Prince lands in Detroit

by High Heater on Jan 24, 2026 4:48 PM EST

Just wondering what everyones concensus is on this spot for him. 9 yr 214mil...

links saying Miggy is moving from 1B but does that mean he goes to 3B? and what happens when Victor Martinez returns from injury?

Comerica Park is not the friendliest for hitters but i don't see that suppressing Prince's power at all, him and Miggy should be quit the 3-4 fearsome for years though... but that team needs men on base on top the order which... they really don't have imo.

Any thoughts?

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That contract is gonna look ugly in 4-5 years

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day."
-Frank Sinatra

by Kerm on Jan 24, 2026 5:18 PM EST reply actions

the contract

is about making the Tigers a perennial AL Central winner for the next four years, with a much improved shot at a WS ring during that time. if they get something close to that value over the lifetime of the contract, then it’s fine, because you have to pay a premium for top talent.

i’m surprised they signed Fielder though. no idea where they got the money. Detroit has been significantly in the red since the economic crisis.

by blue bulldog on Jan 24, 2026 5:49 PM EST up reply actions

found the money

Didn’t mags and carlos guillen come off the books after 2011? That was a lot of change…

by tuna411 on Jan 25, 2026 9:50 AM EST up reply actions

$

That is correct. Plus Brad Penny came off too.

by odbsol on Jan 25, 2026 11:35 AM EST up reply actions

that's just one year's salary off the books

you can’t project that moving forward

and my overall point was more that Detroit’s (the city) economy has completely crashed since the economic crisis, and it’s been reflected in annual losses of around $30 million for the baseball team for the past three seasons

by blue bulldog on Jan 26, 2026 12:25 AM EST up reply actions

Baseball owners get special tax treatment

So operating losses aren’t all that bad.

Mike Ilich is loaded, too.

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by alskor on Jan 26, 2026 2:19 AM EST up reply actions

I'm a Michigander....

….and just got home and heard this…..no way did I think they were even in the market…….WOW!

I hope Cabrera can play 3rd….but then, he’s probably no worse than Betemit was for them late last year.

I suspect they’ll mix and match them between 1st, 3rd and DH. Becomes more tricky when VMart comes back in 2013, though. Maybe Cabrera will be the fulltime 3bman, by then.

Worst though is Fielder hasn’t been a good defensive 1bman…so they’d be defecient defensively at both corners.

I hope it improves them enough to counteract the defensive problems.

by billybgame on Jan 24, 2026 6:02 PM EST reply actions

also forces Peralta to stay at SS

and with Raburn possibly at 2B, that gets really, really bad. like, i’ve never seen an infield this bad type of bad.

still, the offense probably makes up for it. and then some. then maybe a little more.

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by doublestix on Jan 24, 2026 6:48 PM EST up reply actions

agree, lol

factor in the defensively attrocious Delmon Young in the OF and you have the makings of a slow pitch softball team.
Maybe Verlander can just strike everyone out or force them to hit the ball to CF

by ScottAZ on Jan 24, 2026 10:33 PM EST up reply actions

great fit

The contract is not nearly as bad as the pujols deal, great signing by Detroit.

by St.Steve on Jan 24, 2026 6:27 PM EST reply actions

Except that...

Prince Fielder’s single best season is 23 points of OPS shy of Pujols’ career total. By wRC+, Fielder’s best single season at the plate would be Pujols’ 9th-best season.

Fielder’s deal may look slightly better at the back end, but the only way you think he’s worth only $1 million less in average annual value than Pujols is if you think Pujols is already in steep decline. True, 2011 was Pujols’ worst season at an age where it’s a bit of a red flag for a guy to have his worst offensive season, but keep in mind that Fielder put up inferior years in both 2010 and 2008, at the ages of 26 and 24, respectively. In fact, Fielder’s only topped Pujols’s 2011 offensive showing (which, remember, is the worst of Pujols’s career) in 3 of his 7 major league seasons.

Pujols also has a significantly better glove.

