Baseball Opinion - Are Prince Fielder's Days Numbered?

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Are Prince Fielder's Days Numbered?

Christopher Solberg, Editor
4/22/2008

Over the off-season Prince Fielder let it be known that he wasn’t happy with his pre-arbitration raise, being paid $670,000 for the 2008 season. He felt that he should have been given the same $900,000 that Ryan Howard was given prior to his first year of arbitration eligibility, even though the Milwaukee Brewers weren’t required to even pay him even $670k.

If Prince recovers from a very slow start to hit 40-plus home runs again this year, he and agent Scott Boras might demand the same $10 million in arbitration winnings as Ryan Howard was awarded this past February. That’s a pretty steep jump, and not a jump that the Brewers will probably like to take on. The team has supposedly offered a long-term contract to Fielder to avoid the arbitration woes, but with his agent in his ear, it is unlikely that Prince and the team will come together on a pact.

Does this make his days in Milwaukee numbered? Power-hitting prospect Matt LaPorta has been switched to play first base for his Double-A Huntsville team and has been racking up the numbers. On top of hitting 283/.389/.567 in 60 at-bats so far, LaPorta has hit a homer in three straight games. Many believe that his bat should be major league ready at some point this season.

Trading Fielder and bringing up LaPorta could position the Brewers even better if they obtain some nearly ready prospects for him. Due to the nature of the market, pitchers are usually the targets of the July deadline, whereas General Managers typically can get more for impact hitters after the season. This would give LaPorta a full year to prepare in the minors and give GM Doug Melvin time, without a deadline, to sift through the trade offers. But if the Yankees or Mets are besieged by injuries or ineffectiveness of their current players, they may push for a trade at the deadline. Wait…..the Mets have nothing outside of Martinez that can be viewed as a desirable prospect. The Yankees, on the other hand, may have the prospects that the Brewers would covet. But don’t forget the Mariners, GM Bill Bavasi might get desperate and offer a package centered around Jeff Clement.

This’ll be an interesting plot line to watch over the coming months.

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