Prince Fielder Reportedly Has Narrowed His Choices To Three Teams

By Matt Loede - 92.3 The Fan Indians Beat Reporter

December 4, 2011 1:14 AM

Prince Fielder heading to the Jays? / (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Reporting Matt Loede

CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – With the Major League Baseball 2011 Winter Meetings about 36 hours away from starting, a big name has reportedly narrowed his choices of where he will play in 2012 and beyond down to three.

First baseman and possible DH if he lands in the AL Prince Fielder has narrowed down his teams to three according to reports, with the three teams being the Toronto Blue Jays, the Texas Rangers, and his old team, the Milwaukee Brewers.

Reports say that as of right now, the team that resides in the lead for his services – the Jays.

The Brewers would love to get Fielder back after their playoff run in 2011, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Friday that the general manager Doug Melvin has not offered increased their offer to Fielder.

In fact, the paper reports that Melvin has not talked to Fielder’s agent, Scott Boras, since the general manager/ownership meetings in Milwaukee in mid-November.

“We haven’t had any conversations with Scott,” Melvin said to the paper. “If we had, we wouldn’t reveal what we would be talking about anyway. Whether (rumors come from) the agents or some other clubs, it’s just trying to drum up something. You don’t know where that comes from. We haven’t mentioned any numbers, so it would be hard to increase an offer. They’ve never told us what they’re looking for. Agents never do.”

So why would a team like the Jays, who haven’t really been a force in the Majors for quite some time, be a bidder for Fielder? Well, a couple of very good reasons.

The team plays in a large market in Toronto, and do have money to spend. The team last season was again near the bottom of attendance in all of baseball, ranking 25th with a total of 1.8 million fans, an average of just 22,445 per game.

They need a big bat to be a serious contender to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, two teams that have owned the AL East for what seems like forever, and even the Tampa Bay Rays.

Last season the Jays went 81-81, and were still a full 16 games back of the Yankees for the division title. Put them in the AL Central, and they would have finished a game above the Indians for second.

While the Jays are in the lead now, don’t count out the Rangers, who would love to build off being a strike away from winning the World Series last year with a huge signing like Fielder.

The Rangers right now seem more interested in their own free agent pitcher – C.J. Wilson, but Jon Heyman of SI.com says Texas isn’t making any progress with Wilson, and the Red Sox already have a meeting scheduled with Wilson on Monday.

If Fielder does decide on a team in the next five days while in Dallas, it will for sure be the biggest news of the MLB Winter Meetings.

Follow Matt Loede All Next Week on 92.3 The Fan LIVE from the Winter Meetings in Dallas! To Follow him on Twitter – Click HERE

Prince Fielder Reportedly Has Narrowed His Choices To Three Teams

Brett

“First baseman and possible DH if he lands in the AL Prince Fielder has narrowed down his teams to three according to reports, with the three teams being the Toronto Blue Jays, the Texas Rangers, and his old team, the Milwaukee Brewers.

Reports say that as of right now, the team that resides in the lead for his services – the Jays.”

What “reports”? Not seeing them anywhere.

Iain

That’s what I was thinking too. I haven’t seen any reports mentioning anything and no other articles showing up,

Mylegacy

Matt

Nice little imagination you have there. Are you a reporter or do you work for Fox News?

Toronto’s GM (AA) and their President (Beeston) have BOTH said they will not be spending big in the Free Agent market this year. They expect to work – for the time being – through trades.

Vlad

They didn’t say they WON’T spend big on free agents; they said don’t EXPECT them to. There’s a difference.

Swag

They said they will explore free agents but much prefer to acquire players via the trade route

Spiderpig

So do you just steal info from Incarcerated Bob or does he give it to you free of charge?

JoePlug

Agreed, tsn also stole it, nice giving crediability when its DUE… not.

Incarcerated Boob

What Reports? — Completely false ones
samsung

This is a Loede alright.
http://yankeesfansunite.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/afternoon-hot-stove/ Afternoon Hot Stove « Yankees Fans Unite

[...] The report is rather obscure, so take it with a big grain of salt. If Loede is correct, then we would have to think Fielder would essentially be down to the Blue Jays and Rangers, as the Brewers don’t look to be willing to go past a six-year, $120 million offer, which almost surely will not be enough. The Nationals, Cubs and Marlins have also been linked to Fielder. Source: CBSSports.com [...]
fatman

I’m a Blue Jays fan and it wont happen. Beeston and Anthopolous said that they’re not a fan of long term contracts. Some free agents use Blue Jays to jack up their value.
http://www.proballnw.com/12-2011/fielder-rumored-to-narrow-choice/ Fielder Rumored To Narrow Choice | Pro Ball NW

[...] Loede, a beat reporter for the Indians, made some waves today when he wrote that Fielder has narrowed his choice to Toronto, Milwaukee, and Texas. While there is some chance [...]
http://baseballmoves.com/2011/12/04/prince-fielder-brewers-16/ Prince Fielder (Brewers) — BaseballMoves.com

[...] Source: cbslocal.com [...]
cpfan

I don’t think this report says that the Jays are chasing Fielder. I think it says that Fielder ranks the Jays as #1.

Guess he hasn’t been reading what AA & PB have said.

Steve
Rojak_the_Giant

This report is totally contradictory to all of the Blue Jays consistent comments on signing free agents. If it happened, it would be the biggest surprise signing for the last few years, I just don’t see it.
http://www.raptorsforum.com/f/f47/mlb-jays-thread-70-349.html#post583542 MLB/Jays Thread – Page 349

[...] Apparently the Jays are front runners too. Prince Fielder Reportedly Has Narrowed His Choices To Three Teams CBS Cleveland [...]
http://torontosportsmedia.com/toronto-blue-jays-baseball/toronto-blue-jays-close-to-making-a-move/12264 Toronto Blue Jays Close To Making A Move?

[...] The local media has largely picked up on a sketchy report that originated with a CBSCleveland, stating that Prince Fielder has narrowed his choice down to three teams.. with Toronto in the [...]
http://www.niagarafallstravel.info/toronto-blue-jays-close-to-making-a-move/ Toronto Blue Jays Close To Making A Move? | Niagara Falls Travel

[...] The local media has largely picked up on a sketchy report that originated with CBSCleveland, stating that Prince Fielder has narrowed his choice down to three teams.. with Toronto in the [...]
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