In June of 2002 I was a few months from turning twelve years old. I had just completed fifth grade. This was just a year and a half after I began truly following sports in any capacity. In 2000-2001 the first sport that I focused on was basketball, during the one season in the last thirty years that the Bucks actually mattered. I remember flipping through the channels on TV when a Sam Cassell to Tim Thomas alley-oop drew me in to the Bucks game. The Bucks had their great run that year, winning their division and coming painstakingly close to the NBA Finals. At the time, I remember I hated baseball. It was too slow, I didn't feel connected to any of the players. But really, the root of the problem was that the team I should have been rooting for--the Brewers--was in the midst of a terrible run with seemingly no hope on the horizon.

In June of 2002, the Brewers drafted Prince Semien Fielder with the seventh pick in the June amateur draft. People at the time called it an overdraft. His bat was prolific through high school, and his pedigree suggested that he certainly inherited talent. However, he has also always been a bit hefty and many scouts had serious reservations that he would stay in shape throughout his career. Many considered Prince to be a likely DH prospect, something the Brewers had little use for other than as trade bait.

But oh man could Fielder hit. He signed almost immediately after being drafted and was assigned to the minor leagues where he had a combined .998 OPS between rookie and A ball. He also, of course, had a bit of media attention on him during his time in the minor leagues. As I looked through the Journal-Sentinel's sports section, that caught my eye. A couple of years into Fielder's career, and my allegiances towards the Brewers grew stronger and stronger. At last, there was something to root for in Milwaukee baseball. And I changed my sporting preferences drastically - gone was my love of basketball. By 2005, the sport bored me to tears. Baseball took its rightful spot at the forefront of my heart.

Of course, Prince Fielder wasn't the only young player who instilled some optimism in the Brewers' future. No, Fielder was one of several players who came up very close to each other. Rickie Weeks was someone who had just as much, if not more, hype as Prince Fielder. Then there was also J.J. Hardy and Corey Hart. There were others, like Ben Hendrickson and Dave Krynzel who didn't quite pan out, but whom the organization and its fans hoped would be key contributors to the big league squad. A few years later, players like Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo were called up to help solidify the team.

But none of those players embodied the spirit of the new, young, talented Brewers more than Fielder. To me, a fairly new Brewer fan, he was the epitome of the future, of what the Brewers could be. It was exciting. He was going to be a superstar, I was certain. Back then, I only used the J-S and brewers.com to give me information on the team. It didn't occur to me to look for fan blogs or anything like that. Sundays were especially exciting. Those were the days that the Journal-Sentinel used to run (and probably still runs, I'm not sure anymore) the large, full page, week in review Brewers and baseball columns, with a whole bunch of little news clippings. Often, this was the best chance to get any news on the minors or the chances of a player being called up. Every other day, I would be lucky to see even a paragraph of Brewers news, outside of the game recap.

Every now and then, though, there would be news on Fielder and the other youth in the Brewers system. Even if it was just a small snippet detailing how he went 2-4 with an RBI, it was news. And it fueled my, and many other Brewers fans', hope for the future of the team. In 2005, he hit his first major league home run on the same day that Rickie Weeks hit his. Weeks had been called up for good in the middle of that season, while Prince was there only for a short spell. But that day, with both players hitting their first homers, that was a great moment. That's when the future finally became the present. When you knew the Brewers were on the verge of having something special.

The next season, his rookie year, Fielder had a successful campaign. He hit 28 home runs and had an .831 OPS. Nothing earth-shattering. In his second full season, in 2007, he hit 50 home runs. Any doubt that he might not live up to his potential vanished then and there. He gave us four more great seasons after that. He hit 230 home runs in a Brewers uniform. In six full seasons, he missed just 13 games. He finished in the top-five voting for the MVP award three times.

All the while, I grew up with Fielder. I followed his minor league outings as best I could. I grew as a Brewers fan with each passing season that Fielder was on the big league team. While Fielder's 50 HR outing solidified him as a star in this league, that year and that effort also helped solidify my allegiance to the Brewers. Since beginning to follow the Brewers, I've never had a Fielder-less team. I grew up with Fielder on my television, on my favorite team, and in Miller Park, where I have been countless times over the past six years.

