O/T, Prince Fielder to Tigers for 9 year deal

[ls7plus]

They moved the fences in from the original dimensions, David, and Juan-Gone simply never wanted to be here. Tony Clark was just one of those guys IMO whose talent wasn't meant to last in the big picture. Prince will lose a few HR's on long balls hit to the left of the 365 marker, beyond which the fences go out rather steeply to center at 420, but he's a big boy, and doesn't need overly friendly fences to hit his 35+. My prediction for him is 36 HR's, 115 RBI's and his usual 100 or so walks, while hitting about .275 or better. He'll probably have a bit of a slow start adjusting to a new league, just as Miguel did the first couple of months here (although he ended up with 37 homers and
.292, leading the league in HR's, if I recall correctly, that year). If we could just get him to limit himself to one man to a uniform, those 9 years would look a lot better, but that's what it took to sign him.

Contrary to some of the other comments, having seen every one of Fister's starts on a great big HD screen, he seems to be the real deal and may well be a true No. 1 starter. The Tigers' pitching is weak after that, however, with Schirzer inconsistent despite having very high quality stuff, Porchello more than a bit wishy-washy, due to the inconsistent nature of the break on his sinking two-seam fastball and control from start to start, and Brad Penny gone (good riddance there--other than eating up innings, he only qualifies as a No. 5 for a well-under .500 team). We think, though, that having shored up the bullpen with Dotel, Coke firmly back in place as a quality 7th inning guy, and Valverde having learned to throw a pretty decent two-seamer to pick up the slack for a split finger that often didn't do much, that they may well have a real shot at several World Series appearances over the early years of the Fielder deal.

Best wishes,

Larry