The Brewers have indicated during negotiations with Prince Fielder that they would be willing to offer the free agent slugger a six-year deal worth $120MM, reports ESPN's Buster Olney (via Twitter). This would be a notable increase over Milwaukee's "last formal offer" of five years and $100MM to Fielder.
It's almost been a foregone conclusion that Fielder would leave the Brewers this winter but Olney notes (Twitter link) "it's a fluid situation, and Milwaukee is probably in play" unless another team makes an offer in the neighborhood of $170-$200MM. With the Mariners, Nationals, Cubs and possibly the Rangers all interested in Fielder, it's likely one of those clubs (or, Scott Boras' erstwhile "mystery team") will come forward with a contract that tops the Brewers' best offer.
Here are a few more notes about the Brew Crew…
- The Brewers will bid on Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, according to a Sanspo report (translated by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman). The Seibu Lions announced two weeks ago that Nakajima would be posted, and he is predicted to attract attention from several teams looking for shortstop help.
- MLB.com's Adam McCalvy, however, reports the Brewers aren't likely to go after Nakajima due to the team's lack of in-depth scouting in Japan. Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin tells McCalvy that he expects a relatively quiet Winter Meetings for the team, and that the Brewers' priorities are finding a shortstop and bullpen help.
- Melvin was named the Major League executive of the year by Baseball America. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the details.
worth a try at the very least
not bad that deal runs until hes 33 I wouldn’t mind 6 years for fielder
I hope they aren’t surprised when Fielder tells them to go F themselves.
Prince Fielder: -36.3 career UZR
Ryan Braun: -52.2 career UZR
The way to get the worst value out of both is to have Braun in LF and Prince at 1B. The Brewers would be so much better off moving Braun to 1B and having an OF of Gomez-Morgan-Hart.
Fielder sucks at defense, that’s why I wouldn’t be surprised to see an AL team try to sign him to DH (Mariners, Rangers, or even the Indians). I’d cut Braun some slack though. He did win the damn MVP.
And Derek Jeter won a Gold Glove last year. What’s your point?
No, he didn’t.
Is that you Tim McCarver?
Context. Over half of Braun’s negative UZR comes from his disastrous 3B
defense during his rookie year. He is passable (and has been improving)
in LF.
Besides, Gomez and Morgan are best as platoon partners b/c Morgan can’t
hit lefties and Gomez can’t hit at all. Gomez is at least better than
Morgan vs. Lefties. Most of their value is from their defense (and CF
positional adjustment) neither of their bats play in a corner spot.
How does Braun win the MVP over Kemp with a negative URZ.
Because Kemp had a negative UZR too. Oops!
because Braun brought WINS to his team? That’s like saying why is Superman so powerful when Lex Luger has krypotine – because he’s friggin Super despite a flaw
eeeeehhh, the defense may get a lot better but I’d be surprised if it offset the difference between Fielder and Gomez’s hitting abilities. Replacing a .299/.415/.566 slash line with .225/.276/.403 (or really any offensive metric you want to use) is pretty steep. Maybe (probably) not worth the $20+ mil you’d need to pay Fielder to avoid it, but if we ignore cost a LF Braun and 1B Fielder produces more value than a LF Gomez and 1B Braun.
Maybe you agree. I can’t really tell from the post I’m replying too. And swap Gomez with a better LF with Braun moving to 1B and I’m on board with the idea.
Sunflower seeds are expensive!!
They never start with their best offer. Pretty good first offer.
It’s their second offer…
So then there will be a third and final offer. Probably either 6 years/$150 million or 7 years/$147 million.
Remember when the Brewers had JJ Hardy–boy they sure could use him now.
Remember when the Twins had JJ Hardy–boy they sure could use him now.
Remember when JJ Hardy posted an OPS of .659? The Brewers do, and that’s why he isn’t there any more.
Thanks for addressing this so I wouldn’t have to… but I will anyway: if Hardy should be known for anything, it’s for being wildly inconsistent. And if he should be known for a second thing, it’s for being a walking injury waiting to happen. And I mean “walking.” Dude cannot run.
Betancourt’s OPS in 2011: .652. But at least he’s worse with the glove than Hardy. Seriously, I cannot understand how the Brewers thought Betancourt was good enough to take them deep into the playoffs. All year I was hoping they’d trade for Jack Wilson from the Mariners because at least Wilson plays defense.
Yeah, what were they thinking. As if they would ever get deep into the playoffs with Betancourt. Oh wait…
Bad process, good results. They got to the ALCS in spite of their crappy shortstop. In what was possibly their best shot at winning a world series they didn’t make an upgrade they easily could have.
Yeah davbee, I know the Twins prefer Nishioka…….
Oft-injured Hardy>Healthy Betancourt
Greinke/Betencourt > Hardy
Betancourt > Tebow
Looks like Fielder will be in a new uniform next year. Cubs, Mariners, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Rangers, and Nationals could be interested.
Dodgers wont be able to afford him because they are working on a contract with kershaw and the 160 million dollar contract to kemp will hurt alittle when it comes to signing big free agents. Rangers wont, they will end up sticking with Moreland at 1B and can use napoli and michael young at 1B to fill in for moreland until hes able to come back from his wrist surgery. Mariners im even surprised their mentioned. Blue jays could be a possibility but i doubt it. Cubs is a question mark because how much is the new owner whilling to spend on a big free agent? but in my opinion i believe it will come down to the cubs and nationals. who has a better shot at making a world series faster then the other? I believe its the nationals. if they sign Fielder and thats IF, their 3,4,5,6 hitters could be scary and then with Ramos and espinoza who both hit pretty good for their rookie season and will only get better 2 through 7 should look pretty good. once bryce harper comes up 2 through 8 will look scary to face.
the nats sign a big SP someone llike edwin jackson or Mark Buerhle to go with Jordan Zimmerman and Strasburg they should be contenders. and i think thats what fielder is going to look at. who can get him a ring before his contract expires. a torn apart cubs team or a young and upcoming nationals team who is improving every year? if i had to bet money id say the nationals are the favorites right now
Do you honestly think Fielder’s in it for a ring? If that was the case he’d stay with the Brewers, where he would have a good chance to compete.
