The Brewers are listening to offers on Prince Fielder and Corey Hart, tweets ESPN.com's Buster Olney. The tweet echoes a similar report by Jeff Fletcher of AOL FanHouse, though Olney suggests that the Brewers have no interest in moving Rickie Weeks.
Fletcher reported that the Brewers were entertaining offers for Fielder because they don't expect to be able to re-sign him when he hits free agency in 2011. Olney offers similar thoughts in two more tweets, indicating there's a very slim chance Milwaukee could afford to lock up the Scott Boras client to an extension. Boras figures to be looking for a contract larger, in both years and dollars, than Ryan Howard's five-year, $125MM deal. Earlier this season, Fielder and Boras turned down an extension offer similar to Howard's, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link).
Meanwhile, the Giants have been the team most frequently linked to Hart, though the last rumor we heard had the Brewers asking for more than San Francisco was willing to pay. Hart will earn $4.8MM this year, while Fielder is making $10.5MM. Each player will be eligible for arbitration for the last time in 2011 before becoming free agents.
In a final tweet, Olney adds that David Bush could also be an interesting trade chip for the Brew Crew if they go into sell mode. Bush, who will be eligible for free agency this winter, has a 4.23 ERA in 17 outings this year, including a 2.74 mark since his seven-run blow-up in Minnesota on May 21st.
Prince needs to go on a diet for god’s sake. He could be a starting lineman for the NFL. I wouldn’t pay him more than Howard’s deal. As his conditioning or lack of it is a bit worrisome..
Regards,
Brian
He is a freakin vegetarian.
For what it’s worth, Prince weighs 268 pounds, and is a vegetarian. He’s lost something like 30 pounds the past 2 offseasons. He’s still going to be a future DH, but people are making wayyyy too much of it.
he did that once and forget how to hit the ball, then he went off the diet and started hitting again.
White Sox offer: Viciedo, hudson, Flowers . Hard to say no
I’m not sure the White Sox would really want to make an offer giving up Hudson, now that Peavy is done for the season. Also, that’s a solid offer, but the Brewers don’t need Flowers. We’ve got catching prospects up the wazoo, and a rookie catcher taking most of the starts for the Brewers right now.
Not nearly enough should be something like this for Fielder –
Tyler Flowers ,
Dan Hudson,
Dayan Viciedo,
Brandon Short,
Kyle Colligan
This would be more like it.
no dan hudson, there is no suitable back up in the system, torres isnt bad but hudson is better. Now, flowers, vicedio short, colligan, and torres might get the deal done, but only if you can work an extension…maybe throw gordon beckham into the mix and take vicedio out would get a deal done faster
I’m under the impression that the Rays would be interested in both Fielder and Hart. For Fielder, I’d say something like Hellickson, Torres, a low-level pitcher (Jake McGee?), and PTBNL would do it. For Hart, I think a deal of Hart for Wade Davis straight up would be fair.
Why would he make more than Howard? Howard has bargaining power of an MVP, World Series et al under his belt. What has Prince done but hit 50 home runs one year and piss off people?
So since Bobby Kielty won a world series he can command more in his contract?
New verse to the old song.. “Where have you gone Bobby Kielty”…
he is younger thats why
Orioles: Chris Tillman, Jeremy Guthrie, Brandon Erbe and Caleb Joseph for FielderI doubt the Brewers get more than that for him and he can be the 1B bat that Baltimore has been searching for. And they’ll have him to attract other FAs in the offseason to make a major move in the standings next season.Tillman and Guthrie immedately help the Brewers with their rotation and Erbe could be a future bullpen arm and Joseph is a solid catching prospect.
…And the Brewers decline.
Why would the Brewers want Guthrie? Sure, he’s moving from the AL East to the NL, but he just isn’t very good. He’s had a 5.20 xFIP the last two years.
He’s not nearly good enough to be included into a Fielder deal, that’s for sure…
What about a deal like
Orioles –
Prince Fielder
for
Brewers –
Luke Scott
Brandon Erbe
Matt Angle
Chorye Spoone
PTBNL
Not Scott either. The Brewers would want pitching that is close to big league ready, or pitching that is big league ready.
I can’t imagine a deal without Matusz. And the O’s won’t do that trade, and rightfully so. They shouldn’t.
Get ready for the Mets fans to offer a package centered around Thole.
Nobody is trading a Matusz like prospect for a potential rental of Fielder.