I'm not sure if I really have much of an end point to this. After ten years of being in the Brewers organization, Prince Fielder is officially gone. It's not something surprising. Even years ago, we knew the Brewers wouldn't be able to afford Fielder. He found somebody who could, to the tune of the fourth largest contract in sports history. There's no way Milwaukee could have matched that.

I'm not mad. I'm quite the opposite of that. I'm extremely happy for Fielder. He deserved to get paid. And you know what, he looks really good in that Detroit uniform. I'm thrilled that we, as Brewers fans, got six years of major league service from such a fantastic player. Just like if Zack Greinke leaves for a bigger deal after 2013, I'm going to be happy that we at least got to experience him as a member of the Brewers for a short time. Who knows? Maybe with Fielder, he'll come back to the Brewers after these nine years are up. Hank Aaron did it. It's not beyond reason that Fielder could reprise his role one more time in the future.

But I am sad. An era is ending for the Milwaukee Brewers. Sure, the team could be just as good as they were last season. They still have Ryan Braun and Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart and Yovani Gallardo. They still have Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum and Nyjer Morgan. They now have Alex Gonzalez and Aramis Ramirez. They might have Mat Gamel, if he's good enough.

But the heart and soul of the Brewers team is gone. Prince Fielder, for several years, embodied the Brewers. He had fun on the field, even if certain people found it disrespectful. He was a ferocious competitor. He was a seemingly great guy who was active in the community. The only person on the team who seemed to match Fielder for personality was Nyjer Morgan. But he's an outsider, not somebody who was homegrown and brought up with several of his teammates. I'm very interested in seeing how the demeanor of the team changes next season without the big guy around.

I wish nothing but the best of luck to Prince Fielder in Detroit. I hope that he can win an MVP award or two. I hope he has many more outstanding years. I'll never forget how Prince changed me as a Brewers fan and I'll certainly never forget how much he helped in turning a laughing stock into a National League contender.

Thank you Prince, we'll miss you.

Before I start on my final thought, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that's helped out this week. I couldn't be happier with how Prince Week has turned out. If you missed any or all of them, go back and check out this week's other entries:

Monday: Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio shared some stories from Fielder in the Midwest League.
Tuesday: John Sickels of Minor League Ball looked back at Prince Fielder as a Brewer prospect.
Wednesday: Plunk Everyone looked at Fielder's relatively unique HBP skill.
Thursday: Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus had a post on his favorite Fielder home runs.
Friday: Jon Loomer of PastKast compared Fielder and Cecil Cooper.
Saturday: Noah looked at what the Brewers will need to do to replace Fielder's production.

Thanks again to all six of this week's contributors for helping out with this project. Hopefully this long look back has helped you to remember some of your favorite Fielder moments. Even after seven days, I'm still having a hard time coming to grips with the reality that Fielder is at best unlikely to be a Brewer next season.

At some point, though, we're going to have to start looking forward and considering how losing Fielder may impact this Brewer lineup. I think the change is going to have an interesting impact on Ryan Braun...and I'm not sure all of the effects will be negative.

Follow the jump for my rationale.

Continue reading this post »

Prince Fielder, one of the more beloved players the Milwaukee Brewers have ever had, is leaving. Sure, there is still that very slim chance that he will return, but given the financial situations the Brewers face, a lot would need to change for that to even be a decent possibility. Instead of focusing on re-signing Fielder, the Brewers will have to turn their attention towards finding his replacement at first base and finding production that will help keep the Brewers competitive in 2012, when they can potentially make another run towards the playoffs.

It's always hard to keep in mind that the Brewers don't have to replace all of Prince Fielder's production at first base, though.  They don't need to find a forty home run, .400 OBP player for their cleanup spot.  If they did, their only options would be Fielder and Albert Pujols. Somewhat fortuitously for Milwaukee, they actually have a number of positions where they could desperately use improvement at, which could make replacing Prince relatively easy. 

Look at it this way: Fielder was worth 5.5 fWAR in 2011. The Brewers will be looking to find better production at both third base and shortstop in 2012, as well. Milwaukee third baseman accounted for a grand total of 0.1 fWAR in 2011, including 0.3 by primary starter Casey McGehee.  Brewers shortstops accounted for a grand total of 1 fWAR, with half a win coming from both Yuniesky Betancourt and Craig Counsell. Added up, that is a grand total of 6.6 fWAR that the Brewers will be looking to replace.  An average of 2.2 fWAR from each spot would give Milwaukee the exact same number of wins above replacement in 2012 at those positions as they received in 2011. 

