New York Yankees: Why the Yankees Shouldn't Ignore Prince Fielder

As of right now, the New York Yankees are basically paying no attention to Prince Fielder or even kicking around the idea of adding him to the team.

While they are set on offense and should be focused on pitching, they should at least entertain the idea of what Fielder can bring to the team.

Fielder would probably be better off playing in the National League just because playing in the American League as a DH would give him the chance to match his weight with his salary.

However, Prince Fielder could do a whole lot of things for the Yankees and here's why.

Return of the Bronx Bombers

The New York Yankees led the league with 222 homers last year, but that was mainly from Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira.

The Yankees haven't exactly been the Bronx Bombers lately with a lineup stacked with home run threats.

Prince Fielder would help make the Yankees the Bronx Bombers once again.  He could even bring back Murderer's Row too.

Imagine this: Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Prince Fielder, Robinson Cano.  That might be the best first six hitters in a lineup in the majors.  

If A-Rod returns to form, that's five legitimate home run threats at the top of the lineup.  Any manager would love to have that.

Youth

Yeah, the New York Yankees are getting older.  Prince Fielder's only 27 years old.  A good part of their lineup is at least 30 years old.

Should Fielder join the team, him and Robinson Cano can form the basis of the lineup for years to come with Jesus Montero joining them once he finds a position.

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are a combined 73 years old.  They can't be carry the team for extended periods anymore.  Instead, the Yankees need some youth injected into the team.

Prince Fielder can do just that.

An Everyday DH

The New York Yankees have a "DH" in Jesus Montero for the time being.  However, I don't feel too comfortable with a soon to be 22-year-old DH no matter how horrendous his defense is or how great his bat is.

Young players should be playing positions in the field and the DH role should be limited to older veterans who have lost their glove.

Sure, Prince Fielder is still young and should still play a position, but he's older than Montero.  The Yankees also have a Gold Glove first basemen in Mark Texeira.  

So unless you wanna see Fielder chase fly balls in the outfield (which would be pretty entertaining), Fielder's gonna have to DH if he becomes a Yankee.

He'd be a great one too, giving protection to the other hitters while also belting out home runs.

My only concern is if he'd blow up like a Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon since the only running he'll do is when he does his home run trot.

Protection for Alex Rodriguez

I touched on this in the last slide, but I'm going to expand on it here.

Prince Fielder would be able to give Alex Rodriguez protection much like he did with Ryan Braun.

If A-Rod comes back healthy and near 100 percent, then he'll be able to see and hit all those balls in the strike zone that he's gonna get.

Adding to that, if A-Rod is A-Rod, then we can expect his power numbers to go back up and his home run totals to return to the 30 mark.

A combo of a healthy A-Rod and Prince Fielder would be one of the most devastating in the league.

Trade for a Good Pitcher

It's no secret that this year's pitching market in the free agency is rather slim.  C.J. Wilson, Mark Buehrle and maybe even Roy Oswalt are the only true, solid, dependable pitchers out there and there are way better pitchers in the league.

If the New York Yankees really want somebody to pitch behind CC Sabathia, then they're going to have to look for trades.

Signing Prince Fielder would mean he'd be the DH.  That would also mean Jesus Montero would become expendable even though I'd rather he'd not be.

The Yankees really need pitching however, and Jesus Montero would be able to net them a good, even great pitcher.  

Maybe the Seattle Mariners would finally consider trading Felix Hernandez or one of the other guys I mentioned in my Jesus Montero trade article would become available. 

I'm sure Brian Cashman can get creative and get somebody of value for Montero.