I think Tillman and Guthrie is a solid package for pitching. You aren’t likely to get anything close to that from anybody else. And Guthrie may not be that good in the AL East, but if you take him to the National League he’ll be better, and he’s relatively cheap for a middle of the rotation starter and under team control until after 2012.
If the Brewers are desperate for pitching, and cheap pitching the Orioles are their best bet to get it.
Right, and I said the O’s shouldn’t. But I don’t think they could get Fielder without him.
And no, Tillman and Guthrie based deal isn’t good at all for someone of Fielder’s caliber (mainly because Guthrie is one of those players, and again, isn’t good).
They could get a much better deal elsewhere. If you were the O’s GM and offered that, you might as well forget it. A mid rotation starter, a back of rotation starter in his second arb year, a reliever, and a blocked prospect isn’t cutting it for a year and a half of a 26 year old superstar who has already had four seasons with an OPS+ of 130 or more, and two seasons of 155 or more.
think the A’s might be intrsted in any of them for next season?
Would probably need to be a deal centered around Braden or Anderson, and Anderson should be untouchable at this point.
Yeah that’s true, but Braden’s going downhill now, something to be aware of, it would kinda be like Cahill for Fielder, but I woulden’t do that..
Haven’t you read Moneyball? Beane thinks he’s way too fat for the A’s.
Your kidding, right? Maybe Hart, but no way in Hell they get Prince. He will not resign with Oakland, and Oakland would have to give up so much.
Looks like Boras wants to make Prince Fielder the richest fat guy in baseball. A lot of big guys have gotten even bigger contracts, but few have been able to stay healthy to earn those dollars. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest fat guy contracts to date, and see how they turned out. 1. C.C. Sebathia – New York Yankees – 2009 – 7 years – $161 millionSebathia signed the biggest contract for a fat guy, not to mention the biggest contract for a pitcher, ever. He has been earning his paycheck so far and helped the Yanks win a championship in his first season. The question is, how will he hold up in years 4-7 of his contract? 2. Carlos Zambrano – Chicago Cubs – 2008 – 5 years – $91.5 millionJim Hendry is finding Zambrano’s contract as immobile as the 260 lb. Zambrano himself. Zambrano has been criticized for his numbers since signing this monster deal, but he hasn’t pitched much worse than he did in 2007, before he signed the contract. It was crazy to give him that much money in the first place. 3. Mo Vaughn – Anaheim Angels – 1999 – 6 years – $80 millionThis contract gave Vaughn the highest annual salary in all of baseball at $13.3 million a year. He wasn’t bad while he was healthy, but he didn’t put up the numbers the Angels were expecting. By 2000 his slugging percentage had dropped 90 points and he struck out a league leading 181 times. The Angels were so eager to dump the remaining $42 million they owed him they traded him and an undisclosed amount of cash to the Mets for Kevin Appier and the $33 million the Mets owed him. The Angels released Appier after making only 51 starts. 4. Bartolo Colon – Anaheim Angels – 2004 – 4 years – $51 millionColon pitched well his first two years in Anaheim, winning the Cy Young award in 2005. The Angels went to the playoffs both years. Colon didn’t pitch very much, or very well in ’06 or ’07. 5. David Ortiz – Boston Red Sox – 2007 – 4 years – $50 millionOrtiz killed it in 2007 then his numbers dropped off. He has experienced extended slumps but overall has still put up decent numbers in the last 3 years of his contract. He was pretty horrible in 2009. 6. Carlos Silva – Seattle Mariners – 2008 – 4 years – $48 millionSilva wasn’t great before signing with Seattle, but he ate innings. Bill Bavasi must love giving money to big fat guys. He also signed Mo Vaughn while he was the Angel’s GM. Silva was so bad in his two years in Seattle that they traded him and $9 million to the Cubs for Milton Bradley. The discrepancy between Silva and Bradley’s salaries was only $3 million, so the Mariners basically paid the Cubs an extra $6 million to take him. Silva has been great since moving from the pitcher friendly confines of Safeco Field to hitter’s haven Wrigley Field…weird.7. Andruw Jones – Los Angeles Dodgers – 2007 – 2 years – $36.2 millionOk this isn’t a huge gamble, not too many years, but Jones was so bad the Dodgers restructured his contract and are basically paying him to play for anyone else. 8. David Wells – New York Yankees – 1997 – 5 years – $30 million This signing worked great for the Yankees. Wells pitched great for the Yankees, including throwing a perfect game and helping them to the best record in baseball since Ruth and Gehrig played on the same team. Of course, the Yankees also won the world series that year, and Wells led the league in WHIP, BB/9 and SO/BB. Then the Yankees traded him to Toronto for Clemens, and we all know how that worked out. Overall, great fat guy signing. For historical comparison: The greatest ballplayer of all time happened to be fat.Babe Ruth – 15 years with the Yankees for what equates to $90 – $100 million with inflation considered.