A popular free agent target among Brewers fans is Houston Astros' shortstop Clint Barmes.  Barmes, last season, was worth 3.1 wins above replacement, and that's in just roughly 3/4 of a full season. If the budget is there, Jimmy Rollins was worth 3.8 wins above replacement, and the potential is there for him to regain his old form and put up another near-MVP season.  Alex Gonzalez, Nick Punto, Rafael Furcal and Marco Scutaro--all potential free-agents--might approach or exceed that 2.2 fWAR benchmark.

Unfortunately, it's not the best year for third baseman on the free-agent market. Aramis Ramirez is the clear-cut best of the bunch, but will cost too much for the Brewers to even consider him.  Edwin Encarnacion is a decent hitter, but can't field.  Same with Wilson Betemit.  Casey Blake is an intriguing option, and the financially strapped Dodgers have already declined his $6MM option for 2012. If he will take a paycut, Blake could make a lot of sense for the Brewers. Of course, the Brewers still have Casey McGehee, whom they may hope can have a resurgence next year, and Taylor Green, whom the team seems to be warming up to.  It would be hard for McGehee to be any worse than he was in 2011 and, even if he regains the starting job and is playing terribly, the Brewers will almost certainly have him on a very short leash. 

Then, you finally get to first base options, where the choices are underwhelming. Jorge Cantu, Brad Hawpe, Derrek Lee, Xavier Nady are all guys who have had good to great seasons in the past but who would be among the worst starters at first in the majors next year. Carlos Pena is a name that has been thrown around as someone the Brewers should have interest in, but he is fresh off a $10MM contract with the Cubs and probably wouldn't take a significant pay cut. With the Brewers having roughly $10MM of salary room to work with barring any trades, Pena is not a viable option.  A pair of Twins outfielders, Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer, would be interesting moves to first, but both will also be looking for a fairly large contract. In house, Milwaukee has Mat Gamel, but it remains to be seen whether the team actually has any confidence in him. Gamel will get a look in spring training, but it would be shocking if GM Doug Melvin didn't bring in an outside candidate to compete for a job. Unfortunately, Mark Kotsay will also probably be resigned and given a shot in spring training.

Still, the Brewers don't need to sign a star player at all three positions. Depending on how Milwaukee thinks about Green and Gamel, they might see shortstop as the only real necessity. It's not beyond reach that both those players could reach two wins above replacement. It's certainly possible that Gamel and Green could both exceed that. Plugging in a player like Clint Barmes at shortstop would, at the very least, bring the team close to the same number of wins above replacement in the starting lineup as they had in 2011.  If Barmes can replicate his 3.1 fWAR year of 2011, it would require the Brewers to only find a grand total of 3.6 more wins above replacement between first and third base. That's absolutely do-able.

Of course, fWAR doesn't tell anywhere close to the full story. It is one of the best and quickest ways we have right now to judge the worth of a player, but there's still no telling how it might effect, say, Ryan Braun that he won't have the slugging Prince Fielder protecting him in the lineup. Without Fielder, the entire Brewers lineup changes. They may quite possibly no longer be known as the home-run hitting team that they have been the last several seasons. We won't know for sure until next year exactly how losing Fielder will effect the Brewers, but even if they recreate his fWAR they will be losing plenty of immeasurable intangibles.  We'll have to wait and see what that means for the Brewers in 2012.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part five in a week-long series looking at Prince Fielder's tenure as a Brewer from every possible angle. Today's guest poster is friend of the site Jon Loomer of the PastKast network, creator of Brewers1982.com, Brewers1987.com and the @Tweetsfrom1982 and @Tweetsfrom1987 Twitter feeds. - KL

Comparing the careers of Prince Fielder and Cecil Cooper

The day was October 10, 1982. I was a seven-year-old kid, just beginning to learn a love for baseball and the Milwaukee Brewers. This baseball thing was exciting, and my team was incredible. They overcame every obstacle put in their way. The under achieving Crew was a game under .500 when Harvey Kuenn took over on June 2. And even though Harvey's Wallbangers would be born, they nearly gave the division away before stealing it back on the final day of the season from the Baltimore Orioles.

