Prince Fielder's just 26 years old, but he already has 192 homers to his name. He's leading the National League in walks this year, and though his power numbers aren't as impressive as usual, he's now fifth in the league with 32 homers.
Next year, Fielder's last before hitting free agency, he will earn a raise from his current $10.5MM salary, so he's not exactly a bargain. Technically it's possible that the Brewers work out an extension with Fielder and agent Scott Boras, but lots of people, including Ryan Braun, expect the Brewers to trade their first baseman this offseason.
They could use starting pitching and Fielder could help them acquire a controllable arm or two. But Prince may not have quite as much trade value as you might think, so it's not as simple as plucking the top young pitchers from opponents' depth charts. What do you think GM Doug Melvin will do with his first baseman?
Will the Brewers trade Fielder this offseason?
Click here to vote and here to view the results.
He could be a great fit as a DH for the Red Sox. But I don’t see them paying the price to trade for him. That said I think the price tag for him will be too high for any team who’s worried about his future.
You are right…It will be extremely fun and interesting this off-season when Prince is generating tons of rumors and what not.
I still think that yesterday’s 8th inning of the Brewers Marlins game was one of the best, most emotional moments of the season, and judging by that, I say Prince does get traded, but his heart stays in Milwaukee.
Individual games mean nothing if a team has a good GM. It comes down to Fielder’s health and potential future earnings… since he’s Boras man and a great power hitter he’s already looking at a 9 figure contract. But there’s a good chance he won’t be worth it.
By the way, did anyone else see Ken Burn’s is adding a 10th inning to his documentary! C’mon… someone else has to be excited!
Haha, I agree with everything you said especially the bit about The 10th Inning. I’m pretty pumped up about that.
I’m going to assume the 10th inning is about how Bud Selig is running MLB into the ground with his head-in-sand way of dealing with steroids?
I believe Prince has the same issue Dunn has, which is neither have interest in DH’ing
Going against the crowd. I think Fielder has more value to the Brewers than anybody else. I don’t think he will be satisfied with the offers he gets in free agency due to his body type, and I think Milwaukee knows this. They will hang onto him and let him explore the market.
Because he has more value to the Brewers, and because they have more belief in his continued ability, they will be able to offer him a little more than anyone else; they have a lot of money coming off the books. I get the impression that Fielder likes his teammates and enjoys playing there, too.
They haven’t extended him yet because Fielder still think he’s going to get more money than he actually will. It saves them money to let him take a look at the market this offseason.
Nice to see a new opinion. However, if I were a betting man, I’d bet the Brewers try this strategy, and then they’ll watch it fail when a team offers him a ridiculous contract (read: Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, etc)…there are just too many GMs ready to hand out huge contracts to guys they’ve fallen in love with.
Frank McCourt laughs at the idea of spending big money.
I see him going to SF for Sanchez and Torres
Like that idea, but given the fact that Torres just had a breakout season at not a young age and this being his only good season, I say no to Torres, but you were right about Sanchez…Prince for Sanchez, Heath Hembree, and Brandon Belt (who is not as good as people make him seem)
Absolutely zero chance of this. Huff’s probably coming back, Belt’s the future (he has to massively tank to lose the many chances he earned this season), Sanchez has no viable replacement and is coming off the best season of his career, and Hembree’s got closer potential and the org is damned good at picking and training ’em when it comes to pitchers. If the Giants make this trade, it’ll look worse than the Pierzynski deal in about five minutes instead of a year. Giants add a win or two in Fielder, lose three for Sanchez, and possibly upwards of 20 future wins in Belt.
Belt won’t re do what he did in the minors this season. No one can sustaine that.
Kind of hard to say he “won’t”; yeah, he’s probably not going to be as good, just because he was that good. But that doesn’t seem like an argument for trading him unless he’s the headliner, and at this point, it’s entirely possible that Belt becomes a more valuable player than Fielder going forward, and the Giants are pretty good at handling and evaluating prospects, so unless they know something few others do, he’s not going in a deal for anything less than a Braun-type player.
Listen, if the Giants get Prince Fielder for Sanchez and Belt, who is still a prospect and may never be great, even if he will be a star, Prince Fielder is Prince Fielder and with that pen and pitching staff, I say they go all the way.
This doesn’t make much sense. Torres on his own has been more valuable than Fielder this year. They’d be creating two massive holes on their team (CF/leadoff and SP) to fill one.
Torres is also 32 (33 in January) and Sanchez is definitely a luxury on that team. To have Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, and Zito and be able to pick-up a cheap 5th Starter on a team that likely has Pat Burrell coming back as well as DeRosa coming back they should do fine by replacing Torres and Sanchez with Prince Fielder, a platoon in CF/RF of Burriss, DeRosa, Rowland, Schierholtz and possibly Cody Ross if he’s tendered and a journeyman 5th Starter.
True, he turns 33 soon. But you can’t think too much about age because a) he just had his breakout season at 32, and b) they’d only be getting Fielder for one season anyway. It’s not like the equation is 5 years of a young Fielder vs. 5 years of an aging Torres. It’s 4 or 5 years of an aging Torres vs. 1 year of Fielder.
I know a few Giants fans think of having 5 good starters as a luxury, but I don’t see it. If you have a chance to win every day, you don’t throw that away unless it’s for something really special. One year of Fielder just isn’t worth it. Plus the staff might not always be as healthy as they’ve been the last two years. The Giants have had a string of good luck in that sense.
