Detroit has a new first baseman, who looks a lot like an old first baseman from the early 1990's. Prince Fielder, son of Cecil Fielder, has signed with the Tigers for 9 years and $214 million. That's about a $23.4 million annual salary. First, many people were taken by surprise at Fielder's joining the Tigers. Especially with Miguel Cabrera at first base, few people expected the Tigers to even be in play despite losing Victor Martinez to a season-ending ACL injury before the Spring Training even began. Hell, I expected Fielder to end up with the Nationals, a team that could have had a shot at the playoffs had they added Prince.
Now, Detroit will put Prince at first and move Miguel Cabrera to third. Their DH slot, which was supposed to be taken by Victor Martinez will probably go to Delmon Young, Brennan Boesch, Ryan Rayburn, or Don Kelly, or a combo of those guys. Their lineup will feature two of the most feared hitters in the game today in Prince and Miguel, with a solid surrounding cast. Delmon Young is pretty good and Rayburn and Boesch look like they may be decent regulars. They even have some good young pitchers with, obviously Justin Verlander, and Max Scherzer.
However, and this is a big deal to me, why would the Tigers offer nine years to a position player who is close to 300 lbs? He will be 28 in May and is listed as 285 lbs. He has, probably 4 prime years left before a decline starts to happen. With his body, that decline could happen sooner, especially if he doesn't start to DH more in later years. It's not like he is a gold-glove first baseman either. Sure, he can make a play. Is he Mark Teixeira or Adrian Gonzalez, or Albert Pujols? Hell no. Was Miggy even a good defensive first baseman? Nope. He was so blah in the field at third he was moved to first. According to fangraphs.com, the last time Miggy played third was in 2007 and he ranked 16th out of 21 qualified third basemen on defense. Now you have two below average fielders at the corners and the defense up the middle is not the best in baseball either. Ramon Santiago is a good enough defensive second baseman but his range will be tested by the limited range of his first base partner. Jhonny Peralta has a decent bat but I'm not a huge fan of his in the field. Getting back to Prince's weight and body-type, let's not forget that his father, Cecil, was out of baseball after his age-34 season. Cecil also listed his playing weight at 230 lbs. That is 53 lbs lighter than his son is currently listed at for those keeping score at home.
What if Miguel Cabrera can't play third? What then? Do he and Prince share first and DH duties? Then what do you do with Victor Martinez? trade him? There isn't a team in baseball that would take on V-Mart and his money since he can't catch anymore and was faking it at first base to begin with. We can't forget V-Mart signed a 4-year, $50 million contract before last season. there will still be two years remaining on that deal when he comes back in 2013. Ace Justin Verlander signed a 5-year, $80 million deal that will run out in three years. I can't fathom what the Tigers are thinking here.
What makes all of this worse is the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that will levy huge fines, up to 50% of total payroll for being over the luxury tax limit two years in a row. That limit is $189 million right now. In three years the Tigers are going to be looking into dumping salaries, probably starting with Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. Cabrera signed an 8-year $153.3 million deal prior to the 2008 season. He will be a free agent after the 2015 season. Maybe the Tigers plan is to let Cabrera and Martinez walk and to re-sign Verlander and have a team of Verlander and Prince and a bunch of young kids or veteran cast-offs. I just can't picture how signing Prince Fielder does anything positive for the Tigers in the long-term. In the short-term they might be able to outslug a few teams and their lineup will be scary in a short playoff series for the next couple of years but their corner defense is now atrocious and it will only get worse next season when they need to find at bats for Miggy, Prince, and Martinez who all play the same position. I sincerely doubt Cabrera will be at third beyond this year.
Wow, Detroit, wow. Short-sighted. I don't see the long-term benefit for the ballclub. Not at all. Oh, and don't expect the Yankees to jump in and rescue you. Maybe the Dodgers would take Miguel Cabrera to play first after new ownership settles in since James Loney isn't a long-term solution there and the Tigers will more than likely have to eat a large portion of anyone's salary who they want to trade. Why wouldn't a team demand that? They have the Tigers by the toe.
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