And on this fateful day at County Stadium in 1982, they came back from the dead again. After falling down 2-0 in California, the Brewers won the next two games. They then fell behind 3-1 in the decisive Game 5 before pulling to within one and bringing together a rally in the seventh.

Cecil Cooper -- my man -- came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, the Brewers trailing 3-2. Angels manager Gene Mauch passed on the lefty-lefty matchup, preferring to let Luis Sanchez face Cooper.

You know what happened next. If you weren't around then, you've seen the images. And to be honest, I don't know how much I actually remember. I just know that it's been replayed continuously since then. I have it on DVD, and I watch it with my sons as an annual ritual on the anniversary of the game.

Cooper laced a line drive to left. He watched as Brian Downing charged, the ball hanging in the air. It was his Carlton Fisk moment, but instead of willing the ball fair, he was willing it down. The ball fell, Charlie Moore and Jim Gantner both scored, embracing behind home plate. And the Brewers would move on to the World Series.

Cecil Cooper held a special place in my heart, as I'm sure he did for many Brewers fans who grew up with the team in the '80s. I was too young to realize how surly he was, and instead focused on his cool batting stance and untouchable statistics. Many years later, I wondered if the team would ever have a first baseman that was his equal.

And then came Prince Fielder.

Continue reading this post »

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is Part Four in a week-long series looking at Prince Fielder's tenure as a Brewer from every possible angle. Today's guest poster is longtime friend of the site Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus, one of the internet's most creative baseball writers and the man behind the Tater Trot Tracker.

Prince Fielder, Home Run Hitter

This post is supposed to be about my favorite Prince Fielder home runs. There have been plenty of big home runs from Prince that I'll remember for a long time. His falling-onto-the-plate blast in Atlanta that got him beaned, his three home run performance this past September, his home run in what everyone was sure was his final game at Miller Park in 2010 - but they all fall to the wayside when compared to one home run. We'll get to that in a minute...

How do I put this nicely? Prince Fielder, the second-most prolific slugger in Brewers history, is a very … distinct man. His talent, his personality, his body-type and stature - everything about Prince makes him stand out from the boring and/or unassuming players who make up 95% of rosters these days. Anyone who watches the Brewers on a regular basis can tell you that, but, what's more, anyone who tunes in to MLB Network to see highlights of Prince's home runs would be able to say the same thing. All that is Prince Fielder is carried in his home run swing.

Continue reading this post »

This is Part 3 of a week-long series series looking at Prince Fielder's tenure as a Brewer from every possible angle. Today's guest poster is Plunk Everyone, who chronicles hit by pitches at a depth most of us can hardly imagine. - KL

Prince Fielder: A story of youth, resilience, and getting hit by a lot of pitches

On May 9, 1986, a little boy named Prince sat with his mother on his 2nd birthday, staying up late to watch his father, a young Designated Hitter for the Blue Jays, play against the Mariners.  It was the first Major League game that Cecil played on his son's birthday, and he promised his boy that he'd hit a home run for him.  Maybe even two.  (Or so I imagine.)  In the 2nd inning, Prince got his birthday wish - perhaps too young to really understand what was happening, but he saw his father swing that big bat and hit a towering fly ball right out of the park.  A home run! For his birthday!  Baby Prince Fielder must have been so excited.  But then he had to wait for the next time his father came up to bat, thinking for sure that his father could crush that baseball any time he felt like it.  Could Cecil hit another home run for his son's birthday?  Well no.  Cecil came to bat again in the 5th inning, and Seattle pitcher Mike Moore wasn't going to give the rookie slugger another chance to go deep - it was a plunk.  Cecil's first major league HBP on his son's 2nd birthday.  With Prince sitting with his mother watching, scared, wondering where it all went wrong.  Wondering if his father got hurt, but without the understanding that his father could be hurt.  Dad's are invincible, as Cecil showed with his earlier home run. 

That moment could have left Prince Fielder with a lifelong fear of baseballs...  but we know that didn't happen, don't we.  What I think happened is that Cecil brought home that baseball, and gave it to his son and said something like "It's just a baseball - it's hard, and it moves fast, but when you're big and strong, it doesn't hurt that much.  And look at it this way, Son - when you get hit by a pitch, you get to go to first base.  And that's the first step to coming home."  And Prince kept that baseball, and grew up to be big and strong, always knowing that sometimes you have to get hit by a few pitches to reach your goals, but that's nothing to be afraid of.

