Big.
You can’t avoid the word.
Big deal. Big name. Big contract. Big man.
Big money. Big risk. Big upside. Big story.
“Big” is hardly a new adjective when it comes to Prince Fielder. Some of us remember him as an oversize schoolkid wandering around the Tigers’ clubhouse in the early 1990s. He would sit by his dad Cecil’s locker, eating the post-game food – a Prince on a throne – and the word we whispered then is the word we scream today.
Big.
Only now it’s not “big for his age,” it’s big bat, big home runs, big RBIs and a really big contract. A nine-year deal in the vicinity of $214 million that easily smashes the record for Detroit players and makes the 27-year-old slugger a focal point for the entire baseball nation.
He comes to the Tigers (do we say back to the Tigers? He did used to use the players’ entrance) in one of those smack-across-the-face news stories, a “Where did that come from?” headline.
It’s a fantastic signing, and puts the Tigers right back in the title conversation, after the cold water splash of Victor Martinez’s season-destroying ACL injury. But let’s be honest. Who saw this coming? There was not much talk about Fielder, a free-agent first baseman from Milwaukee, heading to Motown. He was going to Texas. Maybe Washington. But Detroit?
“Probably not a good fit,” is what general manager Dave Dombrowski told the news media a few days ago.
Well, either he was sandbagging, or his owner, Mike Ilitch, just got a new team tailor. Detroit now “fits” a 5-foot-11, 285-pound, $214-million player who is entering the prime of his career.
Big play.
An explosive lineup
Fielder gives the Tigers one of the premier left-handed sluggers in the game, a guy in his 20s who has already had a 50-homer season and a 141-RBI season, led his league in intentional walks last year, and finished third in the National League’s MVP voting. He and right-handed Miguel Cabrera will be a nightmare for pitchers in the heart of the Detroit order.
Is he fast? No. Is he a great defensive player? Nuh-uh. But hey. Didn’t you see “Moneyball?” When Brad Pitt says he doesn’t care as long as a guy gets on base?
Fielder gets on base. Big time. And knocks in runs. Big time. If that’s what you care about most – and apparently to Dombrowski, it is – then this is a big-time coup.
And, yes, it’s big money. But remember: It’s not your money. It’s not my money. If Ilitch wants to spend it that way, that is totally his business, and in a non-salary cap world, what difference does it make? This deal should not be judged by the dollar amount. It’s immaterial. Just something to bug the eyes out. There are overpaid players and underpaid players on every big league roster.
A bigger issue (there’s that “big” word again) is where do you put him? A first baseman on a team that already has one, Fielder now displaces Cabrera, who will have to DH or displace someone else at some other position, most likely third base. And all this becomes more complicated next season, when presumably, Martinez comes back.
There’s also the (potential) issue of his weight. Although he reportedly went vegetarian a few years ago, Fielder is already hefty in his late 20s, and age and the massive contract he just signed could give a front office some concern.
But not enough not to sign him.
Ilitch wants that title
Besides, check the record. There is a history here. Ilitch has signed big-money players from agent Scott Boras before. Pudge Rodriguez. Magglio Ordoñez. Neither ended well. But both gave an awful lot in their initial years.
And perhaps that is all Ilitch wants now. He is close. His team is a contender. He is 82. And we all know how passionately he wants a World Series champion in his lifetime.
And don’t forget, he knew Fielder as a child, or as the French would put it, “Le Petit Prince.”
OK. He was never petite.
But meanwhile, the marketing folks can go bananas. Fielder is a star. He has at least some Detroit history (the Free Press ran a story about him in 1992 when he was 8 years old and whacking long balls in a Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores Little League).
And while it’s a shame that he and his father remain estranged (Prince once said he wanted to break Cecil’s single-season home-run best just to “shut him up”), you never know when families reconcile.
After all, it does feel a bit like a homecoming. And the Tigers just filled a disastrous menu gap with some major prime rib.
Forget the money. And for now, don’t worry about 2013. Prince Fielder just made Tigers baseball a huge must-see all across the country.
Big story. Big twist. Big interest. Big deal.
Big news for January.
Just wait until April.
Contact Mitch Albom: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show” 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). Also catch “Monday Sports Albom” 7-8 p.m. Mondays on WJR. To read his recent columns, go to www.freep.com/mitch.
