Prince Fielder, Opt-Outs, And A Contract I Would Support

It’s no secret that I’ve been generally opposed to the idea of giving Prince Fielder a long term, big money contract. I think his value on the field is fairly overrated and the side benefits of having him on the team are mostly made up and unsupported by facts. In general, I’d rather the team spread their money around to fill multiple holes and upgrade the roster rather than going all-in on Fielder, and have said that my maximum offer to Fielder would be something like $120 million over six years. Even if the market for Fielder never does develop in any real way, that seems unlikely to get it done, as it’s hard to see Boras letting Fielder settle for a contract less than what Adrian Gonzalez got back in March, when he wasn’t even a free agent. Now, reports are beginning to surface that not only is Boras looking for a lot of guaranteed money, he’s also going to look for an opt-out clause for his client as well. This would give Fielder the due...