Ricketts said Theo and Hoyer can sign one of them if it is what they feel is best for the team.
Kemp is actually getting paid less in 2012 than he was in 2011, so that has nothing to do with not being able to afford Fielder. It has everything to do with the ownership situation unfortunately.
Looking from the outside, I’m not so sure. The Brewers have set the price somewhat with a bid of $20MM per, they only changed their stance on years.
That means anyone interested needs to top that bid. The Rangers have already indicated that at that price, they’re not interested says Nolan Ryan.
The Dodgers have spent about $15MM on FA’s and another $8MM on Kemp for this coming season. Next year Kemp bumps up to $20MM, so I wouldn’t expect for them to add another salary that large to the payroll.
Mariners are a bit aways from contending and even though Ichiro’s contract is coming off the books after this year, I can’t see them getting into a long term committment at those dollars. Nationals already spent on a hitter in Werth and it got them nowhere. They know they need pitching, so I don’t see them seriously in the mix.
Cubs still have Soriano’s and Zambrano’s contracts and no farm, so I wouldn’t look for Epstein to continue to throw out more huge money, even for a division rival’s player.
I could see the Blue Jays making a real bid, because they do have the money, are not under any serious constraints, and they now are in contention because of the extra WC. Fielder fills a need at 1B and could DH in the later years of the contract.
Now this still leaves the Brewers in play because the market does not appear to be that great as of now. Boras and Prince have been saying all the right things in the press about the Brewers, so if they don’t receive a knock-out offer from anyone, the Brewers still have an outside shot at re-signing him.
I hope the Mariners don’t sign Fielder.
I hope they do. Because dingers and also, screw the Brewers.
I can’t see why Prince Fielder would want to leave Milwaukee. The team is now a contender. Also, $20,000,000 a year is a NICE paycheck. There is no way he could have any trouble living with money like that. Trying for more cash is just greedy. I’d rather win and make $20,000,000 than lose and make $21-22 million elsewhere where I wouldn’t win.
Nakajima does seem like he would be a nice pick-up for the Brewers. Betancourt is passed his prime and will likely retire soon. Nakajima is the second best hitter in Japan so the lack of scouting shouldn’t be an issue. Even if he doesn’t work out too well he is a valid short term solution for Shortstop issues.
Also, Congratulations to Melvin on his award. Very well deserved. The trades for Greinke and Marcum completely turned them into contenders.
greed man! everyone is trying to match the Arod contract. Adrian Gonzalez could have asked for that contract and he prob would have gotten it. Pujols will sing first and his will be around the 200 mill area give or take alittle. Brewers wont be able to match it not with greinke and brauns contracts. its like the rockies they have 400 million wrapped up in tulo and gonzo together thats why they cant afford much more. and why they more then likely sent jiminez to cleveland, because they wouldnt be able to afford to keep him around when he becomes a FA!
How did you come up with the 400 million number for Tulo/Cargo?????
yeah hes crazy
The post says he’s likely to leave if someone offers something in the 170MM-200MM range, which is 50MM+ more than the Brewers offer, not just 1-2MM per year. Although, I do agree that 20MM per is plenty to live on and if other offers out there aren’t much more, I hope he resigns with the Brewers (especially since I picked him to resign in the contest)
Sorry, I was to lazy to do the math. But I think that with the amount of years he wants included, it would be close to 22-23 million.
Take it Fielder. The greed of the sports world nowadays is ridiculous. Getting paid MILLIONS to do something you love, and saying it’s not enough. BULLFREAKINCRAP
People pay good money to see these guys play. We’re all guilty of it. I just re-upped my Rangers season tickets this morning and it cost me an arm and a leg.
It’s just life…these guys get paid more than construction workers because nobody wants to ay $45 to watch a road being built…
I like the idea of bringing Nakajima to the Brewers. He’s not Betancourt, would likely be less expensive than Reyes, and in general would probably be a very nice fit in this lineup.
Would i like prince to stay yes he is a great hitter and helps braun alot. Plus if we can get the short stop from japan that would inprove our team alot just by defence lol please Doug never ever let Betancourt start on our team again lol and i agree kyle but we never need to pay for road construction because its every where lol
plus i think it would be a help getting back our relef pitcher with another player from japan
Who do they think they are, the Marlins?
das
Ballplayers end up making about forty cents on the dollar between agents, lawyers, taxes and union fees. With that in mind I think Fielder would have to be offered upwards of $30 million more than Milwaukee’s bid (as in $150MM plus) in order to be coaxed out of the Brewers’ organization. I don’t see many teams offering him that kind of money. Also Fielder has pride to think about. Would he take a free agent deal worth less than, say Jayson Werth? I don’t think so. If Milwaukee wants to keep Fielder, I think they’ll have to go to AT LEAST 7 years/$150MM.
The cubs will give him more
What? The Brewers need help at shortstop? You mean Yuni ‘Cement Shoes’ Betancourt isn’t good enough?
The Royals will have Escobar at short and Cain in center this year…and Odorizzi potentially making his way to the Majors later this season. You can have Greinke.