The Dodgers pushed hard for Prince Fielder for weeks and thought they had a legitimate chance of signing him, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. They offered a seven-year deal worth a little more than $160MM that would have provided the first baseman with the chance to opt out after four seasons. Fielder would have earned $26MM or so for the first four years of the deal and $20MM-plus for its final three years.
The Dodgers met Fielder at an undisclosed location a few weeks ago and outgoing owner Frank McCourt approved the team's proposal. Though the Dodgers aren’t unhappy with James Loney, they wanted to add an elite bat to their lineup. The Nationals and Tigers were also finalists for Fielder, whose nine-year, $214MM deal becomes official at a press conference in Detroit this afternoon.
The meeting between Boras and the Dodgers took place in Dallas, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown. Dodgers execs visited Boras at his Newport Beach offices about a week ago, Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times tweets.
