Buried in this article where Garry D. Howard declares that the Brewers need to sign Prince Fielder now, he predicts that a 5 year/$100 million dollar offer could be the offer that keeps Prince in Milwaukee. You be the judge:So I figure a sweet, five-year, $100 million offer (even you can't afford seven, like his agent, Scott "Pay Me!" Boras, would prefer) with incentives might, just might, get 'er done. He's not the "I" in team, no; he's just the T, the E, the A and the M.
Mr. Fielder, in case you forgot, Mr. Attanasio, is a grounded, confident soul who shunned an early call to sign long-term for the chance at a more lucrative payday.
He did his part in 2009, ranking first in the NL in RBI (141), second in slugging (.602), Ding Dongs (46) and OPS (1.014), fourth in walks (110) and sixth in runs (103), all for a measly (by today's standards) $7 million.
And now it's time to get paid. And he will.
It's just that - without any inside dope on his intentions - I feel he would take a five-year deal at $20 million per to see what he could do with the Brewers. Every great baseball player wants to be the straw. And by anyone's standards, Prince is just that for this Crew but maybe not for another club, incentive enough to re-sign with Milwaukee.
While 5 years/$100 million is a strong offer especially coming from the Brewers, I'm not sure that's enough to get it done. There's a chance that Fielder, if he keeps producing at this level for the next two seasons, can earn somewhere in the $140-$160 million dollar range. Think about it: when Fielder becomes a free agent after the 2011 season, he will only be 27 years old. The payday for a player with Fielder's production combined with Fielder's age will be massive.
So unless Fielder REALLY REALLY wants to stay with the Brewers, I have my doubts that a 5 year/$100 million dollar offer would work, simply because Fielder probably would be leaving a huge chunk of money on the table.
