Where Is Prince Fielder Going To Go?

By Jeff Sullivan - Editor

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Dec 13, 2011 - Coming into the offseason, there was a small handful of top-level position players on the free agent market. In truth, they were more than a handful, unless you have really big hands, but the quantity was limited. There was Jose Reyes. There was Albert Pujols. And there was Prince Fielder. Those were the big guys in an otherwise unremarkable pool.

Well, Reyes has been signed, and Pujols has been signed. There are still interesting and talented free agent position players left, like Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Beltran, but Fielder stands alone at the top, with his market seemingly slow to develop. Where's he going to land? What's the current status of the Prince Fielder sweepstakes?

The word is that Scott Boras is in the stage where he's eliminating various possibilities. That way, Boras will be left with a pool of what he considers to be serious suitors. We can try to do the same thing, going through everybody on a team-by-team basis. Let's give it a shot.

Angels
No. They just signed Pujols, and they have more than enough position players already, so they don't need to hoard.

Astros
No. Rebuilding, horrible.

Athletics
No, because, A's.

Blue Jays
Maybe! The Blue Jays have been considered a Fielder possibility from the get-go, although they are extremely reluctant to give long-term contracts.

Braves
No. Already have Freddie Freeman; Freddie Freeman is good.

Brewers
No. They picked Aramis Ramirez.

Cardinals
No. I mean, there's a tiny possibility, I guess, but the Cardinals didn't offer enough to keep Pujols, and Fielder is no Pujols.

Cubs
Maybe! The Cubs are rebuilding, but the Cubs have money and Fielder's young. Theo Epstein may not want to deal with long-term contracts, however.

Diamondbacks
No. Paul Goldschmidt! He's so exciting!

Dodgers
No. Fielder doesn't play enough middle infield positions. Also, money.

Giants
No. The Giants were forced to choose between Mike Fontenot and Jeff Keppinger because they couldn't afford both. That is not because they are setting aside money for a Fielder run.

Indians
No. Money.

Mariners
Maybe! The Mariners were cited as curious favorites for Fielder not too long ago, and they're involved, even though, like everybody else, they presumably aren't wild about a long, expensive contract.

Marlins
Maybe! The Marlins say no, and they've spent a ton already, but apparently the Marlins can do whatever they want now and they could change their collective mind on a whim.

Mets
No. Haha, no. :(

Nationals
Maybe! The Nationals say no, declaring that they're not interested in a big-money first baseman and would prefer pitching like Roy Oswalt instead, but the Nationals have money and could always re-emerge.

Orioles
Maybe! The Orioles are always a maybe, until they are a no.

Padres
No. Money.

Phillies
No. Ryan Howard, bitches!

Pirates
No. Money.

Rangers
Maybe! The Rangers have been talked about as a dark horse candidate for Fielder so often that I fail to see how they qualify as a dark horse anymore, and the fit is obviously there, but on the other hand reports have the Rangers as not being very interested, and Ken Rosenthal says that they don't have the money a lot of people think they do.

Rays
No. Money.

Red Sox
No. Adrian Gonzalez.

Reds
No. Joey Votto.

Rockies
No. Todd Helton.

Royals
No. Eric Hosmer.

Tigers
No. Miguel Cabrera.

Twins
No. Bunch of reasons.

White Sox
No. Doing the opposite of looking to add players like Prince Fielder. Also, Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn.

Yankees
No. Mark Teixeira.

Running down the list, here are our maybes:

Blue Jays
Cubs
Mariners
Marlins
Nationals
Orioles
Rangers

That's seven teams. Healthy market. However, we can probably eliminate the Orioles. They could use a splash, and maybe Dan Duquette wants to do something huge, but I have to imagine they'd need to offer way more than anybody else just to twist Fielder's arm, and that isn't the sort of thing these Orioles ought to do. We can also probably eliminate the Marlins. They've thrown money around, but they've done so aggressively, and if they wanted Fielder, one suspects they would've made a push by now. What's left, if there's much left, might be saved for Yoenis Cespedes.

I want to say we can eliminate the Nationals as well, given their insistence that they prefer starting pitching. It could be a bluff, but they do have an expensive Adam LaRoche, and a less expensive and productive Michael Morse.

That would leave us with the Blue Jays, Cubs, Mariners and Rangers. Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has denied that he'll spend big in free agency while the team is still developing, and the organization reportedly has a six-year limit on contracts. Cubs president Theo Epstein has said that he's focused on smaller deals, and previous reports said that any offer from the Cubs would be shorter, with a higher average annual value. The Mariners don't have that much in the way of payroll flexibility, barring an increased budget. And the Rangers might not have that much money. They've denied significant interest in Fielder before, and seem more focused on trading for a starting pitcher.

I was hoping this exercise would serve to clear things up. It didn't really clear things up. All of the potential contenders for Fielder's services have good reasons for not being strong contenders for Fielder's services, and so we're left to wonder. Might Fielder settle for, say, an expensive five-year contract such that he can enter free agency again before he's too old?

The Rangers still seem like the best possibility, to me, despite everything. I think the financial hurdles they're facing would make it more difficult to pursue Yu Darvish than Fielder, and it's an obvious fit. But I've been programmed to trust Ken Rosenthal's sources, and Ken Rosenthal's sources say that, at least for now, the Rangers aren't really involved.

So we'll see. Fielder and Boras are not going to hold out too much longer. Fielder will sign this month. Because he has Boras, one's assumption is that Fielder will get something like the contract he's been seeking. But when you look at the suitors, I don't know, maybe not. This is a difficult market to figure out. I can't predict Fielder's contract, and I can't predict his destination.

Read More: Prince Fielder (1B - DET)

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