Atomic RoadRunners

Prince Fielder told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the Brewers met with his agent Scott Boras on Wednesday. Bingo. Fielder says the two sides talked about an extension, however no offer was made. Fielder, who turns 26 in May, remains under team control through the 2011 season. He’s on tap to make $10.5 million this season. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes that general manager Doug Melvin and assistant Gord Ash were out of town on Wednesday for “a meeting.” “I can’t say anything,” said Melvin, regarding the nature of the meeting. “That will have to be a mystery.” Naturally, everyone will assume that this is regarding a possible contract extension for Prince Fielder, but Melvin wouldn’t take the bait when asked by Haudricourt. “All I would say is there haven’t been any negotiations,” said the Brewers GM. (Rotoworld)

Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said that he won’t set any “artificial deadlines” for talks on a contract extension for first baseman Prince Fielder. “Prince has said he wants to be here, we have said we would love to have him here and we know our fans would love to have him here,” Attanasio said Saturday. “There is no timetable, no pressure on either side. I know you guys have seen Prince and he’s pretty relaxed. I think I’m pretty relaxed.” The Brewers have already engaged Fielder’s agent Scott Boras in some casual conversations about a contract extension. Fielder, who doesn’t turn 26 until May, figures to land a mega-deal if he hits free agency, however he remains under team control through the 2011 season. (Rotoworld)

MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams recently recapped the latest rumors on a Prince Fielder extension:

It’s good to be Prince Fielder. At 25 years old, he’s one of the most feared bats in the National League, entering the second year of a two-year, $18MM contract, and according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Anthony Witrado, he’s worry-free when it comes to his next contract.

Fielder addressed several reporters today at Brewers On Deck, a day-long fan festival held in Milwaukee. While it’s no secret that his agent, Scott Boras, aims for every dollar possible for his clients, Fielder says he’s not yet concerned with the situation, and that ultimately, it’s not Boras’ decision:

“In the end, it’s my decision. But as my agent, he’s going to make sure that I have the most information possible about what’s going to benefit me and my family. That’s what it’s about first. My family has to be happy, and then I go from there. There’s no urgency right now as far as that.”

Fielder owns Brewers single-season records in home runs (50 in 2007), walks (110 in 2009), and RBIs (141 in 2009). McCalvy writes that the historical significance of those numbers matters to Fielder. While Boras may be dreaming of the open market with dollar signs in his eyes, if you ask the big man himself, he’s happy where he is and would like to stick around:

“I came up here and I love it here. My thing is I want to stay here as long as possible. For now, I’m here for two more years anyway. All that other stuff, hopefully, will work out.”

Fielder is under team control through the 2011 season, as he’ll be eligible for arbitration one last time after the 2010 season. It’s tough to imagine that the Brewers would want to go through that process, as it could be a record-setting case. For comparison, Mark Teixeira received $12.5MM through his final year of arbitration, a 39% raise from the prior year. That type of raise would put Fielder somewhere around $14.5MM for 2011.

There have been no deadlines set on working out an extension to this point. If he were to reach the open market, Fielder would join a group potentially including Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez, and Ryan Howard. Now that’s what I call a free agent class!

With protected rosters due in seven days, it’s time to review the options for the 2010 Roadrunners. As I did the past two seasons, I’ve broken the list into five groups:

• The No Doubters
• The Almost Automatics
• The Probables
• The Fringe
• Not So Much

These should be self-explanatory. First up, the No Doubters:

Prince Fielder
2 Years – $29
.299 Average, 103 Runs, 46 HR, 141 RBI, and 2 steals
Fielder was acquired mid-season in a trade with Get Off Kong!, and thus re-joined the Atomic Roadrunners for his sixth overall season, which is impressive, since he’s only 25 years old. After a power dip in 2008 due (possibly) to a vegetarian diet, the homers (and everything else) returned. Signed to a relatively modest $29 contract, he should again earn his keep in 2010.

Josh Johnson
1 Year – $5
15 Wins, 3.23 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 191 K’s
Johnson, who just signed a four-year, $39 million contract extension, was touted early on as a Cy Young dark horse, though that would be tough in Florida. He had a lot of innings (209) coming back from Tommy John surgery in 2008, but was pretty solid, though he did have a few clunkers that damaged his ERA a bit down the stretch. A potential ace worthy of protection for $5.

