MLB Trade Rumors: Prince Fielder To The Red Sox??

by Ray Guilfoyle on Sep 15, 2009 9:00 AM EDT in Baseball Comment 5 comments

Yesterday, ESPN's Buster Olney speculated in his blog that the Brewers should take advantage of Prince Fielder's great season by dealing him in the offseason to the Red Sox.

Here is what he had to say on the Prince to the Sox speculation:

Prince Fielder tied the Brewers' club RBI mark -- which, of course, won't make it any easier for Milwaukee to keep him long-term. Pure speculation: I think he'll be playing for the Red Sox next season. As Keith Law wrote the other day, the Brewers will soon face the quandary of capitalizing on his trade value after this season or risking losing him after the 2011 season.

Then in his chat yesterday afternoon, he speculated the following:

Don (NYC)

So your gut tells you that Prince will be playing in Boston next year? That seems to leave the RS with a lot of 1B/3b/DH types. I presume that means that you think the Sox either eat Lowell's contract or Ortiz' contract. Or both?

Buster Olney
(1:12 PM)

Don: It was just a guess, and you know what -- I'm thinking there could be a better fit with the Brewers for a Fielder trade, anyway: The San Franciso Giants. Pure speculation: Fielder for Cain makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons, which I'll write about in Tuesday's blog.

I have to think that with the mini-breakout in the second half by Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, the Giants desperation for a middle of the order bat may lead them to dealing Matt Cain. Dealing for Fielder would push Pablo Sandoval back to third base.

But, should the Brewers deal Fielder to the Red Sox, they could receive several pitching prospects in return. Who could they in return? Maybe Michael Bowden or Clay Bucholz, or both. Fielder's contract for 2010 is an affordable $10 million, but will increase in 2011 when he goes to arbitration. Arbitration is one of the reasons why the Brewers may deal Fielder in the offseason. The other reason is they don't have a spot on the field for Mat Gamel's bat. The main reason for dealing Fielder is obviously pitching.

Which deal should the Brewers pursue?

Poll

Should the Brewers deal Prince Fielder for Matt Cain or a couple pitching prospects?

Red Sox prospects-they are major league ready.

55 votes

Caiin-he gives the Brewers the No. 2 starter they need so badly.

87 votes

142 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Three reasons why this is a poor 'guess' by Olney

1. VMart, Ortiz, Lowell, Youkalis and Kotchman are quite enough, thank you.
2. Fielder’s agent is Boras, who the Sox have not dealt with since the Teixeira incident.
3. He’s actually a DH, so hardly the type priority that warrants emptying a farm for.

by Surogates on Sep 15, 2009 1:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

on your points

1. Fielder’s bat is much better than any of those you listed. He’s also younger than every one you listed as well, with 2 years left before free agency

2. So?

3. It amazes me that AL teams do not take the position of DH as seriously. The fact is that you have a position for a guy that all he does is hit. You see teams squander those PAs on guys like Ortiz, who can’t hit his way out of a cage anymore, and Luke Scott. It’s amazing to me that a guy who you can throw in there to just hit is just left to these first off the bench type players.

It’s why I’m amazed that guys like Adam Dunn continue to get no interest from AL teams. The AL is a high scoring league by design, and why these teams don’t put themselves in a better position to do so is mind boggling.

The reason why this is a poor guess by Olney is that the Red Sox won’t match the Brewers price for young pitching after sending Masterson off in the V-mart trade. I believe he said as much in today’s blog posting.

"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."

by Hyatt on Sep 15, 2009 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fielders bat is not worth

whatever it would take in a trade + the dumping of Ortizs’ ($14m) or Lowell’ ($12m) present deal. He’s very good but not that good. Maybe Olney should try his hand at guessing about the 2011 season instead.

Boras may have ostracized Boston ownership. Fielder is his client.

I think AL teams take the DH position seriously, seriously as a position better handed to aging players on their roster not capable of fielding well anymore or young-uns never equipped to do so.

Your reason is another amongst many. It’s just a bad ‘guess’ by Olney.

by Surrogates on Sep 15, 2009 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

alright I understand that

Your first point is valid. But that doesnt mean they wouldn’t be significantly better with Fielder. In fact, if you combine the value of Youk plus the rest or Martinez plus the rest, Fielder out performs them all when it comes to Batting Value. here are the links for the numbers, and I’ll leave it to you for the math. Red Sox and Fielder

Pretty sure that one failed negotiation does not preclude anyone from dealing from anyone. I remember the Yankees management making the same pronouncement after A-rod opted out, and then they go and sign Teixeira, so I put little stock in that theory.

Let’s go over the main DH for the AL teams with Batting runs (10 runs = 1 win) as their measurement of how good they are (I’ll throw in OPS as well)
Yankees- Matsui, 18.8 Batting Runs, .875 OPS
Red Sox- Ortiz, 2.6 BR, .767 OPS
Rays Burrell, 3.7 BR, .707 OPS
Blue Jays Lind, 26.5 BR, .901 OPS
Orioles- Scott, 7.4 BR, .815 OPS
Tigers- Thames 1.1 BR, .790 OPS
Twins- Kubel 24.8 BR, .914 OPS
White Sox- Thome 13.5 BR, .864 OPS
Indians- Hafner 8.6 BR, .837 OPS
Royals- Jacobs 6.1 BR, .714 OPS
Angels Vlad 6.7 BR, .816 OPS
Rangers- A Jones, 2.9 BR, .803 OPS
Mariners- Griffey, 2.1 BR, .714 OPS
A’s Cust 6.4 BR, .766 OPS

So to review, there are only 4 teams whose DH is worth more than 1 win with his bat, and their sole duty is to hit. Parking a veteran who can’t play the field anymore is NOT an effective use of the position. So yes, in my opinion, they do not utilize their DH properly.

BTW, I have no idea why there may be strikethroughs on here, but when you see a strikethrough, it connotates a negative BR value

by Hyatt on Sep 15, 2009 10:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Olney

also predicting prior to this season that Miguel Cabrera would be traded to the Red Sox this season…. Maybe Mark Attanasio should shell out some dollars and give his fans a post season chance while making a stand for the Small/Mid market teams (E.G. Mike Illitch)

by MrPants20 on Sep 15, 2009 3:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs