It costs a lot of money to get players like Fielder in their prime. He’s 27. I think this is a lot of fans of the Nats, Cubs, etc that thought they had a shot at him and missed out.

Maybe he Adam Dunns it in the American League… either way, he’ll be the DH soon. Lots of money for a DH, we shall see how the future works… but as of right now, the Tigers lineup looks pretty ridiculous.

Full free agency was in its first winter when Garland left Baltimore after a 20-win season in 1976. Teams were still figuring out which economic strategies worked best. The Indians tried a long-term path with Garland at a relatively low annual cost. It might have worked with a better pitcher. Garland was a one-season wonder who led the American League in losses in his first year in Cleveland and never exceeded six wins after that. He was released halfway through the deal.

No mortgaged future, just an inflexible one…the 3 studs, the 2 and 3 starters and the core field players at CF,RF and C are all able to be signed for 5+ year stretches beyond their current contracts and the system looks like it will fill LF 3B 4th and 5th starter and maybe SS going forward young and cheap…2b and closer are the real long term ?s

It’s not all about the errors, it’s also about making plays on balls that may be hits and turning them into outs or holding runners from scoring or scoring position. Compare someone like Pujols to Fielder in the leather department and you see why it took so long for someone to hook Prince to this kind of deal. He will be a very expensive full time DH before long and will start taking the heat like Papi in beantown when he hits a rut. Every year his cold streak or slow start like last year has gone longer and longer…I’d expect that trend to continue.

I wish him and your Tigers all the best, but when he hits 30 or 31 years old and is so big he can barely get out of his own way…the love will not be there. This guys has ballooned in weight over the last 6 years here in Milwaukee, and if he can’t get the weight off now, he sure as heck isn’t going to do it when he starts getting into his 30′s.

http://theklowntimes.net/2012/01/25/fielder-signing-makes-tigers-team-to-beat/

I totally disagree, Cabrera is an extremely underrated defender.

1) For all the flak that Fielder takes for his weight around the web and in the press, the guy is durable as hell and takes great pride in playing day in and day out.

2) Fielder isn’t as terrible defensive player as people make it sound.. his biggest liability is range, and there is little to argue there. He doesn’t have gre.. good range.. so it makes the metric numbers dip and classify him as a below average fielder overall.

But within his range, the guy isn’t a poor fielding player.. and covering the bag.. he is average at worst.

3) Some of the Brewer fans are labeling Prince this or labeling Prince that for leaving.. why? It is what the market would allow and the Brewers had started locking down players in other areas. The contract didn’t fit.. and it wasn’t going to after Prince and Boras turned down the offer a couple years ago when the Brewers tried to buy out the arbitration years and a couple of his free agent years. Boras gambled.. and it almost bit him in the rear.. but the gamble paid off this this contract. That is the way some business deals turn out.

Same people point to Braun and him locking in for the next 10.. well the Brewers offered him enough to offset some of the Arb years that the deal made sense as a whole, timing being a part of that. Additionally.. Braun has other areas of income churning.. he has different motivations than Prince.. he enjoys the publicity. Prince doesn’t.. Prince would rather chill with his kids than be on the run 24/7. Braun isn’t going to be totally defined by just his baseball income at the end of his career.

4) People are writing off the Brewers as a team because Prince is gone.. I really don’t buy into that notion. We still have the pitching the drove us much of last season, Krod for the entire season this year.. Prince’s production will be hard to replace.. but we have added a bat this offseason and we still have some sticks on this club. If the defense can improve with the rebuilt left side.. is it really that much of a stretch to say some of the lost offense is washed with improved defense?

5) Most importantly.. I personally am happy for Prince the person, quality ballplayer that has earned the right to make his choice where to play and at what dollar the market will allow. Thanks for the entertainment and years of enjoyment watching you play.

I might cringe at the ripple effect these 200 million / 10 year deals are going to have on the landscape of baseball.. but the big fellow has earned his place in the game.

