The wait is finally over; Prince Fielder will officially make the move to the American League and take his talents to the Motor City based on reports of him agreeing to a nine-year/$214 million contract with the Detroit Tigers. This has been a long saga in the media, and I have no doubt that Fielder is finally happy to have a home after months and months of speculation.
Lots of rumors were spreading like wild fire on Tuesday before news dropped of this mega-deal with Detroit; ESPN’s Buster Olney reported yesterday that the Tigers would be a good fit for a one-year deal, since he would replace the hole that Victor Martinez left with his ACL injury last week, and two big market teams could be in the mix next winter with new ownership (i.e. the Mets and Dodgers). However, GM Dave Dombrowski shocked everyone especially the Nationals and Rangers, who seemed to have been the public front-runners for the All-Star first baseman’s services.
What does this mean for the Detroit Tigers in 2012? With a very deep pitching rotation coming back, headlined by 2011 AL Cy Young and MVP winner Justin Verlander, they will be the favorites to repeat at AL Central champions. Analysts were speculating at the end of last week and beginning of this week about all the inexpensive, short-term options that the Tigers could go after. However, they decided to make the second biggest splash of the off-season, next to the signing of Albert Pujols.
As this saga played out throughout the entire hot stove season, there were plenty of nay sayers that played down why Prince wouldn’t be able to get a long-term deal, the biggest negative being his size and stature. His durability has been questioned time and time again because it will be hard to stay on the field as he gets older with his current build. If that’s true or not, you need to look at his track record. Since Prince has become an everyday player in 2006, he has not played in less than 157 games in a single season, also being the only Major Leaguer to play in all 162 games in 2011. While playing every day, his average season comes out to a .282 average, 37 home runs, and 106 RBI; you throw in a decent glove at first base and he’s all an organization would ever want in a player that mans first base.
Short term, this is an unbelievably great move for Detroit; they came out to announce the Martinez injury and said that they aren’t going to be able to replace him in their line-up, but it’s fair to assume that this is a comparable fill in, or even an upgrade. However, once V-Mart comes back to the line-up, I think there’s going to be a little bit of a log jam. In 2011, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez split time between the DH spot in the line-up as well and rotating at first base every so often. With Martinez out for virtually all of 2012, that frees up the DH spot. Early reports are saying that Cabrera will occupy that spot most of the time, with Fielder going out into the field (no pun intended). Once V-Mart comes back, manager Jim Leyland will most likely have to use the Designated Hitter as a revolving door between these three stars, in order to keep them all fresh. Don’t forget, Cabrera could play some third base if needed as well. The biggest plus to going to Detroit rather than Washington is that towards the end of this contract, he doesn’t have to play the field.
Obviously, this will only be a problem if one of these stars is unhappy with the amount of time they are in the field. I think that they will be just fine, as long as they get their at-bats. So, congratulations to Prince Fielder on finally having a team to play for when organizations begin to report next month and kudos to the Tigers for finding a way to make this type of signing a reality, which will undoubtedly make them a contender for the immediate future. Let’s just hope they told Cabrera and Martinez about their intentions with Fielder before the news broke, unlike the Marlins with Hanley Ramirez and the Jose Reyes signing.
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