Thoughts on the Prince Fielder trade

First and foremost, while I have bashed Prince Fielder for his record in the post season and questioned his leadership skills, and called him out for how he handles the media, Detroit Tigers fans far and wide owe this man and very big thank you for his two years of service with the club. In two years he played every single game, every single one. He was also a 100 RBI guy and the cleanup hitter for a very good baseball team. Let us also not forget that the two years he hit behind Miguel Cabrera, Miggy won the MVP and a Triple Crown. He had a lot of value for the Tigers, and even though it ended poorly for him in Detroit he was a big part of their success.

Let us point something else out. This trade, by itself, is nothing more than a salary dump. Now what happens next is the payoff for getting rid of a very good player. It will be those moves that hopefully win this team a World Series title, and they will be forever linked to how those moves work out.

First and foremost the Tigers now have enough money in 2014 and beyond to sign Max Scherzer. that is very important as pitching is this club's strength and having the rotation stay together means that right now today the Tigers are the favorites to win the division once again. That means another shot at the ultimate goal.

I also think that it means Nick Castellanos will be on the big team in 2014 either at third (preferably) or in left. I also think it means Miggy and Victor Martinez will rotate at first and DH, and I like that cause I remember the days of Dave Bergman and Darrell Evans. I liked hose days and I like having older guys who don't move so good now at first and DH.

The simple fact here is the Tigers are not a better team today. That much is pretty evident but this move, getting out of that contract, opens up a world of possibilities and those possibilities should excite Tigers fans because Dave Dombrowski is very good at getting good pieces for this team. Maybe not always the right pieces but very good talented pieces none the less.

If this boiled down to a choice between Fielder or Scherzer, and I think it sorta does, I would take Scherzer all day long. That is a guy entering his prime. Fielder and Kinsler are guys on the far side of their prime. Pitching wins, and the 2013 Tigers kinda proved that had Prince stepped up bigger in the post season then that changes the equation for me. The fact is he did not. I don't think he wanted to be here anymore, and I don't think the fans wanted Prince back. There is no addition by subtraction here, the Tigers just lost 25 home runs and 100 RBI and those numbers will need to be picked up by someone. The Tigers have created another hole for themselves. they are back in the familiar position of needing a power left handed bat.

The Tigers dumped salary and given themselves the flexibility to get better in other areas. We will not know if they won this trade until that happens. The rid themselves their fan base had turned on, and who was not very popular amongst the front office. They get a do over on a ridiculous contact that should have never been handed out in the first place.

This is the first domino of the 2013 of season. We shall see what is the next to fall and if that is the resigning of Phil Coke to a one year deal, I and all the rest of you should be very disappointed.

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