Revisiting a Deal With a Prince

TEN YEARS AGO FOR NINE YEARS! 

We all thought it a bit extreme then. Nine years for $214 million. 

I wonder what we're thinking now, a decade later? Well, the Tigers only paid full salary in the first two years of the contract, then presumably paid $6 million a season for the final seven years on the contract. More on that momentarily. Remember, this was not a Dave Dombrowski decision — this was entirely late owner Mr. Mike Ilitch's decision after the season–ending injury to DH Victor Martinez. 

He turned out to be like our own personal Alex Rodriguez. He failed to produce runs in the post season. He was a good singles hitter in the post season though. Couldn't slide to save a whale, though. 

In fairness, at Spring Training in 2013, I predicted he would have a monster season. He looked great in then and was hitting the ball hard and far. REALLY FAR! I thought after a full year to adjust to American League pitching he would tear things up and become the Tigers' third consecutive MVP. He hit one ball so far in a spring game that I thought it was a harbinger of things to come. And — in all fairness — he did have one great month. And five lousy months. (Not to mention October, which I don't think contractually we can mention ...) My comparison was former slugger and one–time bunter Adam Dunn who had played so many years in the National League and then struggled his first year in the American League. But he rebounded for a huge sophomore campaign.

Instead, Fielder went backward in 2013. He didn't reach 30 HR and barely had 100 RBI. He still received full paychecks, though. I wondered at the time, right after the playoff exit, would you sign the same player to a seven–year $168 million dollar contract? Somehow, Dombrowski — a great general manager who just a couple years later would be jettisoned for unknown reasons and go on to take two more teams to the playoffs — was able to trade Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers. And Ian Kinsler was a solid second sacker for the Bengals for a few seasons.