Tigers sign Prince Fielder to 9 year deal!!!!!!!!

[Waterfallguy59]

Yepper !

[Yoda]

Absolutely. 2nd highest OBP in the AL and 4th highest OPS. His defense was pretty awful, though.

[PuNk42AE]

He made up for his defense on his ability to slide on the basepaths.

[Yoda]

He made up for his defense on his ability to slide on the basepaths.

And take out people running to first base.

[davidsb]

And take out people running to first base.

(including teammates)

[Biff Mayhem]

HE DIDN'T BRING A WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP TO DETROIT!!!! HE SUCKS!!! - Some people here who channel MLive

[ballmich]

everyone satisfied with year 1 of Prince?

I absolutely am. He hit mid-range of what I was hoping for during the first five years of his contract (OPS+ between 130 - 165). Interesting to me, is that two years in a row now, he has walked more than K'd. And the decrease in K/PA from 2010 to 2011 and then 2011 to 2012, is a good sign of things to come I hope. I'm excited to see how things go in 2013.

[DET Mr Malefic]

everyone satisfied with year 1 of Prince?

I'm satisfied with what Prince provided in year 1, but I'm still dissatisfied with the unintended consequences of bringing him to the team. Bad infield defense, poor overall team versatility.....these are problems that could be solved in other ways (the acquisition of Infante being a step in the direction of solving them), but having three first basemen/DH on the roster makes it harder to solve them and as the team is currently constructed it's an almost impossible problem to solve. He had a great year, I like having him as a Tiger, but you can only have so many first basemen on a team at the same time and I liked (and like) the incumbent that preceded him better.

[4hzglory]

I'm satisfied with what Prince provided in year 1, but I'm still dissatisfied with the unintended consequences of bringing him to the team. Bad infield defense, poor overall team versatility.....these are problems that could be solved in other ways (the acquisition of Infante being a step in the direction of solving them), but having three first basemen/DH on the roster makes it harder to solve them and as the team is currently constructed it's an almost impossible problem to solve. He had a great year, I like having him as a Tiger, but you can only have so many first basemen on a team at the same time and I liked (and like) the incumbent that preceded him better.

Looking at what was/is available on the 3rd base market, I'd much rather have our 1st and 3rd situation than about any other option we could have had.

[ballmich]

I'm satisfied with what Prince provided in year 1, but I'm still dissatisfied with the unintended consequences of bringing him to the team. Bad infield defense, poor overall team versatility.....these are problems that could be solved in other ways (the acquisition of Infante being a step in the direction of solving them), but having three first basemen/DH on the roster makes it harder to solve them and as the team is currently constructed it's an almost impossible problem to solve. He had a great year, I like having him as a Tiger, but you can only have so many first basemen on a team at the same time and I liked (and like) the incumbent that preceded him better.

The bad defense was not an unintended consequence, it was a known trade-off, and easily one could argue that it has not been as bad as expected since Cabrera was better at 3B in 2012 than most people thought he would be.

All that said, in 2015, VMart will be gone and Fielder will either be the full time DH or split 1B/DH with Cabrera. It's a short term logjam, that we can justify by the expected offensive performance of Cabrera-Fielder-VMart over the average production at 3B-1B-DH, less some runs given up defensively.

Also, had we not signed Fielder, and instead were in search of a 3B (and in particular one who is not challenged defensively), it's important to note that this kind of player is/was not readily available for the taking.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

The bad defense was not an unintended consequence, it was a known trade-off, and easily one could argue that it has not been as bad as expected since Cabrera was better at 3B in 2012 than most people thought he would be.

All that said, in 2015, VMart will be gone and Fielder will either be the full time DH or split 1B/DH with Cabrera. It's a short term logjam, that we can justify by the expected offensive performance of Cabrera-Fielder-VMart over the average production at 3B-1B-DH, less some runs given up defensively.

Also, had we not signed Fielder, and instead were in search of a 3B (and in particular one who is not challenged defensively), it's important to note that this kind of player is/was not readily available for the taking.

I would also add that I am not convinced the money used on Prince would have been allocated on other players. I think Mike I loves his superstars.

[4hzglory]

I would also add that I am not convinced the money used on Prince would have been allocated on other players. I think Mike I loves his superstars.

I completely agree with this and think that signing Prince brought/will continue to bring in significantly more revenue than spending the same $20-25 million would have on 2-4 players. For example, even if the draft pick wasn't an issue, which do you think generates more $ for the club, Fielder or Youk & Soriano? Fielder or a combination of Drew/Willingham/Madson? I don't think it is even close.

[Shelton]

I don't think prince added any more value relative to another move or moves that produced the same competitiveness of the team.

Sure, they sell some fielder jerseys, but I don't think that adds much value overall. If not fielder, a consumer will just buy a Jackson or Cabrera or verlander or Inge jersey.