If I’m sacrificing future competitiveness for present value, I’d take Pujols’ deal over Fielder’s any day of the week.

by slamcactus on Jan 25, 2026 1:47 AM EST up reply actions

but how much future are you willing to sacrifice?

Fielder has a deal one year less and is 4 years younger. At least 4 years younger. Fielder will have two years at the age of 35 or older. Pujols will have 7 years or more at the age of 35 or older.

Fielder is fat. Many believe it will affect him as he ages, it’s a legitimate concern. But Pujols has already started to age with more and more injury concerns mounting.

I will take the fat, young, healthy player over the older and visibly physically aging player.

by pedrophile on Jan 25, 2026 3:21 AM EST up reply actions

those are my main feelings too pedro

Albert is showing decline and injuries have to be a concern, especially wrist injuries.

Also it maybe unlikely, but pujols might be even older.

by St.Steve on Jan 25, 2026 7:45 AM EST up reply actions

Both contracts are bad.

I imagine they’ll be comparable offensively the next 5 years, after that, all bets are off.

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day."
-Frank Sinatra

by Kerm on Jan 25, 2026 10:03 AM EST up reply actions

I'll take

a “decline” that’s right in line with Fielder’s averages any day. And he’s not really showing that much decline. He was a beast in the post-season against better pitching.

Both players are good bets to decline during the middle years of this deal. The only reason to prefer Fielder is if you think Albert will totally fall off the cliff and give the Angels a maximum of 1-2 good years under this contract. While anything’s possible, I think people are overreacting to a “decline” to a .906 OPS. When 2 players are both likely to decline, take the guy who has farther to fall.

by slamcactus on Jan 25, 2026 11:13 AM EST up reply actions

But Pujols has already started to age with more and more injury concerns mounting.

And again, if Fielder in 2012 were to have a season that was a carbon copy of Pujols’ season where he “showed his age,” it would be the 4th best of his 8 seasons in the majors. A supposedly declining, hobbled Pujols out-hit Fielder at ages 26 and 24, and Fielder was already an established star during both of those seasons.

And if you include Pujols’ post-season (which there’s no reason not to, given that he was in the same shape he was in the regular season and facing pitchers that were better than average on balance), his numbers look pretty squarely in line with what he’s done the rest of his career.

I will take the fat, young, healthy player over the older and visibly physically aging player.

Fair enough. I’ll take the best hitter alive who also has a superior glove.

by slamcactus on Jan 25, 2026 11:11 AM EST up reply actions

started to age vs. showed his age

Based on what I said, started to age, Pujols is about to show his age. He is now in the stage where we are starting to see injuries and warning signs. And the decline is to come very soon. A cliff? No, probably an escalator like decline.

I don’t see him having 5 or 6 seasons like last year. I see him declining like ARod. ARods age 32 season was an MVP type season. And after that the decline was steady.

I feel Pujols will be the best hitter next year and possibly the year after. But I also see in 4 years that he is just a solid hitter in a decline phase.

by pedrophile on Jan 25, 2026 11:33 AM EST up reply actions

Pujols is also much more likely to age "gracefully"

Fielder is more the type that will completely fall off a cliff - going from a very valuable player one year to having zero value the next (e.g. Mo Vaughn or even Cecil).

by guru4u on Jan 25, 2026 12:26 PM EST up reply actions

sure, but with 1 more year on the contract and at least 4 years older

Fielder may have 2 drop off the cliff seasons to Pujols 7 aging “gracefully” seasons.

by pedrophile on Jan 25, 2026 12:39 PM EST up reply actions

Or he may have 4 of them.

Again, I’ll take the guy who’s currently the better hitter. Pujols is older, but he’s significantly better. Fielder seems like an established star who belongs in the same discussion, but a lot of that is the fact that he’s coming off a career year which obscures the fact that he’s only one season removed from an underwhelming (for his perceived talent) .261/.401/.471 season.

by slamcactus on Jan 25, 2026 10:59 PM EST up reply actions

Sure, that could happen

But I doubt Prince is washed up at 31 or 32. The same things you are saying applied to ARod and we see what is happening there.

