ESPN INSIDER ARTICLE

[biggunsbob]

Can anyone who has the insider post it for us... Thanks...Front page of the ESPN baseball page..

 

[Mitchrapp]

No other free-agent position player came within $50 million of the deals that Albert Pujols ($246 million, according to the union's calculation) and Prince Fielder ($214 million) signed this winter.

No, check that: No other free-agent position player came within $100 million. There was a top 1 percent in the baseball world this winter, as well, with the middle class left to take the leftovers. The third-highest free-agent position player this winter was Jose Reyes, at $106 million, and the fourth-highest was Jimmy Rollins, whose deal of $38 million is more than $200 million less than Pujols' contract.

This makes the Pujols and Fielder deals fascinating to talent evaluators who have pored over the remains of the agreements as though they're conducting an autopsy.

An informal poll of 10 evaluators in the past few days -- a mix of team presidents, general managers, assistant GMs and scouts -- generated a solid consensus about whose deal was better for the respective clubs.


Five believe the Tigers' signing of Fielder was the better deal.

Three believe Pujols was the better signing.

Two believe both teams won't get what they paid for.

What follows are most of the individual responses:

High-ranking AL official: "I think I have to go with the Angels' signing of Pujols, only because from the marketing perspective, you understand what [Angels owner] Arte Moreno is trying to do. I think Pujols is going to have a much bigger impact from a revenue standpoint than Prince Fielder, because the Tigers have a ceiling with how much revenue they can generate. He's not going to change their TV [revenue] in the way that Pujols will. Albert's the older player, but I think he's the bigger star, and he'll generate more money."

High-ranking NL official: "Is Pujols going to be productive for two or three more years? Longer? That, to me, is the key question. If Pujols can be productive for the next six years, then the Angels got the better deal. If not, then Detroit. The Pujols deal could be an epic disaster if he's not productive in the last five or six years of the deal, at $30 million annually. The Fielder deal is one of the craziest deals in a while. That would have been a great deal at the beginning of the offseason. Not sure why the Tigers didn't just go huge for seven years. Given the market, $26 million a year over seven years or something would have been plenty. The nine years is just inexplicable in late January."

AL talent evaluator: "Fielder's the better deal. Fielder is the younger player, and he's left-handed; he turns 28 this spring. It's not inconceivable that at the end of this deal, he could still play a couple of more years, if he's pushing for the Hall of Fame. People I know say he absolutely loves this game. He loves playing baseball. I first saw Prince when he was in the ninth grade; he could rake then, and he can still rake now."

NL executive: "I think the Tigers got the better deal. Age matters. I might change my mind after the Cabrera third-base experiment unfolds."

NL executive: "Having lived those deals, I don't think either one of them will be happy."

AL scout: "Either deal is appealing, but I would go with the younger guy with fewer years -- Fielder."

AL official: "It's tough to tell. You have got Miguel Cabrera moving to third base, and that will dictate a lot to the value of the Fielder deal. Pujols fits better with the Angels, but [Mark] Trumbo has to switch positions or get traded. I think both will be good players early in the contract, but the true value will be told when they are four or five years into the deals."

NL evaluator: "I like the Tigers' deal for Fielder more than the Angels' deal for Pujols. Fielder is younger and more consistent, while Pujols is older -- and some people question his age being as young as he maintains -- and has seen his OPS decline for four straight seasons. Fielder got less money total, fewer years and less average annual value. Pujols brings leadership and legacy, but going forward, the better player is Fielder."

AL scout: "It's hard to like either of those deals, especially with respect to the Mark Teixeira and Adrian Gonzalez deals. However, if you're going to like one of them, I'd prefer the shorter, cheaper deal given to the younger player, to put it pretty simply, so I'd go with Detroit. I'm not sure either guy will carry any defensive value even three or four years into their respective deals, though at least Detroit can say that as Prince's deal winds down, they at least won't be paying him $30M per year as the Angels will to Pujols. Not crazy about either one, but Prince's seems to be more sensible."