[ben9753]

If they didn't sign Prince, they don't make the playoffs, and no WS appearance. So yes, I'm happy with the move.

[Yoda]

I don't think prince added any more value relative to another move or moves that produced the same competitiveness of the team.

Sure, they sell some fielder jerseys, but I don't think that adds much value overall. If not fielder, a consumer will just buy a Jackson or Cabrera or verlander or Inge jersey.

I completely disagree with this. People like star players. They absolutely draw more revenue than mediocre players. Saying "Oh, they would have just spent it on another player's jersey" is pretty shortsighted, IMO.

[PuNk42AE]

I agree, anyone that was at Spring Training last season could tell you that much. The whole stadium was buzzing, and not just because Verlander and Cabrera were there.

[Shelton]

Sure, the vast millions made from prince at ST made a huge difference.

Buzzing or not, how did it result in a substantial financial gain?

[Yoda]

Detroit Tigers place 3 among top 20 selling MLB jerseys - SB Nation Detroit

Three Detroit Tigers jerseys are among the 20 most popular in the majors in terms of sales since the All-Star break. Justin Verlander, Prince Fielder, and Miguel Cabrera all rank in the top 20 in jersey sales this year. Verlander ranks ninth, Fielder comes in at 15th, and Cabrera has the 19th most popular jersey.

Last year Verlander was the only Tiger to finish in the top 20 in jersey sales, coming in at 13th.

[Yoda]

Now, Shelton, where's your proof that he doesn't make an impact financially over guys like Willingham or Madson?

[Shelton]

The increase in tigers jersey sales last year was likely due to their playoff run the previous year. Why wasn't Cabrera in the top 20 the year prior?

I'm not saying prince didn't add anything financially from his star power. I'm just saying I think it is overstated.

[Yoda]

That may be the case. But you definitely said you don't think it added any more value. That's all I was disagreeing with. It usually is blown out of proportion though, along with just about everything else.

[Shelton]

Ok.

[Nastradamus]

Most economic studies on the subject have shown star, big name types to be underpaid based on the money they bring to a franchise fwiw. I suppose its debatable whether Prince falls into that category though. OTOH, we don't make the playoff run without him.

[Gehringer_2]

Most economic studies on the subject have shown star, big name types to be underpaid based on the money they bring to a franchise fwiw. I suppose its debatable whether Prince falls into that category though. OTOH, we don't make the playoff run without him.

My question is where does decreasing returns set in? My team is all dogs, I'm not buying any of their jerseys; my team has a nationally known all-star, I want his jersey; my team has two all-stars, what am I gonna do with two jerseys? It wouldn't be that simple, different players will sell better into different groups of fans, but there is a basic marketing reality that at some point your new star's sales will shift from new to substitution to some degree.

[Yoda]

Well, the Tigers needed another star black player I suppose. And I'm only half-joking.

[Shelton]

Most economic studies on the subject have shown star, big name types to be underpaid based on the money they bring to a franchise fwiw. I suppose its debatable whether Prince falls into that category though. OTOH, we don't make the playoff run without him.

For the 2004 tigers signing pudge, sure.

[alwaysthrowheat]

Most economic studies on the subject have shown star, big name types to be underpaid based on the money they bring to a franchise fwiw. I suppose its debatable whether Prince falls into that category though. OTOH, we don't make the playoff run without him.

Yeah, if Prince didn't hit .173 in the playoffs, the Tigers totally wouldn't have made the WS. I guess it's plausible they wouldn't have made the playoffs without him, but I don't necessarily agree w/ that either.

[ballmich]

Yeah, if Prince didn't hit .173 in the playoffs, the Tigers totally wouldn't have made the WS.

This really has no merit in context of the discussion. There's a big difference between winning a couple 5 and 7 game series, than winning a division over 162 games.

I guess it's plausible they wouldn't have made the playoffs without him, but I don't necessarily agree w/ that either.

You never know, but I think it's pretty likely they don't make the play-offs. The difference between Fielder and some combination of Inge/Kelly, which is what is likely to have gotten the bulk of the 3B innings if we had not signed Fielder, looks to be worth at least 4-5 wins (but probably a couple more in my opinion). And we only won the division by 3 games.

Clearly there are unknowns, such as how we acquired Betemit mid-2011. But without making those type of assumptions, it pretty easy to show more than a plausible case that the Tigers wouldn't have made the play-offs without Fielder.

[Gehringer_2]

Clearly there are unknowns, such as how we acquired Betemit mid-2011. But without making those type of assumptions, it pretty easy to show more than a plausible case that the Tigers wouldn't have made the play-offs without Fielder.

Another deal for a Betemit and we might have missed by three more games!

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Or maybe had they not signed Prince they would have signed Cespedes.

We just can't know.