Clayton Kershaw
1 Year – $9
8 Wins, 2.79 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 185 K’s
Picked up mid-season in a trade with Misogynistic Padres, the 21-year old Kershaw found himself as de-facto staff ace for the Dodgers entering the post-season. He did relatively well, without major flame-outs, but he was gassed after a long season. The toll manager Joe Torre placed on his young arm is worrysome, but Kershaw should definitely deliver $9 worth of value, especially since all reports indicate he’s still improving.

According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, the Brewers plan to approach Prince Fielder with a long-term extension this offseason. Fielder finished second in the majors with 46 homers in 2009 and tied Albert Pujols with 141 RBI. He finished with an impressive .299/.412/.602 batting line. The Brewers need to find solutions for the wretched starting rotation this winter, but locking up a hitter like Fielder can only be described as wise. (Rotoworld)

Update: Brewers GM Doug Melvin has said he won’t address an extension for Prince Fielder until he fills current needs. Probably Jan. at earliest. – Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt’s tweet.

It took about a week, but I was finally able to update the AaRr All-Time Roster spreadsheet to include the pitchers (the hitters had been completed several months ago).  The lists themselves will be added to the archive section during the offseason, but here are some interesting tidbits:

Most Seasons in a RoadRunners uniform:

7 seasons:

• Danny Graves, Reds closer (1999-2005)
• Robb Nen, closer for Marlins and Giants (1994-2001, except for 1998)

6 seasons:

• Rondell White, Expos OF (1992-1997)
• Reggie Sanders, Reds OF (1992-1997)
• Geoff Jenkins, Brewers OF (1999-2001, 2004-2006)

5+ seasons:

• Prince Fielder, 1B Brewers, who will likely make it 6 seasons if he is protected for 2010. (2005-present)

5 seasons:

• Ken Caminiti, 3B (1992-1994 Astros) and (1996-1997 Padres)
• Khalil Greene, SS Padres (2002-2006)
• Damian Miller, C (1999, 2001, 2002 Diamondbacks, 2003 Cubs, and 2005 Brewers)
• Raul Mondesi, OF (1994-1997 Dodgers, 2003 Diamondbacks)
• Salomon Torres, P (1992-1994 starter for Giants) and (2002 and 2004, reliever for Pirates)

4+ Seasons:

• Chris Iannetta, C Rockies, who will likely make it 5 seasons if he is protected for 2010. (2006-present)

Also note that there is something about the Joneses sticking around for four seasons:

• Andruw Jones, OF (2002-2004 Braves, 2008 Dodgers)
• Bobby J. Jones, P (1992, 1999 Mets, 2001, 2002 Padres)
• Chipper Jones, 3B (2006-2009, Braves)
• Todd Jones, RP (1993-1995 Astros, 2004 Reds)

Asked if he was going to trade Prince Fielder or Ryan Braun, general manager Doug Melvin said on Wednesday, “I don’t see that happening.” No real surprise here. The Brewers should be doing everything in their power to lock up Fielder long-term, and Braun’s eight-year, $45 million deal through 2015 remains a huge bargain for Milwaukee. (Rotoworld)

Prince Fielder went 3-for-5 with two homers and three RBI in a 9-7 win over the Cardinals in 10 innings on Sunday. Fielder hit an RBI single in addition to a pair of solo homers. He finished second in the majors with 46 homers and tied Albert Pujols for the major league lead in RBI with 141. Fielder will deservedly finish in the Top 5 in National League MVP voting, and may well finish second. (Rotoworld)

Trades:

Trade 1:

• Atomic Roadrunners receives: Reds SP Edinson Volquez (active), Brewers 1B Prince Fielder (active at 1B)
• Get Off Kong! receives: Giants SP Tim Lincecum, Mets SS Jose Reyes

Trade 2:

• Atomic Roadrunners receives: Giants AAA C Buster Posey
• Shoeless Jews receives: Cubs SS Ryan Theriot

FAAB Acquisitions:

• John Bowker, 1B/OF Giants ($5 bid, active at OF)
• Mat Latos, SP Padres ($5 bid, reserve)
• Brooks Conrad, 2B Braves ($0 bid, active at 2B)

Up:

• OF Chris Duncan

Down:

• 3B Mat Gamel

Move:

• CM Emilio Bonifacio (to 3B)
• 2B Brendan Ryan (to SS)
• SS Alex Cora (to MI)
• 1B Casey Kotchman (to CM)

Cut:

• RP Nick Masset
• OF Andres Torres
• OF Alex Romero

Notes:

• Lost on bidding for Pirates 1B/OFGarrett Jones.  I bid $5, The Pi Train bid $16
• Minor league starter Mat Latos re-joins the Roadrunners, as he was cut June 30th
• Giants OF John Bowker re-joins the Roadrunners.  He was on the squad for several months in 2008.