He would look nice as the White Sox DH, but I’m not sure he would be worth it. There is no way the White Sox re-sign him. They are definitely looking for a left handed power bat, so who knows. He seems to be the most available compared to the other names I have heard (Adrian Gonzalez, Adam Dunn).
the sox might be able to re-up the adrian for beckham deal and let the hot hand of lilibridge play at second
Stop with the hypothetical trades already. We’ve had our fill with that in the off season.
This guy is 26 years old, he looks like a guy who’s going to be hitting 35-40+ home runs 120 rbi’s and hit close to .300 every year. I could see him signing a 7/120mm
We’ll have to see how it plays out in these tough economic times, but considering there are already reports Prince turned down an offer comparable to Howard’s 5/125 deal, I think it’s safe to say 7/120 isn’t going to get it done. He’s going to want at least the 8/180 that Teix got.
Wow… Where’d all the great fat ballplayers go? Fat man sad.
I would love for the Giants to get involved. They match up need wise, but really unsure what will get the deal done. I can’t imagine the Brewers getting a boatload of top tier prospects for Fielder because it will be near impossible for a team to sign him long term.
Also, this all depends on when the Brewers think they cam contend. Are they looking at next year, or 2-3 years away? It is quite obvious that the Brewers need pitching. The Giants have that. If the Giants were willing to give up top level pitching prospects along with someone like Jonathan Sanchez, that would likely be the best senario for both teams. The Brewers get some young pitching to filter into their system and they also get payroll flexibility while the Giants get the big bat they desperatley need.
I know there are a lot on here, but how about J Sanchez, Zack Wheeler, Sergio Romo and maybe a guy like Joe Martinez/Kevin Pucetas or another younger prospect arm?
Have to throw in Madbum and take out Sanchez, the brewers want good young pitching. Not a fairly old arm, that would be a minor upgrade over Bush.
Yeah, I read that trade and first thing I thought was they would want Bumgarner, not Sanchez, but Bumgarner is getting better, so I would prob say Cain, Romo, and prob Martinez..
I don’t get all the, “The other team will know they can’t re-sign him,” talk. Yes, but that is the point. Look at what the Rangers just gave up for a half-season of Cliff Lee. I doubt they think they are going to keep him, especially with the Yankees probably going after him with a vengeance this off-season. Prince should be more valuable than Lee, as he plays every single day, and Lee only every fifth game.
When Prince leaves his next team, they will get a couple high draft picks as compensation which will help make up for whatever prospects they would hypothetically give up to the Brewers.
The “every 5th day” logic doesn’t really work though.
A starting pitcher who remains healthy will have well over 800 Plate Appearances against him. A player who “plays every day” will only accumulate around 700 PA at the most. The pitcher is involved in more PA over the course of the season. The only argument you can make about a position player is that he’s out there every day playing good defense at a tough position and the pitcher isn’t, but that can’t be said for Prince Fielder.
Fielder to the Rys for a package of Davis/Hellickson, Matthew Sweeney(top 1st baseman prospect) and Jake McGhee(top 10 arm).
Fielder DH’s this year(owed 5 million) then plays 1st base next year. Rays can afford a 14 million dollar arbitration year since they let Pena walk.
Well, that would be a very nice haul. Not sure if the Brewers will realistically get that much for Fielder, but it would be a good starting point for negotiations.
As a Brewer fan, I dream that the Rays would be that stupid.
Realistically, the Brewers couldn’t get Davis or Hellickson alone for Fielder, let alone the rest of the package with them. Same if you swap in Jennings.
Seriously? If he Brewers went the the Rays and said Prince for Jennings straight up the rays would accept right away.
I doubt it. Jennings is one of the best prospects in the game.
And Fielder is one of the best major leaguers in the game.
No… he isn’t…
With the exception of Pujols, the “best major leaguers” in the game don’t play 1B. The best major leaguers give you great offense from a difficult defensive position. Hell, the MLB average OPS for a 1B is .819. That means 1B are easily replaceable. What you can’t replace is a .850+ OPS guy who plays C, SS, 2B, CF.
