MLB Trade Rumors: Is Jose Reyes or Prince Fielder the Better Move?

The annual winter meetings have come and gone, but what happened in those few days will have long-lasting implications.

Guys such as Prince Fielder and Jose Reyes, who are free agents following the upcoming season, have to be licking their chops at some of the dollars handed out, as that will bode well for them.

Long-term, what does each man have to look forward to, and who would provide the best bang for their buck?

Let's rewind for a second: Jose Reyes, who is 27 years old, is a talented ballplayer, but he's one of the faces of what has turned out to be a very disappointing New York Mets team the past few years.

Injuries short-circuited his 2009 season, and he played 133 games this past year but still had oblique issues to go on top of a .321 on-base percentage, his worst figure since 2005.

For a player who relies on speed, his various injuries certainly are troubling, but he's still young enough to recover and have a nice career, but for whom?

A conversation between the Mets and Giants occurred last week, as it pertained to the services of Reyes, but what the Giants had to offer didn't meet the requirements of the Mets.

In shifting the focus over to the big bopper in Milwaukee, Prince Fielder, 26, is the prototypical slugging first baseman, so much so that 32 home runs was considered to be a bit of a down year for him.

As he enters the final year of his contract, he sees what Adrian Gonzales and Carlos Pena got, and with Scott Boras representing him, he has to be feeling pretty good.

The Brewers, a mid-market team, have a tough decision to make.  Do they bank on trying to re-sign him after the season, or do they trade him and get some value out of it, as opposed to possibly losing him for next to nothing?

With Boras as his agent, it doesn't look good for the Brewers, and trading him might be the direction to go.

He can fetch a lot more than Reyes, at this point, who needs to have a bounce back season to regain his past hoopla.

Power-hitting first baseman are a big part of what championship ball clubs are built of, so anyone looking for a deal may be advised to look towards towards Fielder.

At this point, he's the better trading chip, with the better long-term prospects.  He will be the most costly of the two, yes, but his track record suggests that unlike Reyes, he can back up those dollar signs with consistent year-to-year production.