Okay, so it’s tough to actually draw a line and say, “from now on, we’re talking about 2009″ during the offseason, since we have free agents, WBRL free agents, arb-eligibles, and protected lists all happening at various times.  For the purposes of atomicroadrunners.com, we’ll use December 1st.

While I’ll be posting individual wrap ups for each player later this offseason, as of December first, the Current Roster has been updated, and the following players are no longer active Atomic Roadrunners:

WBRL Contracts Expired:

• P Brandon Webb
• P John Maine
• 1B Prince Fielder
• SS Jose Reyes
• OF Shane Victorino
• OF Corey Hart
• OF Lastings Milledge

Traded to an AL Team in 2008:

• 1B Mark Teixeira

Traded from an AL Team in 2008:

• 3B Casey Blake
• OF Brandon Moss
• P Joe Blanton

Signed after the August 19, 2008 protection deadline:

• C Pablo Sandoval
• P Luis Ayala
• P Jason Motte

Baseball Prospectus recently released the results of the 17th Annual Internet Baseball Awards, and Chipper Jones finished sixth in the balloting for National League MVP. 2008 IBA Cy Young Tim Lincecum placed ninth overall. Below are the results:

Rnk Name                   1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10       B       P
  1. Albert Pujols       1233   97   38   17    5    7    4    2    2    1    1406   18650
  2. Hanley Ramirez        26  454  191  164  105   76   46   38   14   15    1129    8477
  3. Lance Berkman         14  223  195  167  159   89   74   46   31   26    1024    6853
  4. Chase Utley           21  105  196  155  149  101   85   54   45   16     927    5899
  5. David Wright          10   93  163  152  171  118  104   63   50   28     952    5694
  6. Chipper Jones         14   70  131  128  133  115   81   68   47   28     815    4793
  7. Ryan Howard           53  116   75   80   64   44   38   28   35   24     557    3880
  8. Manny Ramirez         32   63   72   65   79   50   40   42   49   51     543    3205
  9. Tim Lincecum           5   33   61   77   94   61   70   50   44   22     517    2803
 10. Ryan Braun             7   49   61   94   55   53   56   44   37   22     478    2732

 12. Jose Reyes             3   12   35   38   63   68   59   72   58   45     453    2027
 23. Prince Fielder         0    1    5    7    9    9   10    7    4    2      54     268
 24. Brandon Webb           0    1    2    4    6    5    7    8    8    6      47     188
 39. Mark Teixeira          0    0    0    3    1    1    0    0    1    1       7      35
 42. Shane Victorino        0    1    0    1    0    3    0    0    1    0       6      33
 62. Brandon Phillips       0    0    0    0    0    1    1    0    1    2       5      13
 74. Corey Hart             0    0    0    0    1    0    0    0    1    0       2       8
 88. Chris Iannetta         0    0    0    0    0    1    0    0    0    0       1       5
 95. Brandon Lyon           0    0    0    0    0    0    1    0    0    0       1       4
104. Ryan Theriot           0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    1       1       1

It seems that I may have placed the vote for Theriot . . .

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that the Brewers are “highly unlikely” to trade Prince Fielder. Rosenthal notes that the Brewers are also “reluctant to trade” J.J. Hardy, and may instead look to move him to second base while clearing shortstop for prospect Alcides Escobar and dealing Rickie Weeks. Fielder is under the Brewers’ control through 2011. (Rotoworld)

RotoProfessor has taken it upon themselves to solving the Fielder dilemma – as in, what happened? Here’s a look:

Recently, a reader asked me my opinion of Prince Fielder and to look deeper into his numbers to see when he turned things around. Could the signing of Ryan Braun or the trade of CC Sabathia have motivated him to pick things up?

