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Reactions To The Prince Fielder Signing

Scott Boras did it again. Just when it looked like the market for Prince Fielder had slowed late in the offseason, Boras got his prized client the fourth richest contract in baseball history. The Tigers agreed to sign the slugger to a nine-year contract worth $214MM today, giving them the most devastating 3-4 lineup tandem in the game. Here's a recap of what's been said about the deal...

• "In some sense, I'm glad he got a good contract that he's satisfied with. We knew early on that we probably weren't going to be in it. I think Prince probably knew that, too," said Brewers GM Doug Melvin to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. Melvin confirmed they hadn't had serious extension talks with Fielder since Spring Training of 2010, and he credited the slugger with helping the team get back to being contenders.
• Rival executives told Joel Sherman of The New York Post that they think the signing came from ownership, not GM Dave Dombrowski (Twitter link). He says deals for other Boras clients -- Johnny Damon, Ivan Rodriguez, and Magglio Ordonez -- happened the same way. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports heard that owner Mike Illitch influenced the signing "100%" (Twitter link).
• The Nationals and a mystery team were strongly in on Fielder, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (Twitter links). The Mariners, meanwhile, told teams they didn't have money to spend on a hitter of Prince's caliber, which is why they traded for Jesus Montero according to Sherman.
• Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News says (on Twitter) that the Giants were never really in on Fielder.
• ESPN's Keith Law, Dave Cameron of FanGraphs, and SI.com's Cliff Corcoran agree that Fielder will improve the Tigers in the short-term, but the last few years of the contract could be messy.

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