Most teams don’t want to trade 6+ years of potential CF superstar for 1.5 years of overrated 1B superstar, especially the Rays. The Rays can find WAY cheaper DH options than Prince Fielder, and Fielder won’t be a whole lot better than those options either.
Yes he is. 6th among all NL hitters in WAR over the last two years, and 10th in the MLB over that same time. And WAR adjusts for position, too.
While Jennings is a great prospect, he’s still just that: a prospect. There’s no guarantee he’ll be a superstar.
WAR tends to overvalue 1B. It also undervalues Catchers significantly and doesn’t adjust for what league a player plays in. So far this year Fielder’s WAR ranks 15th amongst first baseman. Over the last 3 years he ranks 9th amongst 1st baseman. He’s not even close to the best player at his position, let alone one of the best in the MLB.
Also… The most important thing WAR doesn’t tell you is how much money you are paying to get the production above replacement. To teams like the Rays and Brewers, that means everything. If you’re paying one 4.0 WAR player (Fielder) $15-$20 mil and another 4.0 WAR player (Votto) 500K then Votto is infinitely more valuable than Fielder because you have more financial flexibility, let alone control years. That is why the Rays would be highly unlikely to want to trade Jennings for Fielder.
Well, obviously Votto is more valuable. He’s pre-arb. He came into the league later than Fielder. Just because that there is a better value player in the league doesn’t decrease Fielder’s value, especially when that player isn’t even on the market. That’s like saying “Brett Gardner is worth just as much as Hart, but is getting paid less, so we’re not giving you as much.” Your point about Votto was irrelevant.
Putting up three years of above 145 wRC+ out of four years is pretty damn good. If you want to compare players of the same position, fine: he’s third in WAR over the last two years out of all NL first baseman. The first two? Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez. Pretty good company.
Yes he is. 6th among all NL hitters in WAR over the last two years, and 10th in the MLB over that same time. And WAR adjusts for position, too.
While Jennings is a great prospect, he’s still just that: a prospect. There’s no guarantee he’ll be a superstar.
That’s odd, a person actually undervaluing their own player.
Never thought I’d see that.
Some Pitcher named Neuiman and Cawford and a PTNL! That’s the Buzz around here!
this makes sense. The Rays have depth as for young SP that the Brewers would like to get in their system. The Rays are going to be losing a larger contract in Pena, but the big question is if they want to resign Carl Crawford and/or are they willing to up their payroll. I think that will be the defining factor.
What about a BJ Upton, Andy Sonnanstine, and Hellickson. I think that might be a little more realistic haul for the Brewers, gets them an inexpensive SP, a very good prospect arm and the hopeful Upside of BJ Upton. If they were able to then move Corey Hart for a young SP, either a prospect or a current young SP, they would reload pretty well.
The team would look like:
C Kottaras
1B Gamel
2B Weeks
SS Escobar
3B McGehee
LF Braun
CF Gomez
RF Upton
SP Gallardo
SP Wolf
SP Sonnanstine
SP Parra
SP (SP from Corey Hart Trade)
I’m hoping the Giants get this deal done with Fielder because I believe that he will be reinvigorated by our lineup and our clubhouse. His power will translate well playing in AT&T, Chase Field, and Mile High the rest of the way. If the Giants intention is to give pitchers they will probably give Sanchez, Wheeler, Edlefsen, plus a high grade position prospect. Wheeler has the highest upside because he is very young starter with a +97 MPH fastball and the highest upside of the prospects. Plus if Fielder were to leave after the 2011 season then they get another high round draft pick and we replenish our farm. Just get something done Sabean and get us the impact bat at the tradeline!
Garza/Davis and Hellickson for Fielder.
Baumgarner, Wheeler, Edlefsen, plus a high grade position prospect or Davis/Hellickson, Matthew Sweeney(top 1st baseman prospect) and Jake McGhee(top 10 arm) either of these would be good for Prince and Doug Davis. Get it done and move Hart for the best you can get.
What about another option for the Brewers. What if the team that takes Fielder takes on Randy Wolf and his contract too. This might not get as good of a return, but it does put them in better position to compete now.
Randy Wolf makes 20.5 million after this season, for the next 2 years. Prince Fielder is going to get around 13-14 million in arbitration next season. So in theory, the Brewers would free up 23 million for next season and then 9.5 million for the following year. They could use that money to rebuild the top of their rotation through free agency. Maybe offer a big deal for Cliff Lee? Maybe go after Jake Westbrook or Brandon Webb. They would get a little less in return for Fielder, but it would make them a better overall team. They would also be able to compete sooner rather than later.