IMO the Pujols contract is very risky and Pujols much less so.

FWIW Detroit would have been better off with Pujols because of the owners age and that Pujols absolutely destroys in he playoffs. He is one of a very few that you can say that.

by pedrophile on Jan 25, 2026 11:44 PM EST up reply actions

mo vaughn had major injury issues his entire career...

prince has never played less than 157 games in a season…thats a dreadful comparison

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Jan 25, 2026 3:49 PM EST up reply actions

Vaughn did average over 145 games a season from age 23 to 32

by nixa37 on Jan 25, 2026 7:14 PM EST up reply actions

and cecil didn't fall off the table

until he was 33, mo vaughn at 34, which would be the last 3 and 2 years of the fielder deal. and prince is a better contact hitter than both and gets on base more often. So he puts up 30-35 homers and 400 obp for 6 or 7 years and has 2 or 3 above avg to avg years where he’s still making 24 mil/year? i’ll take it all day. good for detroit’s burgeoning restaurant scene.

by DeathSpeculum on Jan 25, 2026 11:38 PM EST up reply actions

Cabrera won't play 3B

I know they want him to lose 75 pounds in the next 2 months, but I just don’t see that happening.

by auclairkeithbc on Jan 24, 2026 7:12 PM EST reply actions

If Cabrera won'r play third

then where does he play during the 9 inter-league road games this season? And where does he play in 2013 when V-Mart is DH’ing? Unless they want to move him back to the outfield, I don’t think there is any doubt that he plays plenty of third base in 2012.

by M J 888 on Jan 24, 2026 10:21 PM EST up reply actions

He won't play because he can't.

He’ll be the DH this year…though they will experiment with him at 3B as well. He might work out as a horrible LF, but no way will he work out as a horrible 3B. They might as well put Prince Fielder at 3B. Now, if he magically does lose 50-75 pounds, it MIGHT semi-work out, but he has a very very hard time losing even 10 pounds. If he doesn’t work out in LF either, which is a distinct possibility, he’ll be the DH in 2013, or will split 1B/DH duties with Prince. V-Mart will either have to be good enough to play catcher full time, or he will have to be traded. This is a crushingly horrible signing by the Tigers. I hope it works out for them, because I actually like the Tigers, but it one of the most reactionary signings of all time, to replace their DH.

by auclairkeithbc on Jan 24, 2026 10:30 PM EST up reply actions

Uh...

…though Avila wore down and broke down in the post season, he became one of their best hitters…….they won’t be sitting him vs RHs, or much at all. VMart will DH in 2013. They just need a RH C to rest Avila now and then.

by billybgame on Jan 25, 2026 8:19 AM EST up reply actions

It's not as if...

it’s uncommon for a team’s best hitter to sit out interleague road games if his defensive shortcomings limit him to DH. Travis Hafner sat out the bulk of his team’s interleague road games. Ditto David Ortiz and Edgar Martinez.

by slamcactus on Jan 25, 2026 1:49 AM EST up reply actions

Interleague

Come on guys. Detroit will not sit Cabrera during interleague road games. So he WILL play third or outfield during those games…..guaranteed!

by M J 888 on Jan 25, 2026 7:25 AM EST via mobile up reply actions

2012 sure...

The question is what happens in 2013…i mean, i could see him in the OF during interleague games…but let’s get serious. Victor Martinez will not be with the team in 2013, unless they think he can be the everyday catcher and decide to trade Avila, which is unlikely.

by auclairkeithbc on Jan 25, 2026 9:59 AM EST up reply actions

2013-2014

It looks like V-Mart is due 13 million each of those two seasons. Who is going to want to trade for a full-time DH making that kind of money? I just don’t see them being able to trade him away after this surgery (unless they eat some of his salary). So if he does remain a Tiger then Cabrera has to play either third or outfield.

by M J 888 on Jan 25, 2026 11:40 AM EST up reply actions