Brewers Agree To Two-Year Deal With Fielder

Oh lawd.

Has anyone seen that new ad for the MLB Manager game?

I know I'm derailing the comments, but it's soooo funny "featuring Billy Beane!"

where do you get "2 million less" from? howard asked for 18 mil; fielder 8. that's a 10 mil difference. not that howard deserves 18 or fielder deserves any more than 8 though...

that being said, why would the brewers even bother trying to sign the fatass? i'd make him lose 60 pounds before i even started talking to him about a contract extension. i'm not gonna sign his giant ass only to have it drag along the basepaths.

What does princes weight have to do with anything?

Prince is paid to supply power, knock in runs, and be a yougn leader to the team.

He is the youngest player EVER to hit 50 homers in one season.

The Brewers never expected to be able to just lock him up, even if it is only two years, for so cheap, why not do it.

Plus he is a huge fan favorite, second only to the Hebrew Hammer.

A two year deal for Prince would be a good idea. Although Gamel at 3B could be fun to watch.

People want to talk about Prince being heavy rather than him having already hit a 100 career HRs at 24 years old. Fools.

Prince's weight won't be a problem for another 5 to (maybe) 10 years.

Fielder is a legit team leader, concerned with winning and a top 5 lefty power threat in baseball.

Wake up.

If the Brewers do fall out of contention in 2009, folks will be shocked (not me) a the haul the Brewers get, it'll be a proven MLBer and 3 or 4 top prospects.

Lou Balboni (sp?). Him I guess.

Sorry but he's not taking the multiyear deal. I'm surprised he's even going for 2 years. There's a reason he picked Boras and that's because he wants his cash. Security? Who asks for security during the arbitration when their agent is Boras?

A seven-figure, 7-year deal? You mean, a deal that at most pays less than $2 million (or $2,000,000) a year? you're darn straight he'd be stupid to take that. 5x league minimum doesn't sound like anything close to fair market value to me.

I think what you must have meant is 7-figure annual salary, which makes much more sense. He'd also be fairly foolish to take such a deal when there is so much more money to be had. Prince isn't really in danger of suffering career-ending injury anytime soon to the point where he needs the "security" of a long-term deal. It would serve him much better to go to free agency and sign with an AL team so he doesn't have to worry about defense anymore. Heck, in three years Ortiz may be done and Prince could just have all Ortiz's uniforms taken out a bit and he'd fit right in.

-JM

Actually I think this deal shows Boras is playing things smart. With the owners whining about economic hardships it could be very likely that the arbiters take that into deeper consideration and award the lower salary (add to that a team tends to win an arbitration hearing at a rate of higher than 75%). Point being 2 arbitration eligible years of Fielder being bought out at minimum 18M could be Boras betting that the economy is going to stay bad for another year.

Weight will definatley be an issue in the future-

But for the next two years this def a good value signing-

I see David Ortiz falling into the category of overweight player who will soon be injury prone (along w Mo Vaughn, Cecil Fileder, Kirb Pucket,ets..)

Only player I can think of to be able to play effective fat into late 30's= Babe Ruth at age 37 41HRS 137RBIS 341AVG

"Only player I can think of to be able to play effective fat into late 30's= Babe Ruth at age 37 41HRS 137RBIS 341AVG"

Tony Gwynn, David Wells

Very good signing at a very decent rate.

"Fielder is a legit team leader, concerned with winning and a top 5 lefty power threat in baseball.

Wake up."

Really? Everything I have heard says he is much more concerned with money then winning. Also, a top 5 power threat? Really? He barely even slugged .500. Even old guys who are close to the end like Delgado and Thome are bigger (okay, maybe not bigger, get it, get it, yiggity yiggity)power threats then Fielder is right now. Prince is pretty good, nothing incredibly special though.

Yikes! I’d be very worried if we thought Prince was still growing (outward). But the Brewers would save a lot – he’d play first, second and right at the same time.

"The Brew Crew should try to trade Bill Hall this offseason, even for a bag of balls and a corked bat."

Either that, or move Hardy who has significant trade value and put Hall back at his natural position of shortstop.

"Puckett retired at an early age because of eye problems, not injuries related to his weight."

Precisely. Kirby's weight killed him, but it didn't end his baseball career. In fact, baseball was pretty much the only thing that kept Kirby from ballooning up significantly. If we had a more enlightened drug policy, Kirby may have played another 5-8 years and might still be alive today.

"Also, I remember stories about Cecile pitching BP to Prince at Yankee stadium when the kid was 12 (maybe even a little younger) or something and knocking some out of the park"

There are a lot of legends out there about Prince's power as an adolescent. The only one really confirmed is that he hit a ball out of Tiger Stadium at 12.

"The fact that Boras and Prince are even considering a two year deal must mean that there is not that much interest for Fielder. This deal is waaay too reasonable for Boras."

Interest means nothing because Prince isn't a free agent. This deal is nothing but a hedge against 1) an unfavorable arbitration verdict and 2) a poor 2009.

"A two year deal for Prince would be a good idea. Although Gamel at 3B could be fun to watch.

Posted by: melonis rex | January 21, 2009 at 09:16 PM"

You think?

Here's an update from Rosenthal at 7:57 EST:

A Major League source claims that the Tigers are close to signing Brandon Lyon to a 1 year deal at just under $5MM plus incentives. Apparently, Lyon saw the Tigers as the best opportunity, despite his agent's rumors that he had received a 2-year $9MM deal from another team.

Great deal for Prince and the Crew. Prince gets some financial security and the Brewers get some certainty for their 2009 and 2010 payroll.

Also, there will not have to be an arbitration hearing.

SOME THINGS EVERYONE HAS MISSED:

1. Boras said that Prince has lost weight and is in much better physical shape.

2. This isn't the first time that Boras has done this. He also sold two arb years for Texiera and Holliday.

Enough with the negative comments.

Prince took the deal, like Holliday did, like Texiera did to lock up the money TODAY v having to wait another year and half. Plus, it's arbitration, they knew the ballpark they would be in, so why not get paid today. Prince will be a Brewer at least through July 2010 now. Wish the Brewers could afford to add a few more years at say $15m, $18m & $20m to keep him off the free agent market for a couple more years.

It also makes Fielder more attractive in a trade if the values of his first two arb years is known.

Just food for thought.

I don't think Fielder's bid was low. He doesn't have Howard's numbers, so he wasn't going to get that much. $2 million less was rather reasonable.

Posted by: AA | January 21, 2009 at 08:20 PM

He doesn't have Howards strikeouts either. He doesn't have Howards I couldn't hit if my life depended on April-June choke period either.

Hamburger!!!

"It also makes Fielder more attractive in a trade if the values of his first two arb years is known.

Just food for thought."

No pun intended? :)

"He is a baby and hw needs to lay off the food for a year or two."

That's a long time to go without eating.