The Braun signing came first, and we’ll start there. His signing came right around May 15, so that’s the date that I am going to use for this comparison. Let’s take a look at the numbers:

• Through May 15: .255 (36-141), 5 HR, 23 RBI, 18 R, .362 OBP, .411 SLG
• From May 17 on: .282 (126-440), 29 HR, 79 RBI, 68 R, .375 OBP, .537 SLG

Obviously, it is clear to see that the numbers were significantly better after the Braun signing, but was that the reason why? In the first 13 games after the signing, Fielder did hit .321 (17-53), but with just 1 HR, 2 RBI and 5 R. Yes, the average was there, but the power did not really come around until May 30.

From May 30-June 22, Fielder hit 10 HR in just 77 AB. Was there any rhyme or reason to that hot stretch? Maybe, maybe not. It’s easy to say that his struggles early on this season was due to his lack of a contract. It’s easy to say that once he saw Ryan Braun get a major deal from the Brewers he felt that he needed to turn things up in order to get the Brewers to sign him to a similar deal.

We really will never know, but what we did know was that Fielder had a terrible stretch to start the season, but he did turn things around. That turn around just came well after the ink dried on Braun’s contract.

The Sabathia acquisition was another milestone in the Brewers season. The numbers are a little bit closer, but he was still obviously better after the trade then before it. I used the cut-off date of July 8 for this comparison. Let’s look at the lines:

• Prior to the trade: .269 (88-327), 17 HR, 48 RBI, 51 R, .354 OBP, .483 SLG
• After the trade: .284 (74-261), 17 HR, 54 RBI, 35 R, .393 OBP, .536 SLG

To me, this split is a lot more telling. In 56 less AB, he was a significantly more productive player, basically up in every category across the board. Again, am I willing to say it was Sabathia who pushed Fielder to better himself?

Not by looking at his August numbers, when he hit .228 with 6 HR and 20 RBI with a .436 SLG over 101 AB. That was his lowest Average and Slugging Percentage in any month this season, even with his horrendous start to the season. If it were Sabathia who motivated him to produce, why would his worst month of the season come just weeks after his acquisition?

Basically, what it comes down for me is that Fielder’s season was not motivated by contract signings or trades. Simply put, he was not the same player that he was in 2007, when he hit .288 with 50 HR and 119 RBI. The speculation as to the reasons are endless really. He became a vegetarian. He didn’t get a long-term contract. He simply isn’t that good.

Whatever reason you want to believe, and we will probably never know the truth, all you can do is knock him down a few notches on your 2009 draft board. A player who was viewed as a potential first round pick a year ago, should now be seen as a late second round, early third round pick.

Last season he entered the season as a possible Top 3 first baseman now he is behind guys like Pujols and Berkman, Howard and Teixeira, for sure. Some may see him as a lesser choice then Miguel Cabrera and Adrian Gonzalez. The comparison between he and Kevin Youkilis is an intriguing one as well. Basically, Fielder can be ranked almost anywhere in the Top 5-8 1B, and someone would be able to justify it.

It’s too early for me to say exactly where I’m going to rank him heading into 2009, but I will say that I am not going to ignore his 2007 season when evaluating him. Still, his FB% was down, similar to his number from 2006, when he hit 28 HR in his first full major league season.
Maybe he is just a .280ish hitter that’s going to launch 30-35 HR every season. Maybe the 50 HR season was the aberration, not the rule. Still, unlike some of the other 1B around, he’s proven he has the potential to bust out and carry your team in HR. That’s something worth considering. That’s something worth gambling on.

Prince Fielder homered in the seventh inning Sunday to avoid ending the NLDS hitless. Fielder finished his first postseason series 1-for-14 with a couple of walks. His homer today was a long solo shot off Joe Blanton. (Rotoworld)

Prince Fielder called himself “garbage” after going hitless once again in Game 2 of the NLDS Thursday. Fielder is now 0-for-7 in the series, but the blame shouldn’t fall totally on him. The Brewers have hit .115 as a team in the first two games. Mike Cameron is also 0-for-7, Jason Kendall’s 0-for-6, J.J. Hardy is 1-for-6, and Corey Hart is 1-for-7. The series heads back to Milwaukee next: “Hopefully, we can get it going at our place,” said Fielder. (Rotoworld)