Hey everyone. I pretty much suck. I'm disappointed in myself for my lack of work on this. I still read baseball stuff and think baseball stuff but just haven't put in the time to write baseball stuff. I've missed a bunch of good stuff, and have never gotten around to like any of the features that I wanted to do. I was really excited to write about the Jim Edmonds signing but never did.
Oh well. I'm back, somewhat. I'm still really busy with school, but I'm between jobs now so hopefully that will give some more time. My main topic today is concerning a Prince Fielder extension, which is probably a main topic for almost everybody in the whole world.
Prince is currently under contract for the 2010 season at a fairly reasonable $10.5 million. He is eligible for arbitration (and therefore under team control) for one more season.
The bottom line here is that if Prince Fielder is not signed to an extension he MUST be traded. The time frame could still be argued about, but it must happen. This year still has some hope so I don't think you could find many people shouting for his current trade (even at this years deadline...). Next off season makes the most sense to me, as it would net a larger return than waiting until the trade deadline, and would give us one more calender year or so to get an extension done. To let Fielder fly for just the draft picks would be irresponsible, and Fielder would net a Sexon like haul, and for those of you who don't know that deal fueled much of the team for some time, and its repercussions run to the present (Sexon got Overbay (amongst others), Overbay got Bush, Jackson (who was sent to Cleveland in the Sabathia deal) and Gross (who was sent to Tampa in exchange for the highly touted Butler).
So here comes my proposal for a Fielder contract. 4 years-$80 million dollars. Could structure it something like $16m, $20, $20, $20, then a $25m mutual option with a $4m buyout. I also think something just like 4 years $20m per would be fine, or 18, 20, 20, 22. Mutual options kind of seem like they're the new thing right now...
My theory here is it gives the Brewers an additional 3 years breathing room within which they can work with Wolf, Gallardo, Parra, and some of these up-and-comers like Axford, Butler, and maybe even Jeffress. However it does not get them stuck into something too long term. Why would Fielders agent Scott Boras be OK with this? Well for a couple of reasons. There is an absolute glut of free agent 1st basemen in the upcoming two years (Gonzalez, Martinez, Lee, Berkman, Pujols, Overbay, and Dunn amongst others...). Also, Prince is young enough that after this four year deal would only be 30 (maybe 31...) and should actually be entering his prime years, where another 4+ year deal would seem very possible.
From a money standpoint for the Crew I don't think it would be too big of a deal. Yes, I was one of the few people out there who was opposed to the Sabathia deal, and it was solely for money reasons. However, GM Doug Melvin has echoed my thoughts some what when he talks about the difference between hitters and pitchers. Also very important is the combination of Braun and Prince in the 3-4 holes. In 3 years or so the Brewers could still be largely home grown talent and still be raking. A lineup of something like Cain, Escobar, Braun, Fielder, Lawrie, Green/Gamel, Lucroy would be pretty nice, and three years from now many of those guys would not even be in arbitration yet, and when they are getting ready to get to that point, and hopefully coming into their own as hitters Prince will be ready to say bye-bye after his deal. Also I'm sure everyone remembers that we have over $20m coming off the books next year with Suppan, and Riske departing, and the end of the Bill Hall payments. Beyond Braun there is nobody long term except for Wolf, who has 3 years on his deal, and Hawkins who has 2011.
I had some more points to work with but this is getting pretty long and I think I hit my main ones. I'm going to try and get more stuff done, I feel guilty writing on here when I should be writing papers...
Have fun listening to Uek and the Crew, it may be crummy in Miltown, the weather may be awful in AZ too, but spring training still warms me on the inside. Brew Up!
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