Nope. Giants aren’t trading Sanchez for anything other than an SS or corner outfielder after the year he had and, considering there isn’t anyone to take his spot in the rotation, most likely aren’t trading him at all. With Huff saying he wants to come back, and Belt tearing up the minors, why do they need Fielder?
Prince Fielder for Fister, Feiereband and Josh Lueke
LOL
yazpik = Jack Zduriencik
Blue Jays …. reason they got rid of Wallace.
It would make sense, perhaps a package centered around Marcum….
stewart zep and alvarez?
All 3 for a guy who could walk if contract negotiations don’t go well.. I don’t know, seems too much.
Litsch, Rzep and brian cooper, thats my final offer.
I think Lind should go in the deal. Lind+Rzep.
Key point is Lind is under contract and could develop in the NL
I keep hearing this (Fielder to the Jays), but are they really going to compete next year if they one of the centerpieces of their rotation is gone? They need a 3B and C and bounceback years from Hill and Lind, continued unexpectedness from Bautista, at least adequacy from Wells, and further improvement in their rotation to take the hit of losing Marcum and have Fielder be the player to push them over the edge. Considering their division and the other holes and uncertainties, I don’t see an expensive rental making sense for a team headed in the right direction; they’re not Prince Fielder – Shaun Marcum away from the postseason in that division.
You’re 100% correct for next year.
I think if people link Fielder to the Jays it would be for a few years, not a 1 year lets go for it all kind of deal.
Within 2-3 years, chances are Marcum will become expendable, same with Litsch, Ray, Mills and a few other pitchers. a 2012 starting rotation could feature both Stewart, Drabek and Mcquire. Making it possible to shed some pieces in exchange for a big bat.
Does it make sense to do it and not re sign Fielder, no way, because as you accurately stated, next years jays +fielder-marcum isn’t a postseason team.
Does it make sense in the long term, well maybe?
Fister,Mangini, French, Varvaro and 1 low level prospect for Prince, 3 good pitchers for 1 expensive year of Fielder
Trade wise? Who knows.. but Free agent wise I think he goes to the Orioles or the Nats (depending on what Adam Dunn does). They are teams that desperately need talent, have cash to spend, and don’t traditionally attract marquee free agents….so they will overpay. Prince will follow the money, and I think it leads to Baltimore.
Dice-k(money), Casey Kelly for prince?
I say we trade for prince unless Adrian Gonzalez is avalible. Trade dice-k(money) and Kelly for prince. Then trade papelbon, ellsbury, bowden, reddick for David wright.
Lineup
scutaro
pedroia
vmart
prince
youkilis
wright
kalish
Cameron
drew
don’t quit your day job.
Emphatically agreed.
I like Fielder at 5 years/$80MM with a 6th year vesting option for $16MM. Sorry but if Fielder gets a contract worth more than $100MM people will look on it as an albatross real quick.
He already turned down an extension rumored to be 5 years and a bit over $100 million from the Brewers.
DR HUGE!
why do people think Prince has huge trade value? 1 season of a great offensive first baseman with poor fielding skills who is being paid $16,000,000 – $18,000,000 for that season?
is that really worth trading a future #2 starter? I’m a Brewers fan but c’mon… let’s be real.
1 Season plus a full year of exclusive negotiations and draft picks – no way he accepts arbitration.
Fielder for Garza. TB needs hitting. MIL needs pitching. Garza would cost less for the Brewers in the long run.
Tampa Bay is looking to cut significant amount of payroll over the the next year or two he makes no sense for them
True, but if they lose Soriano, Pena, Crawford and Garza and add Fielder that would still be a net loss. I’m sure they’ll move Upton too. Because of the price difference of Garza and Fielder they may even be able to get MIL to throw in money.
I’m not saying it’s going to happen but I wouldn’t close the door to the possibility of it happening. Fielder would be that huge bat in the middle of their order that they desperately need.
considering this year is all about the pitchers, Prince’s numbers are fantastic
The Brewers don’t have to trade Fielder if the market isn’t to their liking. They have some $35 million or so coming off the books for next year, so they can handle a $5 million raise for Fielder and still have, if they choose, money to spend on pitching.
Even if Fielder leaves as a FA after next season, the Brewers will get 2 high draft picks, and $15 million of salary relief. Unless he brings something better than that, why trade him?
Because by trading him you would like to get pitchers that are or are close to MLB ready to be able to make a playoff run while they still have this good team together. If you let him walk and take the picks you are not going to get the pitching that can contribute quickly out of him.
Fielder would be a fit in Texas, and they have some prospects that should interest the Brewers. Rangers new TV deal should allow them to afford a long term contract with Fielder and they have a hole at first base.
Angels and Rangers immediately come to mind, as do the Dodgers (of course, payroll issues loom) and Giants.
Angels? Would they want to pay that much for their DH?
He will be wearing the old English D, just like his father did.
How about the Dodgers trade Chad Billingsley, James Loney, Scott Elbert and Josh Lindblom in return for Prince Fielder and Lorenzo Cain? as a Dodger fan I would like it.
I would never do that.
If I could get Lorenzo Cain (won’t happen) AND Prince Fielder while really only giving up Billz (won’t happen)…..I’d do it in a heart beat (won’t happen)! Lindblom has been horrid in AAA, Elbert only played half the year cuz he has no mental make-up to handle his warranted demotion after being unable to throw strikes consistently, and Loney is consistently average at best at Dodger Stadium. If Doug Melvin makes a deal like that, he should be fired immediately. Bills and Loney are getting expensive and the Dodgers would get a year of Prince Fielder and a young stud OF in Cain. lol i wish!