Quick Hits: Fielder, Motte, and A New Series?
Quick hits is a mini series where subjects that may not be worthy of their own post, but still important none the less. So in this “series”, if you want to call it that, I take all these subjects and compile it into one post. So here we go.
The Tigers have signed Prince Fielder to a 9 year $214 million dollar deal.
The Tigers were certainly in need of another big bat after losing Victor Martinez, but boy this is a BIG contract. To put it in perspective: Albert Pujols is only getting 2 million more AAV then Fielder.
This is the same place where his dad Cecil spent the majority of his great career, but as of now those two aren’t each others biggest fans, but that’s another story for another time.
I wonder how Prince will do in Comerica Park. It’s such a huge stadium and a big pitchers park it’ll be interesting to see how his power numbers are.
In my opinion this is a bit too big of a commitment to a fairly inconsistent player. Yes, he had a monster 2011 season, but it seems like he has a good year and then a bad and then a good again and so on. He’s a fairly big player. Fat, tubby, broad, busky, big-boned, stocky; however you want to put it he’s not the smallest player which hasn’t been a problem. At least not yet.
With this signing I think the Tigers will steam roll over the AL Central, but I still doubt they go too far in the postseason.
The Cardinals have reached a 1 year $1.95 million dollar contract with “closer” Jason Motte.
This is a great deal as Motte really solidified him self as an elite reliever in October and was a crucial part of the magical run made by the Cards.
By reaching this deal they avoid arbitration. No one really won out as 1.95 million is exactly in the middle of Motte’s arbitration request and the Cardinals.
This is basically a cushion deal so they can see how he fares as a closer throughout a season. If he does well they’ll give him a multi-year deal. Multi year deals on a closer is a bit risky.
All in all: A solid deal for both parties.
Fan Friday?
This would be a series where the readers (you guys) send me messages throughout the week regarding the Cardinals and baseball in general and I’ll answer them all every Friday. If you would like to ask a question contact me by any means possible (email,comments,twitter,etc.) just be sure to leave your blog and/or real name at the end of the question. If I get enough questions quickly the first edition of Fan Friday could be this Friday. So get those questions in!
Thanks for reading.
-Zack
