What Will the Brewers Do with Prince Fielder?

With all of the media swirling around St. Louis and Albert Pujols, another powerful slugger may just slip under the radar and become an important trade deadline pickup for a contender. Prince Fielder, 1B for the Milwaukee Brewers, is in the final year of his contract and the Brewers have made it no secret that they would rather trade Fielder than to have him leave the club via free agency.

Fielder has consistently been the top run producer for the Brewers, maintaining a career .279 batting average in his six years of professional baseball. In 2010, Fielder posted a .261 batting average and 32 home runs, an average year for the slugger, who has repeatedly struggled in even numbered years. In odd numbered years Fielder performs like an All-Star, which means he is due for an impressive season in his contract year.

In his six years in Milwaukee, Fielder has found the seats 192 times, leading opposing pitchers to pitch around him to the tune of him only seeing 39% of pitches in the strike zone, the second lowest in the MLB. Unlike other sluggers, Fielder has the ability to draw the walk, leading the major leagues in 2010 with 114 base-on-balls.

Fielder, the son of Detroit Tigers slugger Cecil Fielder, appears to be on the verge of a "breakout" season. He is already one of the premiere 1B in the league, but with Pujols drawing the majority of attention from the media in the National League Central, Fielder will have to play himself out of the shadows. With the Brewers having found a legitimate number five batter in Casey McGehee, Fielder could benefit from the protection in the lineup and return to 40 HR, 100 RBI form.

Fielder has the ability to lay off the pitches that most batter would chase out of the zone, making himself much more of a danger when he is at the plate. His hot zone is essentially the entire plate, Fielder is able to get all of his 5'11" 268 pound frame behind his bat and launch the ball deep into the Miller Park outfield.  But he is not just a bat, in his time in a Brewers jersey Fielder has recorded two inside-the-park home runs, each time collapsing on the bench afterward to laughter and jokes from his teammates.

At 26, Fielder could be an excellent pick up for any team, but he made $11,000,000 in 2010, and that figure could scare off many teams that would otherwise be interested in the power hitting first-baseman. With a price tag that high, it appears that most small market teams will not attempt to trade for him because they fear they won't be able to sign him to an extension. The New York Yankees, when questioned about Pujols, had said that they feel comfortable with Mark Teixeira at first base and have no desire in acquiring any first basemen. The Boston Red Sox have said the same about their first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

This leaves the market very small for Fielder, as he will have to share it with Pujols, and will likely have to settle for much less money than he would like. With many of the large market clubs being set at first base, the most likely place for Fielder to end up, is back with the Brewers. They have the team around him that will allow him to continue to put of MVP type numbers and a favorable stadium for the sluggers, and how can he turn down seeing several more seasons worth of hotdog races?

Cabera's Future Uncertain After DUI Charge

The Detroit Tigers front office was surprised to receive a call on Thursday morning informing them that their phenom 1B, Miguel Cabrera had been arrested in Florida on suspicion of drunken driving and not cooperating with law enforcement officials.

It was not the first time that Cabrera had been involved with the law due to alcohol, in 2008, Cabrera was picked up by police the night before a playoff game between the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers that would decide the American League Central. In that incident, Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski picked Cabrera up from the precinct and the slugger was not charged. He was on the field for the playoff game, hungover, and failed to produce, leading the Tigers back to Detroit to clean out their lockers.

In another incident, Cabrera was accused by his wife of spousal abuse. While intoxicated, Cabrera allegedly struck his wife, who then fought back leaving visible scratches on the ballplayer's face. Again, no charges were filed and Cabrera got off with little more than a warning.

This time it was different, the officers stopped to investigate Cabrera's vehicle, which was parked on the side of the road and had steam coming from the engine. When the officer approached the car he found that Cabrera was sitting in the drivers seat, with a bottle of scotch next to him. The officer said that he could smell alcohol and the bottle of scotch was open and visible. When he questioned Cabrera, the slugger allegedly told the officer, "You don't know me, you don't know my problems," before drinking out of the scotch bottle.

Cabrera was ordered out of the vehicle, once out of the vehicle officers say that the ballplayer wandered around the street with his hands up, mumbling and refusing to cooperate. The officers were forced to strike Cabrera's legs repeatedly in order to get him to comply and the get in the back of their squad car.

Once at the police station, police filed papers detailing the nature of the arrest. According to the records Cabrera was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and for resisting an officer without violence. He was released Thursday morning on a $1350 bond. He has yet to report to Tigers spring training camp at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida.

Major League Baseball is now in control of the situation, the league has created routes that players who are enduring addictions must go through before returning to play. Cabrera has accepted both the Detroit Tigers and MLB decision to receive help for his addiction. It is uncertain when he will return to the Tigers, but he is scheduled to meet with doctors early in the week to evaluate what is best for his future.

According to Cabrera's trainer, he had never seen the slugger exhibiting any signs of having abused alcohol during the winter months. He said that Cabrera would often beat him to the gym in the mornings and begin to look for him when he would be only a few minutes late, so that they could start their training sessions.

Regardless of the past, it is clear that this is a man in need of help, and it appears that he will finally be able to get the help that he needs. Tigers fans, and baseball fans in general, should not be angry at Cabrera, but instead give him the support that he will need to help break his addiction.

It's Just Not in the Cards

With the deadline to work out a contract extension in the past, St. Louis 1B Albert Pujols is set to become a free agent after the season is over. This could become a disaster for the Cardinals or a benefit for Major League Baseball as a whole.

Reports have stated that Pujols was asking for a 10 year deal worth $300 million to stay with the Cardinals, further reports state that the Cardinals were no where near the $300 million mark. The two sides apparently did not have disputes over the length of the contract, only the compensation.

ESPN reports that the Cardinals and Pujols were not even close to an agreement as the deadline passed, with one report saying that the two sides had not spoken with each other for several weeks. Sources have said thay it isn't that the two sides ran out of time, they weren't even close.

Now that Pujols' self-imposed deadline has past, he has said that he will no longer negotiate until the end of the season to avoid any distractions to the team that a contract dispute would bring. The deadline could have actually cause more of a distraction than it would have prevented, now reporters will swarm the locker room asking anything that moves whether that night's performance might have an effect on the slugger resigning with the team.

Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa has publicly blamed the Major League Baseball Players Association for the failure of his team and Pujols to come to an agreement.La Russa has said that he believes that the Union is trying to "beat up" Pujols and his agent in an attempt to get them to sign a record-breaking contract.

           "This is not just arm twisting. It's dropping an anvil on your back through the roof of your house." -Tony La Russa on the pressure on Pujols from the Union.

Is it the fault of the Union? Or maybe it's the Cardinals being unreasonable about perhaps one of the best players in recent memory? Could it be just greed on the part of Pujols? This story will continue to play out for the rest of the season.