For the readers: Which deal do you think is better?

 

[biggunsbob]

Thanks.

(The Chicago White Sox are embracing the underdog role)>

LOL.. they will be 10 games behind by June..

 

[turok]

These ANAL-ysts,are completely missing the point here, IMO, b/c the Fielder signing was done with Mike Ilitch's ASSENT and APPROVAL, and allegedly with the sole intent that it was to be a "gift" to himself, the club, and its fans, with him knowing very damned well beforehand, that doing it in this "generous" manner, there is absolutely no way in hell that he can or will recoup much, if not most of Fielder's salary.

However, if Tigers ticket-prices @ CoPa begin to rise into the stratosphere over the next 3-5 years, while Mikey is still owner of the franchise, and regardless of whether or not the teams have won a World Series, then that means to me that acquiring Prince was NOT really a "gift" to their (us) fans after all, and that the club is going to attempt to stanch MUCH more of the red ink that it WILL be bleeding, absent trading away their other high-salary players, maybe even before winning a WS or two, which obviously would defeat their purpose of acquiring Prince to begin with.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Eh, the thing about ticket prices sometimes shitty teams raise prices.

 

[kingofdetroit57]

What does the one from today about Inge being trade bait say?

 

[biggunsbob]

What does the one from today about Inge being trade bait say?

It probably says that Inge has no worth and he could veto any trade the Tigers want to do with him because of his 10/5 status.. Or that probably Inge would have to demand a trade LOL... Which he won't.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Inge could get traded to the Yankees and he's so dumb he'd probably veto it.

 

[Monster]

Mitch[/color]]Inge could get traded to the Yankees and he's so dumb he'd probably veto it.

i would too. he'd never play unless douche-rod goes down.

 

[tonyballs]

Monster [/color]]
[quote="Mitch":rrvvydjp]Inge could get traded to the Yankees and he's so dumb he'd probably veto it.

i would too. he'd never play unless douche-rod goes down.[/quote:rrvvydjp]

And he shouldn't play. He's fn garbage....

 

[Monster]

Monster [/color]]

i would too. he'd never play unless douche-rod goes down.

And he shouldn't play. He's fn garbage....

exactly. his best chance to play right now is in Detroit. He should turn down any trade unless it's to a team that NEEDS a 3B in the every day lineup.

 

[tonyballs]

Monster [/color]]

And he shouldn't play. He's fn garbage....

exactly. his best chance to play right now is in Detroit. He should turn down any trade unless it's to a team that NEEDS a 3B in the every day lineup.

Like you said, he wants to start though. He's not starting in Detroit. He thinks he's too good to even be a utility man with Kelly. The guy is a joke...always has been. I hope and pray that some GM of another baseball team is 'desperate' enough to trade for this goof, but i highly doubt it.

 

[Monster]

Monster [/color]]

exactly. his best chance to play right now is in Detroit. He should turn down any trade unless it's to a team that NEEDS a 3B in the every day lineup.

Like you said, he wants to start though. He's not starting in Detroit. He thinks he's too good to even be a utility man with Kelly. The guy is a joke...always has been. I hope and pray that some GM of another baseball team is 'desperate' enough to trade for this goof, but i highly doubt it.

i remember watching him when he was with the whitecaps when i was in high school. first time i'd ever seen a minor league game. The program said that inge was the next big thing in Detroit. he went 0-5.

 

[kingofdetroit57]

Monster [/color]]

Like you said, he wants to start though. He's not starting in Detroit. He thinks he's too good to even be a utility man with Kelly. The guy is a joke...always has been. I hope and pray that some GM of another baseball team is 'desperate' enough to trade for this goof, but i highly doubt it.

i remember watching him when he was with the whitecaps when i was in high school. first time i'd ever seen a minor league game. The program said that inge was the next big thing in Detroit. he went 0-5.

I bet he was also voted McDonald's Player of the Game that night too.