Free Agency 2012: An Open Letter Imploring Prince Fielder to Join the Marlins

Dear Prince Fielder,

You are a superb specimen of a baseball player. You have run your course in Milwaukee, where you have been a loyal first baseman, meriting MVP consideration for the past six-plus seasons. You are a fan favorite, a perennial All Star, and beloved by everyone in baseball circles.

You are one of the greatest players in baseball, and deserve to be paid as such. As much as you loved Milwaukee, they will not be able to pay you as such. 

Enter the Florida Marlins. Wait, the same Marlins that possess one of the lowest payrolls in baseball every year can afford to pay Prince Fielder some $20 million a year to lure him to South Beach? Is it the baseball apocalypse? Yes, and no. 

As is widely known, the Marlins are entering a baseball-only ballpark in Little Havana in April 2012, and have in fact been scheduled to open 2012 on ESPN in a home game against the World Series-champion Cardinals. They have unveiled a new logo, have plans to unveil new uniforms and begin a new chapter in a franchise that has seen its fair share of black eyes and payroll reductions.

Imagine it now, Prince: Joining King James in South Beach royalty. Opening Day 2012, launching home runs into the right field bleacher seats into "Prince's Patio." Assisting in put-outs from Hanley Ramirez and the slick-fielding Omar Infante at second, and doing it all underneath in the league's foremost world-class facility.

The brutal south Florida heat a thing of the past, Miami will be the premier destination for baseball aficionados and players alike.

Join Ozzie Guillen in the exodus to Miami, and other All Stars will follow suit. Rise up and be the face of a franchise on the brink of baseball stardom. This is your chance to make a name for yourself in baseball lore.

Signed, 

A very humble, and overly optimistic, Marlins fan