Now, when you add in the posting fee, obviously that makes a difference. If you just add that on to the contract, then certainly he hasn’t provided anywhere close to that value. But that’s different money. He’s not getting it, and it didn’t directly come out of the Red Sox’s payroll. Combining them always struck me as a bit disingenuous: it’s what Shaughnessy and his ilk do so they can write their columns.

(Don’t take this that I don’t think he was a disappointment, because certainly he was and the Red Sox were hoping to get more. Just that it’s more complicated than “fee+contract=total”.)

- There is no way Miguel Cabrera gets resigned for 17m unless its a long deal that ends when he is in his 40s. More likely his number drops to around 20m. Even after signing Fielder, Cabrera is still the best hitter on the team, and will most likely remain so well into his 30′s

- Justin could get more than 24m when he hits the market in 2015 I’m not saying he will, but if you had told me three years ago that Prince Fielder would sign a $200m contract I would have said you were crazy. If the yankees or the red sox get in on the bidding, the contract could set records.

Illitch mortgaged the future to create a 3-5 year window where this team could dominate, but its not going to be as easy as you make it out to be to fill the holes along the way.

And Prince will also have the added bonus of being able to break all of his father’s records. That might give him the extra push he needs to lose some of his plump. $214 Million and 9 years later, if they win the W.S. once, it would have all been worth it. If not? That sucks.

In 2013 Inge and Delmon Young and Valverde are FA unlikely to be retained, totalling $22m. 3b is already covered w Cabrera as far as replacement cost and LF looks to be as well between Dirks and the minors. Closer? They have been grooming a lot of guys, or could use Benoit, so replacement cost is minimum salary like LF. So a net $21m to Prince’s cost, or essentialy a wash. Now, Porcello, Scherzer Fister AJackson Avila and Boesch will start to get more expensive in the arbitration process as they hit it, but that was going to happen regardless. Say an extra $10m net for that group in 2013 and maybe $2m more net in 2014 (as I expect Porcello to be traded by then to mitigate some costs and Peralta will drop off and be replaced internally saving $5m)….so 2012-2014 will be lower payroll than peak. With more ticket sales and revenue uplift from playoff games and more merchandise sold.

now as far as JV, he is a FA in 2015…but so is VMart, and he’ll be gone, with his $12m open to give JV a raise from $20m to say 24, and use the rest to pay for increases to the core guys….so again, about net even for 2015

in 2016 Cabrera is a FA, but at 33 his annual pay on a new deal will drop from $23m to say 17ish for a 4/64 type deal at that age….so, the real long term impact is this;

1) One of Porcello/Fister/Scherzer is gone, which was likely to be the case anyways. replacements from the minors in Turner Smyly Crosby Paulino can fill the 4 and 5 slots easy cheap and with talent.

2) Peralta isn’t the long term SS (past 2013)…which was likelyto be the case as well regardless of Fielder signing or no.

3) They have to develop hitters internally for the long term at 3B/LF/2B/SS/closer and as above 4/5 starter….that looks OK, as 3b (Castellanos) and the starters seem cued up for 2014-5 and they have some decent Lf prospects, no world beaters though, SS is bleak but Suarez is super young but has big potential and won’t be til 2015ish…

What signing Fielder really means is that the flexibility to make a BIG FA signing from now to 2016 is pretty low. but on te other hand, they have a ton of top end talent controlled in that time span in a weak division….so non big whoop. There isnt a crippling payroll issue, they can re-up tyheir core and their superstars….just a flexibility limiter.

Huge get for the Tigers,….and Fielder though big, has been extremely durable…even the early flameout big body DH/1B types have produced through age 33-35 ( Mo Vaugh, Belle, Ortiz etc) very few die out or decline at age 30…the issue on the “value” on this contract will be age 34-35 seasons for him…and Mr Illitch won’t care at that point because he’ll have 1-2 rings at that point and be either verry old or no longer with us….

Lazy article by Calcaterra, who is generally a Tiger hater so draw your own conclusions…facts vs specualtion

This year they will play fielder and miggy at 1st and DH, but don’t be surprised if they end up working in miggy at 3rd over the course of the season. In hind sight they should have just paid Jose Reyes, but you cant go back so we will just have two of the best slugging corner infielders in the AL instead.