Prince's future and Boras

[jaybird2001wi]

If the Brewers and its fans want to give Prince Fielder some love and show him they want him. With Fielder probably showing the biggest potential of any young hitter in Brewer history, maybe we should really reward him and make every attempt to keep him a Milwaukee Brewer.

It is NOT everyday a Milwaukee Brewer becomes the youngest player to ever hit 50 homers in a season and with Prince's good batting eye and steadily dependable defense, the sky is the limit for him. I have been impressed with him. He actually runs pretty well for what other teams scouts who did not draft him as "fat."

Maybe when the time comes, the franchise should and needs to open up the purse strings to keep him here. The fans love him and he is growing to love them as well. Anyone think we need him here and does he really truly want to be here?

[watertown28]

thats a no brainer.... this is a guy you build your team around...dig deep mark the time is coming

[1992casey]

I don't think any problems will originate with the Brewers. Instead, I think the issue will be Boras' general philosophy. He'll figure that whatever Prince might get from the Brewers can be topped by another team. It's rare that his players do anything other than go year to year, and it's rare that they don't test the market when the time comes.

[And That]

Unless the economic landscape of baseball changes drastically, when Prince hits free agency in 2012, there will be no way the Brewers will both be able to afford him and afford a supporting cast of players. The Brewers will never be in a position to pay the top end guy his top end salary. It'll be a shame when we lose him, but we're going to lose him. Keeping him would mean the team as a whole would suffer under the weight of his contract.

[jaybird2001wi]

Did anyone notice Mark Attanasio dropped his jaw at the first Prince homer tonight? You think Mark wants him to be the cornerstone of the franchise? I am absolutely amazed right now. Despite being in the cautious playoff hunt, we have a very robust crop of prospects and young players. Five years from now, this team could be downright scary.

[jaybird2001wi]

In my opinion, Boras is one of those "evil" agents who can ask for what the player wants sometimes. I think the key in Prince's future would be to look out for his own best interests in the future. By the time he hits free agency, his kid will be 7 or 8 years old and will be in public schooling and such. So, more would be at stake on the personal end for Prince once he is allowed free agency.

[TooLiveBrew]

With the money Fielder's due to make, I doubt his kid's gonna be in public school...but I digress. Hmmm, this one sucks, because I want to believe there's a way to keep Prince in Milwaukee past 2011. But I know how the real world operates, and as much as I agree that this is the kind of player around whom you build a team, the fiscal realities are just too sobering. I've said it before, but Brewer fans, enjoy every single at-bat that you can with this young man. Before I left WI, being in a clear sight line of a tv whenever this man was at the plate was my #1 priority, because in far too few years from now, we'll have to simply look back and remember...

 

http://www.mijit.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/i-want-to-believe-small.jpg

[monty57]

I'm for offering him a 6-7 year deal now. Essentially, buy out his last league minimum year and all three arby years for 2-3 years of free agency. We'd have to pay more for the next four years, especially next year, but we'd get him until he's 29 instead of 27. Remember, Prince doesn't have any guarantee that he won't suffer a career ending injury in the next four seasons that would keep him from ever reaching free agency. It would be a tremendous risk on the Brewers' part to make this move, but Prince is the type of player you take this risk on, much like St. Louis did with Pujols.

[NYChez]

Didn't they draft LaPorta to protect against this? I think that was the first sign that the Brewers are being realistic about this. They don't want to be like the Blue Jays with Delgado several years ago, where one player was making about 1/3 of the team's salary.

[The Ignitor]

I'm with Monty here. I offer him 6-7 year deal with good money. Even if Boras turns it down (which is highly likely), the Crew shows Prince and the team that they mean business (unlike the Twins, where the players really doubt that ownership supports them). The Crew can never keep all these young players, but it needs to show a willingness to keep at least two cornerstones down the road.

[Ennder]

Fielder is a future DH, his defense isn't good to begin with and I doubt he ages very gracefully. I don't see the Brewers signing him longterm and its probably a good thing. Enjoy him while we got him and hope we can get a world series or two behind him.

[Thurston Fluff]

When the time comes we'll have to watch on the sidelines as the Yankee's, Angels, Red Sox and Cubs get into a bidding was for him. While it sucks it's reality. Let's hope that by then we'll have a couple WS banners hanging in Miller Park. My only glimmer of hope to retain him even one year past his free agency year is he feels some sense of gratitude to the team that didn't buy into the general thinking of him being too fat or one dimensional and drafted him as highly as they did.

[JohnBriggs12]

I think Attanasio needs to somehow find a way to keep Braun if he can't keep Fielder. Either way, that's going to take a deal unheard of in Milwaukee. In the long run though, I think Braun may be more irreplaceable than Fielder.

 

It's going to be very interesting in 2010 and 2011 as FA approaches for the core of this team. If they choose, they could deal them before they hit the open market and get plenty in return. At least that way, their legacy as Brewers will live on a bit longer.

 

The window for winning is shorter by one year if they don't pull it out this season. The pieces were in place this year. That's why some of us have been so hard on management. This team was relatively healthy too.

[homer]

The pieces were in place but they were too young. I think most people predicted about 85 wins - which is what they'll come close to achieving. Next year should be 90 + wins for certain.

[fondybrewfan]

I really dont think the window is getting shorter at all. Sure we may have one less year to make the big one if we dont make it this year but I would expect most of the young guys to be even better next year. How scary is that? While some teams in the division are probably at their peak (Cubs, they arent getting any younger) the Brewers pitchers and hitters are all young with high ceilings. If the Crew does miss the playoffs this year I am still expecting an even better year next year. If they learn and avoid that one bad month we had, we could be leading the division by 8-10 games right now

[twobrewers]

Fielder is a future DH, his defense isn't good to begin with and I doubt he ages very gracefully. I don't see the Brewers signing him longterm and its probably a good thing. Enjoy him while we got him and hope we can get a world series or two behind him.