Big.
You can’t avoid the word.
Big deal. Big name. Big contract. Big man.
Big money. Big risk. Big upside. Big story.
“Big” is hardly a new adjective when it comes to Prince Fielder. Some of us remember him as an oversize schoolkid wandering around the Tigers’ clubhouse in the early 1990s. He would sit by his dad Cecil’s locker, eating the post-game food – a Prince on a throne – and the word we whispered then is the word we scream today.
Big.
Only now it’s not “big for his age,” it’s big bat, big home runs, big RBIs and a really big contract. A nine-year deal in the vicinity of $214 million that easily smashes the record for Detroit players and makes the 27-year-old slugger a focal point for the entire baseball nation.
He comes to the Tigers (do we say back to the Tigers? He did used to use the players’ entrance) in one of those smack-across-the-face news stories, a “Where did that come from?” headline.
It’s a fantastic signing, and puts the Tigers right back in the title conversation, after the cold water splash of Victor Martinez’s season-destroying ACL injury. But let’s be honest. Who saw this coming? There was not much talk about Fielder, a free-agent first baseman from Milwaukee, heading to Motown. He was going to Texas. Maybe Washington. But Detroit?
“Probably not a good fit,” is what general manager Dave Dombrowski told the news media a few days ago.
Well, either he was sandbagging, or his owner, Mike Ilitch, just got a new team tailor. Detroit now “fits” a 5-foot-11, 285-pound, $214-million player who is entering the prime of his career.
Big play.
An explosive lineup
Fielder gives the Tigers one of the premier left-handed sluggers in the game, a guy in his 20s who has already had a 50-homer season and a 141-RBI season, led his league in intentional walks last year, and finished third in the National League’s MVP voting. He and right-handed Miguel Cabrera will be a nightmare for pitchers in the heart of the Detroit order.
Is he fast? No. Is he a great defensive player? Nuh-uh. But hey. Didn’t you see “Moneyball?” When Brad Pitt says he doesn’t care as long as a guy gets on base?
Fielder gets on base. Big time. And knocks in runs. Big time. If that’s what you care about most – and apparently to Dombrowski, it is – then this is a big-time coup.
And, yes, it’s big money. But remember: It’s not your money. It’s not my money. If Ilitch wants to spend it that way, that is totally his business, and in a non-salary cap world, what difference does it make? This deal should not be judged by the dollar amount. It’s immaterial. Just something to bug the eyes out. There are overpaid players and underpaid players on every big league roster.
A bigger issue (there’s that “big” word again) is where do you put him? A first baseman on a team that already has one, Fielder now displaces Cabrera, who will have to DH or displace someone else at some other position, most likely third base. And all this becomes more complicated next season, when presumably, Martinez comes back.
There’s also the (potential) issue of his weight. Although he reportedly went vegetarian a few years ago, Fielder is already hefty in his late 20s, and age and the massive contract he just signed could give a front office some concern.
But not enough not to sign him.
Ilitch wants that title
Besides, check the record. There is a history here. Ilitch has signed big-money players from agent Scott Boras before. Pudge Rodriguez. Magglio Ordoñez. Neither ended well. But both gave an awful lot in their initial years.
And perhaps that is all Ilitch wants now. He is close. His team is a contender. He is 82. And we all know how passionately he wants a World Series champion in his lifetime.
And don’t forget, he knew Fielder as a child, or as the French would put it, “Le Petit Prince.”
OK. He was never petite.
But meanwhile, the marketing folks can go bananas. Fielder is a star. He has at least some Detroit history (the Free Press ran a story about him in 1992 when he was 8 years old and whacking long balls in a Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores Little League).
And while it’s a shame that he and his father remain estranged (Prince once said he wanted to break Cecil’s single-season home-run best just to “shut him up”), you never know when families reconcile.
After all, it does feel a bit like a homecoming. And the Tigers just filled a disastrous menu gap with some major prime rib.
Forget the money. And for now, don’t worry about 2013. Prince Fielder just made Tigers baseball a huge must-see all across the country.
Big story. Big twist. Big interest. Big deal.
Big news for January.
Just wait until April.
Contact Mitch Albom: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show” 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). Also catch “Monday Sports Albom” 7-8 p.m. Mondays on WJR. To read his recent columns, go to www.freep.com/mitch.
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