The Nationals don't intend to go after Prince Fielder once he reaches free agency, a team source told MLB.com's Bill Ladson. The primary reason is that first basemen Michael Morse and Adam LaRoche are already under team control for 2012. Instead, the Nats may be more focused on finding a center fielder and a leadoff hitter.
Earlier this month Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com expressed similar feelings about the Nationals sitting out the Fielder bidding. He provided additional reasons: GM Mike Rizzo loves defense at first base, and the team might need to earmark money for a future Ryan Zimmerman extension.
Now, as I mentioned on Monday, having LaRoche under contract for a year at $8MM wouldn't be a huge roadblock if the Nationals wanted Fielder, and Morse could play left field. Scott Boras has been cozy with Rizzo in recent years, and the agent will probably try his damnedest to get them involved on Fielder. However, if the two beat writers are correct and the Nationals don't get involved, that's one less team capable of doing a $150MM+ contract in a market that probably already excludes the Red Sox, Yankees, and many others.
Orioles.
This happened in my OOTP league, FWIW (nothing, I know).
BUCCOS!
pfffffffffffff……………………….riiiiiiiiiiiiiggghhhtttttt
Rays?
that will never happen
I. Hate. LaRoche.
It is not LaRoche’s fault. Blame the Werth contract. If the Nationals had not made that ridiculous commitment, they could sign Fielder AND have money to lock up Zimmerman and their other young stars (Zimmermann, Strasburg, Espinosa, Morse, Ramos, Lannan, Storen, etc.). Morse could slide to LF, Prince plays 1B, Harper plays RF when he comes up, and Bernadina plays CF until a more permanent solution is found.
So, in short, the Werth contract is boning the Nats.
How did you get that out of this? No one ever said they didn’t have the money to go after him. In fact, a week after they signed Werth they went after Cliff Lee. It’s just first base isn’t their pressing need right now. They already have two capable firstbasemen and a large gaping hole in center, and leadoff for that matter.
Japan!
Scott Boras is not pleased by this news.
Werth is awesome. period.
you last sentence is (period.) period period??
People keep saying the cubs are going to try to get him…
Shouldn’t they be rebuilding or something???
they will be remodeling the franchise NOT blowing it up and starting from scratch.
the cubs will have a new GM to start the rebuild this winter that will be dieing to take them to the world series ASAP. hopefully that new GM hires sandberg as the new manager.
with that said I hope that the cubs dont persue fat prince fielder with the big hole in his glove. the errors with him at 1st will more than ruin any offensive upgrades that he will bring to the cubs atleast. castro will have 40 errors next year with prince at 1st.
He’s not fat . . . he’s big boned . . .
They have the money where they can sign an elite hitter as part of rebuilding. With the right GM the Cubs could potentially be contenders in 2-3 years.
is there first round pick protected?
I’m skeptical of that. They have so many free agents signees under-performing and occupying major spots in the lineup.
Not to mention the rotation will need some work.
This article by Jonah Keri discusses this topic and is an interesting read.
THIS ARTICLE: link to grantland.com
Left it out the first time.
Blue Jays, anyone what Lind?
lol ya ok
-S.Boras
First thought: No way! 😮
Second thought: No way. ಠ_ಠ
Just re sign with the Brewers Prince, makes the most sense for both sides.
Price will go to either the White Sox, Cubs, Angels or the newly named Miami Marlins.
i dont think he will go to the white sox because they got alot of money tied up in adam dunn and there first base position is taken by konerko
Isn’t Konerko like 38? Fail.
Mark Zuckerman? who cares what the facebook guy has to say
I’m completely confused why the media keeps pumping this MEME that the Red Sox and Yankees are out of the Prince bidding. Did anyone ever hear of the DH? in 2012 the Sox and Yanks will have massive holes at DH.
If some team will be the first ever to pay $150 million for a DH it is going to be these clubs.
True. However, I woudn’t bank on them doing that. Tha’ts a lot of money (especially for teams who’ve recently seen big contract guys under-perform to some degree – Crawford, Burnett, etc).
Plus, at least with the Yankees, you have to consider that the two old guys on the left side of the infield will be fulfilling that DH spot on a part-time basis individually. And ARod definitely will be full time DH within the next 3 years. Then the Yanks can have the highest paid DH in baseball history….
If Red Sox spend big on offense this offseason, it just makes far more sense for them to go after Reyes and shore up their infield for years to come. Papi will come back on a 2 year deal.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
We have all heard of the DH. But, there is so such thing as a “massive hole” at DH because it is relatively easy to find lower cost alternatives to DH rather than spending $150 million. Both the Yankees and the Red Sox already have very expensive, all-star caliber guys playing 1B. At this point in their careers both Gonzalez and Texeria aren’t cadidates to play another position and Fielder can’t play another position. Both are great hitting teams and spending big money on a DH just isn’t that imporatant. And, both teams are much more likely to spend big money on starting pitching. You are right, that if a team would spend $150 million on a DH it would be the Yankees or the Red Sox, but they won’t do it because they don’t need to do it.
I could see the Red Sox doing it, but even the Red Sox and now the Yanks have shown there is a limit to what they will spend. The Yankees will need their DH spot for Montero/Rodriguez in the coming years and already have Tex at 1st. So the Yanks seem out of it, especially with their need for pitching. The Angels, M’s, and O’s really seem like the only AL teams with the “need” and the money to make that happen. And I would bet the Angels lead the list as far as desirable places to play.
*wondering aloud* Would the Angels really pay for him? After their poor extension for Hunter and the Weaver signing…
Not to mention they haven’t exactly been big spenders in the FA market since Torii.
So what CFs will be available?
Just check this out. So everyone has been saying for a while the Nats have a hole in the CF position. Well say the Nats shuffle some money around to accommodate signing a big name free agent such as Prince Fielder. You move Morse to left and put Harper in CF. You also get rid of Desmond (Yes he TRIES hard, but he blows and is a strikeout and DP machine) and put Espinosa at Short with the upcoming Rendon at 2B. Your lineup would look something like this:
Espinosa SS
Rendon 2B
Zimmerman 3B
Fielder 1B
Morse LF
Werth RF
Harper CF
Ramos C
P
Gotta say that lineup looks pretty dirty.