Prince Fielder Contract - Eating Away at a Tiger Fan

At The Daily Hat Trick, everyone gets a chance to be in on the action. A reader named George with the Twitter handle @doubleADA submitted an opinion on the Price Fielder signing. While I did not ask, I think George is a Tigers fan. His opinion does bring an interesting point of view to the deal. Thank you, George.
Note: The original opinion can be found at: benchwarmernews.com.



BITING OFF MORE THAN THEY CAN CHEW


So with less than a month left for pitchers and catchers to report to spring training Johnny Damon, Raul Ibáñez, and Hideki Matsui remain free agents. However, there is some good news for one player at least, Prince finally has a home and it’s with the Tigers.

Yes, you read that correctly Prince is a Tiger; not Prince ate a tiger! That’s not the shocking part by any means. What should come as a surprise is the salary Prince obtained from the Detroit Tigers: nine years for $214 million. I know what you are thinking, was he paid by the pound? No, he was paid panic money (All-Star catcher Victor Martinez is injured and out for the 2012 season).

I don't think Prince was paid by the pound? 1

THE POWERS THAT BE

It appears that the Tigers “powers that be” must have spent their winter with Brian Cashman of the New York Yankees or better yet the Tigers “powers that be” should have spent their winter Google-ing the Alex Rodriguez contract. Either way the “powers that be” and their thoughtless decision simply shows it was money wasted. $214 million is just the sticker price but only if Prince was a luxury SUV that included an inexpensive full coverage car insurance rate along with a 9 year maintenance plan.

No, from this writer/fan perspective this player comes with negative side effects! For example, which Detroit Tiger is now trade bait Cabrera, Victor Martinez or 3rd baseman Brandon Inge? What happens in 2014 when ace pitcher Justin Verlander becomes a free agent? Lastly, why did a team that finished 15 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians, 16 ahead of the Chicago White Sox, 24 ahead of the Kansas City Royals and 32 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins, in a division that’s weaker than a wet piece of one ply toilet paper, go and spend $214 million on one overpriced, overweight player?

Scott Boras: A.K.A. "The Powers that Be"! 2

EVERYTHING IS A TRADE OFF

Here is what $14 to $20 million could have bought Detroit; Raúl Ibáñez, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui and with just enough left over change to ink starting pitcher Edwin Jackson for a similar deal of that of Ryan Madson which mind you was a steal. Frankly this was a choice of want rather than need but I doubt that Detroit “needs” to hear this type of information! Well folks, nine years from now we can only hope the fans from the economic down trodden City of Detroit have at the very least one thing to smile about because, if not, then Prince will not be remembered as a hero, but the guy who took the Motor City's money and made a hero (sandwich) out of Detroit and its wonderful franchise.

Perhaps the Motor City will be cranking these out by the time we can make the final evaluation on the Prince Fielder signing. 3

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1) Image from www.theonion.com
2) Image from www.mlbreports.com
3) Image from www.designeast.eu