Stark talks about the contracts for Fielder and Pujols

[Sports Guy]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/...prince-fielder

Looks like Jtrea's Fielder contract could work although Trea wants to defer some money, that ain't happening.

[Brendan25]

I don't think that Fielder is going to be awfully expensive, especially since teams are going to be limited. Fielder is not going to draw as much interest as he is hoping to get. Still probably too much for the O's.

[CA-ORIOLE]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/...prince-fielder

Looks like Jtrea's Fielder contract could work although Trea wants to defer some money, that ain't happening.

Taking into account the fat tax, I think Fielder will be close to 7/140. Trea's 7/175 should easily land him though ... even in Oriole dollars.

[Sports Guy]

I don't think that Fielder is going to be awfully expensive, especially since teams are going to be limited. Fielder is not going to draw as much interest as he is hoping to get. Still probably too much for the O's.

People keep saying this but I don't see how they could think it.

[Brendan25]

People keep saying this but I don't see how they could think it.

I think the Cubs are going to shy away because of Epsteins bad signings in his free agency (Lackey, Dice-K, even Scutaro). The Nationals could be interested but they have Morse and LaRoche, The Marlins could be interested but do they really have the money to throw at all of these players? The Brewers can't afford it. The Dodgers have said they can't sign free agents until they sell. The Rangers are going after pitching, not Fielder. I think that the three teams to watch the most are the Mets, the Angels, and the Orioles. I don't think the O's have eliminated themselves, but will see what the market does.

[square634]

That executive talking about front-loading the Pujols contract can't possibly understand the time-value of money, right?

[CA-ORIOLE]

I think the Cubs are going to shy away because of Epsteins bad signings in his free agency (Lackey, Dice-K, even Scutaro). The Nationals could be interested but they have Morse and LaRoche, The Marlins could be interested but do they really have the money to throw at all of these players? The Brewers can't afford it. The Dodgers have said they can't sign free agents until they sell. The Rangers are going after pitching, not Fielder. I think that the three teams to watch the most are the Mets, the Angels, and the Orioles. I don't think the O's have eliminated themselves, but will see what the market does.

Scutaro hasn't been a bad signing.

[Sports Guy]

I think the Cubs are going to shy away because of Epsteins bad signings in his free agency (Lackey, Dice-K, even Scutaro). The Nationals could be interested but they have Morse and LaRoche, The Marlins could be interested but do they really have the money to throw at all of these players? The Brewers can't afford it. The Dodgers have said they can't sign free agents until they sell. The Rangers are going after pitching, not Fielder. I think that the three teams to watch the most are the Mets, the Angels, and the Orioles. I don't think the O's have eliminated themselves, but will see what the market does.

The Rangers have money to go after whatever they want.

Giants, Sea, Rangers, Nats, Angels and Florida/Miami...to name a few.

They could all be in on him.

There is always a surprise team as well.

[DrungoHazewood]

Taking into account the fat tax, I think Fielder will be close to 7/140. Trea's 7/175 should easily land him though ... even in Oriole dollars.

You would hope so, since you'd be paying for 5.5 wins a year (not factoring in any inflation of the cost of wins) for the next seven years, for a player who's averaged 4.0 wins a year over the last four years. $175M is roughly the cost of 30-35 wins (or as much as 39 given today's rate of about $4.5M/win) , and Fielder has been worth about 20 so far in the 6+ years of his career.

[Frobby]

That executive talking about front-loading the Pujols contract can't possibly understand the time-value of money, right?

It used to mean more when interest rates were higher than 0.01%.

[square634]

It used to mean more when interest rates were higher than 0.01%.

Still the logic of "oh well at least we won't owe him as much later so we can just cut him" is just nonsensical business.

[Slappy]

You would hope so, since you'd be paying for 5.5 wins a year (not factoring in any inflation of the cost of wins) for the next seven years, for a player who's averaged 4.0 wins a year over the last four years. $175M is roughly the cost of 30-35 wins (or as much as 39 given today's rate of about $4.5M/win) , and Fielder has been worth about 20 so far in the 6+ years of his career.

Baseball management is so simple, isn't it?

[CA-ORIOLE]

Baseball management is so simple, isn't it?

Not really. Most FA's are overpaid and the market forces are such that you can't go out and buy/acquire a player at market value of 4.5 mil win. There is much more beyond that. The principles are simple, the execution is amazingly complex.

[CA-ORIOLE]

You would hope so, since you'd be paying for 5.5 wins a year (not factoring in any inflation of the cost of wins) for the next seven years, for a player who's averaged 4.0 wins a year over the last four years. $175M is roughly the cost of 30-35 wins (or as much as 39 given today's rate of about $4.5M/win) , and Fielder has been worth about 20 so far in the 6+ years of his career.

Well, fwar certainly does punish him on defense and baserunning doesn't it.

[DrungoHazewood]

Well, fwar certainly does punish him on defense and baserunning doesn't it.

As well it should. If Fielder were a nimble shortstop he'd be worth $40M a year, easy.