement" is related to a playing injury.

 

From the article:

 

"The terms of his retirement are unclear, although, as Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets, the Rangers are “believed to have” a significant enough insurance policy on Fielder’s contract to protect them against a career-threatening problem like the one Fielder currently has."

 

If true, that makes it sound like Fielder will still be paid, and the insurance company will cover it.

 

Generally, I believe a player retiring voids the contract. That's why NY fans wanted A-Rod to retire, and Astro fans were pretty much booing Bagwell in his later years when he was a shadow of his former self while playing injured, but making huge money. If Passan is correct, I'd guess that the Rangers and Fielder worked things out legally so he still gets paid, but the Rangers will be covered.

[sveumrules]

If this indeed the end for Prince it's pretty interesting that he and his dad both finish with exactly 319 career home runs, though Prince needed an extra 900 plate appearances to get there.

 

The Prince/Braun combo was together for 5 years (2007-11) with both putting up a 147 wRC+ in that time, 285/399/553 for Prince & 312/371/563 for Braun. By batting runs they were 3rd & 5th during the time frame with only Pujols & Miggy ahead of them and Holliday in between.

 

As much as I enjoyed watching Prince hit a baseball I think I enjoyed watching him field and run the bases even more.

[MillerParkSouth]

Total bummer, Prince is up there with Yount and Molitor for me as personal favorites. Glad we got his best years.

[tmwiese55]

If he's forced to retire for medical reasons he should still get paid from the way I understand things. The team would have insurance on this though, so it would be the insurance company out the money, not the team. I'm sure more info will come out though and I could totally be wrong.

[torts]

I don't think he's walking away from any money. It's a guaranteed contract. His "retirement" is related to a playing injury.

 

yeah, this isn't the NFL, that money is his. Texas got insurance on his contract, so Prince will collect on a good portion of the remaining money.

[3and2Fastball]

Since I like to brag when I'm right, I will admit I was wrong for criticizing Doug Melvin at the time for not breaking the bank and paying Prince.

 

It is funny as I have since come full circle in philosophy, sticking with the youth movement

 

At any rate, I will really miss Prince, he was an easy guy to root for

[adambr2]

I'm sure Fielder still gets the money one way or another being injury related.

 

MLB contracts are almost always paid in full. Very rarely does a player under MLB contract walk away and leave the money on the table. Salomon Torres was the last Brewer I can think of doing that.

[tmwiese55]

I think Ryan Dempster or some similar pitcher left their last season of like 15 mil on the table to retire. I'd think LaRoche did it this year too for the White Sox.

[Funketown]

My favorite Brewers game that I actually attended was on 08/31/2005. I watched this game from behind home plate, presumably a few days before going back to high school. Turnbow was my favorite player and kept them in the game by striking out the side in the top of the 9th. Then, this happened:

 

 

I don't usually get nostalgic about this stuff, but the sheer joy I got as a teenager from watching this oddly-proportioned tank of a man hit moon shots, I'll never forget.

 

From 2007 to 2011, he ranked 4th in the majors in wRC+ (147), 5th in wOBA (.401), 4th in slugging (.553), and 8th in OBP (.399).

 

I think we all suspected he would not last that long as an elite player, but boy was it fun while it lasted.

[Boomer5]

Both Prince and Cecil hit 319 HRs.

[Bombers]

My favorite Brewers game that I actually attended was on 08/31/2005. I watched this game from behind home plate, presumably a few days before going back to high school. Turnbow was my favorite player and kept them in the game by striking out the side in the top of the 9th. Then, this happened:

 

 

I don't usually get nostalgic about this stuff, but the sheer joy I got as a teenager from watching this oddly-proportioned tank of a man hit moon shots, I'll never forget.

 

From 2007 to 2011, he ranked 4th in the majors in wRC+ (147), 5th in wOBA (.401), 4th in slugging (.553), and 8th in OBP (.399).

 

I think we all suspected he would not last that long as an elite player, but boy was it fun while it lasted.

ya, those were some good times. Excitement was through the roof with the new stadium a bunch of young guys having fun and hitting long balls.

 

I sure hope we can do a 1 day contract to have him retire as a Brewer. He had some really fun home runs. This will always be my favorite homerun celebrations -

I was a season ticket holder shortly after graduating from college in 2004. I was a seat holder from 2006 - 2012 and now have 3 kids and am unable to get to as many games as I use to but those years were fun

[tmwiese55]

Think they retire his number? I'd think not and he's probably just a couple years more of time with us to merit it. But with some losing seasons coming I could see them doing it for some positive vibes. 3rd in HRs and 7th in RBIs and was key cog in getting the team out of the 15-20 year gutter.

[patrickgpe]

interesting to note that he will be named 'medically disabled" and not retire, which means that he gets 100+ million owed to him.

 

sucks to be the rangers.

[1992casey]

I think Prince would need to be a Hall of Famer to have his number retired. At that point, his Brewer qualifications would exceed those of Rollie Fingers. I think he deserves consideration for the Miller Park Walk of Fame, though.

[Invader3K]

I think Prince would need to be a Hall of Famer to have his number retired. I think he deserves consideration for the Miller Park Walk of Fame, though.

 

Correct. That is the bar that has been set by the Brewers for number retirement...hence why some longtime Brewers have not had their number retired, Jim Gantner being a prime example.

 

Prince finishes having played 12 seasons, with 319 homers, 1028 RBIs, a career .283/.382/.506/.887 slash line. Very nice numbers, but not Hall of Fame or number retirement worthy. He should definitely be on the Walk of Fame/Wall of Fame/whatever they're doing at Miller Park these days.

[1992casey]

The Hall has made exceptions for players who've had their careers cut short. The most notable examples are probably Sandy Koufax and Kirby Puckett. Still, I think that Prince's career rate stats fall a little short. And his peak was also likely a little short.

[sveumrules]

Looks like Prince has 4/96 left after this year. 24 million of that is paid by Detroit from the Kinsler trade. I also saw that TEX has an insurance policy which pays 50% of Fielder's salary in the event of a long term injury. I'm guessing that's 50% of the 18 million they owe him per year, not the 24 million total salary.

 

Assuming it is based on the 18 million number it looks like the remaining money owed to Fielder is pretty evenly split between DET (24 million), TEX (36 million) & insurance (36 million).