January 22, 2009
Prince of a Deal
The Brewers, having not spent money on CC Sabathia, ink Prince Fielder to a two-year deal. He'll earn $18 million with the contract:
Fielder, eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career, asked for $8 million earlier this week, and the team countered with $6 million. Over the past three seasons, Fielder has hit .278 with 112 homers and 302 RBIs.
Given that arbitration salaries are growing fast despite the downturn in free agent money, this was a smart deal. Prince is entering the prime of his career, and he already has a 50 home run season. He could easily win his case this year and then look for a Ryan Howard like increase for 2010. This will keep that from happening. The Brewers could save anywhere from $2 million to $6 million with the deal versus going to arbitration two years in a row.
Fielder saw a pretty alarming drop of 134 OPS points last year, and an equally alarming rise in LBS points. He was still a productive player - seventh of 23 qualifying first basemen in OPS. So it makes sense to lock him up for two years, but he might not be the best long-term risk.