I think the Rays could still be a good fit, but maybe they trade Carlos Pena and BJ Upton along with Andy Sonnastine or Wade Davis for Fielder and Wolf.
There are tons of options out there for almost every team, but that would be the idea. Get a great power hitter if you will take this bad contract off of our hands.
what the hell is wrong with the ppl and makng Corey Hart a damn starter for the all star game.. now theres 2 effing brewers with horrible D starting.. Marlon Byrd should start over Hart and Braun one or the other… AL is gonna blow the NL away again.. horrible horrible thats that Bullsh^t right there
Milwaukee wouldn’t get more then the equal talent of Aaron Heilman or Bob Howry.. they might as well keep and he’s the heart and sole of the ugliness the Brewers represent
Typical ignorant cubs fan, Marlon’s good, but is not even close to Ryan Braun skill wise. He may be having a great year but so is Corey freaking Hart. These brewers worked hard for this recognition and IMO no cub should be there, and its Bullsh^t that even one made it. So yes the brewers suck this year but ugly, take a freaking look at your franchise much worse yes. And please refresh my memory, how many years since last WS win 100+ yeah and we suck.
I meant ugly as in their faces… how could any woman want to date a learch like Hart.. Braun is not better then Byrd what are you smoking… that 80mil he got couple yrs back for one was about 75 mil too much and 2 should have went to Fielder their ONLY LEGIT HITTER…
Actually Silva deserves to be there 9-2 2.70 or so ERA maybe higher the point is he’s on a horseSh&t team and got snubbed.. Brewers only have on good pitcher too thats Gallardo.. he hurt and still Silva could have been a great replacement.. he got snubbed…
either way like Lee and Ramirez and Zambrno.. soriano…. no one is stupid enough to trade for them or Hart… they are just a bunch of Judys and major head cases
i know you can agree on one thing… it hilarous how Melvin and Hendry think their teams can compete this yr in 4th and 5th place both at least 10 GB and both at least 10gms under .500
You can agree to disagree with this The Cubs / Brewers “Rivalry” is not an actual rivalry
Milwaukee should go back to the AL Central and the Royals can move west.. all divisions solved, all have 5 teams… its perfectly logical but our great commish.. Bud is too much of a moron to comprehend that…
“Braun is not better then Byrd what are you smoking”
Braun is most definitely better than Byrd, and it’s really not even close. Byrd is having a career year at age 32, while Braun has already surpassed years such as the one Byrd is having, and is only 26. Admittedly, Byrd is having a better year than Braun, (although not by much), but the only advantage that he possesses over Braun is that fact that he can play CF and with good defense, other than that you better believe that every GM in the league takes Braun over Byrd every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
And as for “that 80mil he got a couple yrs back”, it was an 8 year 45MM contract, which is a HUGE discount that puts his 2010 salary at a whopping 1MM.
The Brewers will not accept anything less than the equivalent of 2 first round draft choices. They will get that if he decides to leave anyway. Forget Dirty Sanchez of SF. He’s the exact same pitcher as Parra. I see TB being a player. Upton, Garza, Davis and a top prospect not named Jennings or Hellickson for Prince and one of our starters like Bush or Parra. Hart would then be moved to 1st base, Upton to right.
ahaahahahahahahaha you actually just called someone Dirty Sanchez… wow you should think about that one… BTW no one wants Doug Davis he has the weakest arm in all of baseball.. yet the Cubs react to his 79MPH fastball as if its Ubaldo Jimenez 98MPH fastball
Only the Brewers would give him a 4 yr contract or what ever they gave him..
.doublepost
With Sabean wanting a left handed bat I hope he’s serious about it and hope He does what he can to get prince fielder cuz that’s the bat we need desperately
Its going to come at a fairly hefty price, to get him. Because he’s under team control next year and if he leaves we get two high draft picks for him. But the trade to the rays intrigues me if we could get Jennings, he would be an immediate impact but they would have throw in Davis, Sonnanstine, or Hellickson.
Yeah patch, Braun signed a ridiculous team friendly contract, and plus Braun is a top 5 position player in the MLB so you even arguing bird is better is one of the dumbest things I heard. Everyone knows Braun is not reaching his potential at the plate this year, and yes he was in the worst slumps of his life. But I think he was hurt, physically and mentally but it appears that thats over.