Player Focus: Can the Brewers Keep First Baseman Prince Fielder?
By Kaitlyn Saugstad
Prince is having one of his best seasons yet, participating in both the Home Run Derby, All-Star Game, in which he took home MVP honors, and posting astounding numbers. Just in the last ten games, he has a batting average of .471, 17 hits, 11 RBI’s, and three home runs. His offense and leadership have been a big part of the Brewers success this season.
But the big question with Fielder right now is not whether or not he will produce for the rest of the season, but if he will be staying a Brewer for the 2012 season and beyond. As of right now, he has a one year, $15.5 million deal, but once this season is over he is a free agent.
Numerous of other “big name players” are also going to be free agents at the end of the season including Derek Lee, C.C. Sabathia, Jose Reyes, Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, and Robinson Cano. Most Brewers fans want Prince to stay here in Milwaukee especially after Braun’s new contract and addition of Zach Greinke and Shaun Marcum but realistically, it’s very unlikely that he will stay. With is this season he’s having, his agent—the notorious Scott Boras–will be looking an amazing deal for Prince.
With Fielder on the Brewers, the offense has never been better. He has had multiple clutch hits that bring in important runs in close games. Fielder is hitting for average as well this season, eclipsing the .300 mark. His walk rate has risen from seasons past which shows he has improved not only how he sees the ball but also his patience at the plate. So far in his career, he has 534 walks 218 home runs, 948 hits, 621 RBI and a slugging percentage of .539. In addition, this season he is leading the Crew in home runs, misses literally no games, shows leadership and makes the spectacular play here and there. Yet there is a lot people over look when they talk about Prince.
He already has 11 errors which almost triples last season’s total amount of errors. Fielder’s Rdrs/yr (runs saved above average per year) is -6. He is definitely a liability in the field.
If Prince does leave we would have more room in our salary to work with getting new players to help with our defense. Prince is looking for another big deal after his record breaking deal this past season but if they do want him they will have to make a lot of changes just to be able to afford him but what happens if we do sign him and he doesn’t produce like he’s projected to? Luckily, he hasn’t been seriously injured and hopefully he’ll stay healthy for the rest of the season but in all honesty this is probably going to be Prince’s last year here.
Since Fielder made his debut on June 13th, 2005 he has been a fan favorite but is keeping this power house slugger the right choice? Yes, it would be nice if he stayed here in Milwaukee but it will all depend on how we do the rest of the season the better we do it will give him more of a reason to stay here in Milwaukee.
Editor’s Note: Yeah, that’s right. We have another writer at Plushdamentals.
Plushdamentals 
My worry about Prince is that he is really over weight. Big guys like this will start to have medical problems long before any 10 year contract which is what Scott Boras wants. Carrying around 275 or more lbs takes a toll on the joints. Castro ‘s arm is all over the place and we need a good fielding first baseman like Pena to cover up many of his bad throws. I bet Pena has saved Castro from at least 10 errors with his gold glove. Prince is going to want $20 mil or more a year which would limit us in many other areas of need such as pitching.