Prince Fielder may be done with Brew Crew, and that's a shame

Prince Fielder walks off the field after what could have been his final at-bat as a member of the Brewers. (Photo: Reuters/Jim Young)

As the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers prepare for battle in the World Series, Prince Fielder is home, fresh off an NLCS ousting and a Milwaukee Brewer for only a few more days.

The impending free-agent has said he would like to stay but the reality is the team can’t match other teams dollar for dollar.  And he, only 27, isn’t about to take a pay-cut. Baseball is, after all, a business.

The fans gave him a standing ovation before and after his final at-bat of Game 6. He didn’t acknowledge the crowd as strode to the plate or as he walked off the field, but he knew that they knew this was likely goodbye.

Fielder is one of the best power hitters in the game and is rumored to want an eight-year contract worth $200 million on the open market. Though Milwaukee plans to pursue him, that is a financial commitment the money-poor team can’t extend; it is one few teams can. As is often the case, the most money will talk. He is a Scott Boras client; greed is implied.

The Brewers need him back. Fielder hit 230 home-runs in six-plus years time in Milwaukee. He was drafted by the team in 2002 and, after becoming their everyday first baseman in 2006, he quickly shed critiques of his weight and questions about his durability. At 5’11″, 285 pounds he played in all but 13 games since 2006, and has missed only one over the past three seasons; that came in 2010, and this season he was the only player in the majors to play in every one of his team’s games.

He was the face of their franchise and formed the most productive one-two punch in baseball, paired up with fellow slugger Ryan Braun. Braun is signed with the Brewers long-term. If only Fielder could be around as well.

In giving Braun a five-year, $105 million extension this past spring, the Brewers priced themselves out of Fielder’s range. That is why it was a strange and unnecessary move. Braun was already signed through 2015. He would have been 32 at the end of that deal, but now he will be a Brewer until he is 37. Milwaukee could have used that money to help their chances of keeping Fielder. Instead, they took a financial risk on his partner in crime.

Milwaukee should still do all they can to keep Fielder, but accomplishing this very unrealistic, given its financial situation. They currently have seven players who are expected to take up $59 million of their 2012 payroll. Adding a hypothetical $20 million for Fielder’s salary, and 94 percent of their payroll would be given to eight players. That would be of great concern.

They tried to reach an agreement with Boras throughout the summer, but without success. In August, though, Fielder expressed his desire to remain with the Brewers.

“It would be awesome being a part of that forever,” Fielder said, as documented by the New York Times.  “If I could stay here, that would be ideal. It’s the team I came up with, and I have a lot of friends here. My kids have friends here, too.”

Does this mean he would take a pay-cut to remain with money-tight Milwaukee? Those comments had to make Brewers fans optimistic about his situation, but no more than a month later he dealt that optimism a crushing blow. The team was in the midst of wrapping a 96-win season and its first division title since 1982 when Fielder publicly said the 2011 season was probably his last in a Brewers uniform.

“I’m signed for this year, but being real about it, it is probably the last year,” Fielder said in a television interview that aired on TBS’ MLB on Deck in September.  “…It’s exactly what I’ve said. Actually, you guys said it last year. It’s, ‘probably.’ It is what it is.

And as for the most dangerous duo since Boston’s Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz? That will be history, too. “It’s been great, unfortunately, this is probably the last year of the one-two punch,” he said. “… But I think it’s been good, [five] years, him and me. Hopefully, we can go out with a blast.”

They accomplished so much by reaching the NLCS, but didn’t go out with the ultimate blast they were looking for, falling short of their expected destination, the World Series. At its conclusion, Fielder will be on the open market, free to think about and accept any offer that comes his way. He belongs in Milwaukee, and they will try their best to sign him, but that there is a greater likelihood of him be a Cub, National, Mariner, Oriole, Giant, Dodger, Ranger, or a member of any other team with deep pockets is a shame.

This is just another reason why money has taken so much from the game. What happened to continuing to build relationships, like his with Braun, to keep an adoring fan-base happy, and to try to build a team into a champion? Is there really that much of a difference between $100 million and $180 million? How many millions do you need? Hopefully coming so close with the Brewers this season will truly fuel a desire for more. But if history is any indication, it won’t.