Fielder Not Happy With Renewal
3:28pm: Fielder gets $670K, to be exact. Doug Melvin was surprised at Prince’s public displeasure.
1:46pm: Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Prince Fielder is not pleased with his contract renewal, executed this morning.
Rumored to be in the $650,000 range, Fielder’s agent, Scott Boras, indicated his client’s displeasure. Ryan Howard’s $900,000 contract for 2007 was cited as the figure the first baseman hoped to fetch for the season. Fielder made $415,000 last season.
According to Haudricourt, the Brewers used a formula they go by for players with zero to three years experience, a formula which they also used to renew the 2008 contracts for Ryan Braun and Corey Hart. While the amount of Hart’s renewal is unknown, Braun’s contract was renewed at $455,000. Haudricourt goes on to conjecture that this morning’s renewal has hurt the Brewers’ chance of negotiating a multi-year deal with Fielder before he is arbitration-eligible next winter.
Haudricourt has predicted that Fielder will pull roughly $10MM if his case goes to arbitration, in light of Howard’s recent arbitration victory.
Upsetting the youngest player to reach 50 HRs seems like an unwise decision on the Brewers’ part. It would be nice to lock up a player of Fielder’s talent long-term, but it seems the Brewers have made that prospect less likely.
Ryan Howard Fallout
Ryan Howard winning a $10MM salary yesterday was kind of a big deal. Let’s examine this first-year arbitration record.
- A source of Jayson Stark’s thinks the Phillies would’ve won had they submitted above Miguel Cabrera’s $7.4MM. Seems that even slightly above would’ve done it, because then Howard losing would’ve still set a record.
- Tom Haudricourt talks about how Prince Fielder is now in line for the same $10MM for his ’09 salary. And he doesn’t see Scott Boras relenting and doing a multiyear deal. Stark adds Ryan Braun, Ryan Zimmerman, and Hanley Ramirez as other young stars who will be affected. Zimmerman, arbitration-eligible after ’08, will be renewed for ’07.
- It doesn’t sound like the Phillies will sign Howard long-term, in part because there is no precedent. There is talk of $200MM, something no one expects of the Phils. On the plus side, Howard is theirs for the 2008-11 seasons. They may have to keep giving him record-breaking salaries though. A trade is a strong option before he hits free agency, but that’s a ways off.
- Jim Salisbury thinks Howard’s win might result in another monster year. He expects the Phils to eventually at least talk about a multiyear deal with Howard (maybe once the sting wears off).
Brewers May Lock Up Young Players
According to Tom Haudricourt, Brewers GM Doug Melvin is considering trying to lock up some of the team’s young players to multiyear deals. Haudricourt suggests the targets may be Corey Hart, Prince Fielder, and Rickie Weeks – who are all arbitration eligible after the ’08 season.
As Haudricourt suggests, Melvin may not find it easy to sign Fielder. Prince is represented by Scott Boras and should boast a very strong resume after the ’08 season. The current Ryan Howard situation will be a comparable here.