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Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Brad Beneke

Brad Beneke — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:53:21 +0000

I can tell you all that I did not see Detroit as a serious player in this situation. Didn’t see it happen at all. Especially with how much Prince and his father do NOT get along.

Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Brad Beneke

Brad Beneke — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:45:03 +0000

Michael. Thank you.

As for Smoak… maybe we need to look up Sam Horn, Andre Davidson, Brant Brown, the guy that Mark McGwire was supposed to platoon with as a rookie, and probably 1000 other guys that were supposed to be good, and just weren’t. Or we can just chalk it off to what it probably was… Smoak was so disgusted by losing every day in every way that like a lot of victims of abuse… he just shut down in some sort of denial based shock? (bad joke, but probably more true than not).

Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Michael

Michael — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:22:24 +0000

Brad….
Excellent post…..and it again points out the real danger to baseball,the agents. Prince is a decent player on his way to becoming a DH due to his being fat. Its a combination of greed and elevated self-worth that is keeping him on the market.
If he asked for a reasonable contract chances are we would have sen him signed by now.
And as for Smoak…yeah,what happened to this guy? He OWNED the Tigers but was Alpo against everyone else….

Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Brad

Brad — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:16:39 +0000

I’m kind of curious what this German voodoo practice that Arod is getting for his shoulder? Not sure if you’ve heard about it? I don’t know much on it at all personally, but he has vowed to be 100%. He is one of the most underrated defensive 3rd basemen in the game. I feel he’s still the best shortstop on that team.

Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Mike Stermel

Mike Stermel — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:09:12 +0000

Thank you for the compliment! We’re used to being dumped on by the rest of the country over here. The ownership has made a commitment to winning that was hardly ever there before and the fans have responded in kind. I have always had respect for the Twins, I loved Kirby Puckett (I called his walk-off HR against Leibrandt in game 6)….

I agree about the closer position…they usually flame out pretty quickly. Mariano and Trevor Hoffman are true anomalies. Actually, the Papelbon signing got a mixed reaction around here…Madson was pretty popular, while Papelbon imploded (along with the rest of his team) last September. The reason the team has failed in the playoffs the last 2 years was the offense, not the closer. The lineup is getting older and injury-prone, the money should have gone towards a younger bat…but then again, besides Aramis Ramirez, the pickings were kinda slim. So welcome back Jim Thome.

As for the Yankees, I think they are planning to have A-Rod do most of the DHing this year, though the thought of Fielder aiming for that short RF porch must be giving them pause.

Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Brad

Brad — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:30:21 +0000

Michael, Boras is cancer as I mentioned above. I appreciate your views… I am not a huge Phillies fan, but I think that the Phillies fans are the single greatest group of fansin all of American sports. I’ve never been sold on Madson, I think that closers are severly overrated and overpaid. That being said my Twins resigned Matt Capps I think in part to get a top 5 draftpick in 2013 as well.

As for Fielder, if he’s a man of integrity he signs 1-2 year deal and hopes NY needs him in 2013-2014. Otherwise he is King of the Bottom Feeders.

Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Brad

Brad — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:12:48 +0000

Nate, my belief is that it is best for Fielder’s legacy to either take blank check to the Yankees who need a DH this season and he will get 15-17 million for 1 year, or to sign back home in Milwaukee for the reasons above, but people don’t hire Boras to get them rings, they sign with him because he’d leverage his grandmother’s hip replacement for a ferrari payment. He is in my opinion the worst thing to happen to baseball ever. Far worse than strikes of steroids. As a basketball fan I’m glad he’s not a basketball agent because he and David Stern are cancerous and those two could kill an entire league.

Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Brad

Brad — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:51:48 +0000

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read this. I will do my best to respond to everyone. Thank you again.

Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Mike Stermel

Mike Stermel — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:01:50 +0000

The reputation of Boars is taking a major hit this winter. First, he screwed up Ryan Madson by demanding a huge deal from the Phillies. Madson has been solid for the Phils during his career, but last season was his first as the undisputed closer, and the Phils decided to spend that money on Papelbon, who has a much better pedigree as a closer. Boras then held out for a similar deal from other teams, Nobody bit, and Madson ended up signing a 1 year, 6 mil deal with the Reds. Madson probably would have re-signed with the Phils, or at worst with the Red Sox, if Boras wasn’t so stubborn and lowered the price just a little. You describe the Fielder situation very well. The Nats still seem most likely to sign him….you are correct that the team has a nice base to build from, but the team still has not caught on in DC (save for the Strasburg games) and the franchise is hungry for some more star power.

Seattle may offer him the most money, but that park is death to power hitters, and the franchise itself is kind of anonymous right now.

I’m somewhat surprised that the Cardinals haven’t jumped into the Fielder bidding…they didn’t win the championship last year because of their pitching (The Phillies series to the contrary) and losing Pujols leaves a gigantic hole in the offense. Yeah, Wainwright is coming back but who knows how he will perform coming off of major surgery?

Comment on Prince or toad: Has Fielder overplayed his hand? by Nate Erickson

Nate Erickson — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:52:19 +0000

I don’t follow baseball as much as I do football… But isn’t there a team, a possible contender, that would pay for Fielder for monster 1 or 2 year contract? Or would he take a pay cut(from what he is asking) to sign a 1 year deal with someone and hope that the market for him is better next year? His offensive numbers are impressive and I don’t imagine, baring injury, that they will decrease over the next year.

It doesn’t make sense for him to sign a big contract with a team that is “rebuilding” and will be out of contention for years to come. As you said in your article, all the big money teams are not in need of his services.