Ennder as usual - you talk nothing but good sense.

 

I know we are all jacked up about Fielder right now. But the idea of offering him a enourmous contract that would make or break this franchise is based on emotion right now.

We have Prince through 2011. Lets not be hasty. He will be a Brewer for a long time yet. If we were to buy out two years of free agency by offering him a long term contract right now we would be taking a very large risk. His contract will be so big it will REQUIRE he hit 50 HR and 120 RBI every year to justifiy it. If he is ever hurt, our entire team's chances will be completely down the drain with him. Plus the Brewers have horrible luck at handing out long term contracts.

 

He is the youngest player to hit 50 HR in a season. Have you ever considered that this might be his peak? A player with a larger frame, such as himself - don't age well. By the time he leaves here at age 27 he will very likely be heading downhill and certainly for a DH spot. I think the best part of Prince is the foresight that the Brewers had in that it doesn't matter if he gets too big and is destined for a DH spot. He will be gone by then - and in the mean time the Brewers have him for his best years.

 

I would rather have Braun and Hart long term than Prince. (Maybe Weeks too)

[gregmag]

Fielder's last year here will be his age 27 season. As Ennder said, Fielder isn't likely to age well. He may very well be great for the first few years of his next contract, so I'm not saying it won't be a loss. But I agree with JohnBriggs about Braun, and I'd add Weeks -- I think those guys are likely to have more ahead of them come 2011 than Fielder. Also, if keeping Fielder meant not just losing Braun but losing some secondary key guys -- Hart, Villy, whomever -- that would be another bad tradeoff.

 

Greg.

[Thurston Fluff]

I doubt Prince will age so poorly that he's no longer a top player able to play first base by age 29. In Prince's first year of spring training with the Brewers he his body fat test was the lowest on the team. There is a differance between large and fat. Prince is just a big man. He isn't a fat man. Large men have the bone structure, tendon and muscle connections equivelant to their weight. Fat men don't. So while Prince may be big he isn't overly big in relation to his body structure. For comparison purposes one might want to look at another exceptionally large, but not fat, person like Reggie White. Reggie seemed to age pretty well for such a big person. Both are/were big men but not fat men. Both should be able to age gracefully as well.

[edod]

But the idea of offering him a enourmous contract that would make or break this franchise is based on emotion right now.

This is why we employ Canadians to make such decisions for the team.

 

Judging from Prince's post-game comments, I would be more worried about Prince signing a deal with the Tigers when a free agent so he can wipe out or over shadow all of his father's records there.

[Fatter than Joey]

I think Braun may be more irreplaceable than Fielder.

 

I agree 100% -- As long as Braun is in LF.

 

This team was relatively healthy too.

 

Yeah -- this is one of my beefs about this season and the Yosting thereof. We complain about "not getting any breaks" this year, when in reality we had a pretty good injury mojo in 2007, I'd rather be lucky with injuries (which we were), than "the way the ball bounces" from year to year.

 

I really dont think the window is getting shorter at all.

 

Probably not from the Brewers talent standpoint -- but the Cubs/Cards/Astros all have the ability to reload rather quickly.

 

There is a differance between large and fat.

 

I think the claim is the same regardless if you use "fat" or "large"

[twobrewers]

For comparison purposes one might want to look at another exceptionally large, but not fat, person like Reggie White. Reggie seemed to age pretty well for such a big person

From Wikipedia

White had suffered a fatal cardiac arrhythmia most likely caused by the sarcoidosis he had lived with for years. [1] The Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that White most likely died from cardiac and pulmonary sarcoidosis. [2] It was also stated that sleep apnea, which White was known to suffer from[3] may have contributed to his death.[4] Sleep apnea is known to affect large, muscular individuals like White more often than people of an average size and build.

 

That isn't aging very well.

[Thurston Fluff]

Yeah -- this is one of my beefs about this season and the Yosting thereof. We complain about "not getting any breaks" this year, when in reality we had a pretty good injury mojo in 2007, I'd rather be lucky with injuries (which we were), than "the way the ball bounces" from year to year.

 

While I don't think we were unlucky with injuries this season we certianly had out share of imprtant ones. More than the team we are chasing that's for sure. Really we seem to have a normal amount of injuries. Had the Cubs lost Zombrano for two months what would they look like? The biggest injury they had was Soriano for a month.

 

 

I think the claim is the same regardless if you use "fat" or "large"

 

No it isn't. Fat = prone to early physical break down. Large does not.

[Bucky Rules]

Again... I have to laugh. The Brewers are in the midst of their most exciting season in at least 20 years, and probably 25 years. Yet, in typical Brewer fan fashion we spend our time worrying about the impending doom that may or may not happen several years down the road, instead of enjoying the journey. Guys... we're two games out with 5 to play. We've got one of the most exciting young teams in baseball to watch. Have some fun with it. I mean, for Pete's sake, even Geoff Jenkins isn't worried about next year -- much less 4 years from now.

If we're not crying about how "horrible" our manager is, we're crying the small market vs Boras blues. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the present, smell the roses, etc. Life isn't this bad. Certainly sports isn't.

[mark brouhard is number on]

wow you really nailed it there bucky. can never figure out how people find so much too worry about. just sit back and enjoy the ride.

[homer]

"wow you really nailed it there bucky. can never figure out how people find so much too worry about. just sit back and enjoy the ride. "

 

Apparently you guys haven't seen the Prince Amongst Esteemed Company thread.

 

This is but one thread - it doesn't represent collective attitude towards the season, the team, or ownership.