Okay, okay, I have no idea if any of that really happened, but Cecil Fielder really did get his first career HBP on Prince's 2nd birthday, and he did hit a home run earlier in the game.  But Prince Fielder has a superhuman talent for getting hit by pitches, and every superhuman talent needs an origin story.

Continue reading this post »

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is Part 2 in a week-long series looking at Prince Fielder's tenure as a Brewer from every possible angle. Today's guest poster is John Sickels of Minor League Ball, author of the annual Baseball Prospect Book. - KL

Prince Fielder Prospect Retro

Happy Tuesday, everyone. I'm John Sickels, head writer and proprietor at MinorLeagueBall.com, part of the SBNation network. The gang here at Brew Crew Ball has asked me to do a Prospect Retrospective for Prince Fielder, examining his minor league career and how his major league career has gone so far. So let's do that.

Continue reading this post »

EDITOR'S NOTE: If we have, in fact, seen the last of Prince Fielder as a Brewer, I want to do our best to give him a fitting sendoff here at BCB. As such, today we're starting Prince Week, a daily series of posts from special guests remembering Fielder's tenure in the organization.

Today we start at the beginning: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Director of Media Relations and Radio Announcer Chris Mehring has a couple of stories from Fielder's brief time in the Midwest League. You can see more of Chris' work at Rattler Radio.

First impression

Look at Prince Fielder's entry in the Milwaukee Brewers Media Guide.

You will see that he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the seventh pick of the first round in 2002. He was 18 years old at the time and signed quickly enough with the Brewers to begin his professional career in mid-June as a member of the Pioneer League's Ogden Raptors.

Fielder hit .390 with 10 homers and 40 RBI in his first 41 games with the Raptors. The Brewers sent him to the Midwest League in early August and made his Beloit Snappers debut on August 2. That debut was at Pohlman Field against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

The Media Guide will tell you that Prince Fielder homered in that debut. The Media Guide will not give you the context, signs, and portents of that home run. I get to do that because I was there.

Fielder was immediately placed in the cleanup spot for the Snappers. And why not? Here was lineup for the Snappers for their August 1 contest against the Rattlers.

Ralph Santana - 2B
Ozzie Chavez - SS
Jason Belcher - LF
Brad Nelson - 1B
Florian Villanueva - C
Tom Carrow - CF
Hector Garcia - RF
Paul Bell - DH
Elliott Ayala - 3B

Dane Artman - SP

This was the lineup that Fielder stepped into on August 2, 2002 for his first professional game in the state of Wisconsin.

Ralph Santana - 2B
Paul Bell - SS
Jason Belcher - LF
Prince Fielder - 1B
Florian Villanueva - 3B
Hector Garcia - CF
Elliott Ayala - DH
Jonah McClanahan - RF
Pedro Esparragoza - C

Mike Jones - SP

Ryan Ketchner was the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers on that night. Ketchner was a left-hander who threw hard, could mix in the offspeed, and had good control. (He probably still is since he spent the past year at AAA for the Salt Lake Bees.) Ketchner entered the game - his 26th appearance and seventh start of the year - in Beloit 2-2 with a save and a 2.60 ERA. Plus, in 69-1/3 innings, Ketchner had struck out 68 and walked 25.

Then, Fielder walked in his first Midwest League plate appearance. He worked the count to 3-2 and took ball four to draw a leadoff walk in the second inning.

He stepped to the plate again in the fourth and grounded out to third.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Timber Rattlers had a 2-0 lead. Fielder came to the plate with one out and showed what he was going to be.

Ketchner had allowed one hit through the first 6-1/3 innings. The only walk he issued was the one to Fielder in the second inning. Ketchner had struck out six.

In this at bat, Fielder again worked the count to 3-2. Ketchner went with an off speed pitch on the outside corner. Usually, there are about three things that happen here with any hitter - much less an 18-year old with six weeks of professional experience - will do in this situation: Roll over on it and ground out weakly to the second baseman; Swing and miss for strike three and look bad doing it; Take strike three and glare at the umpire.

Prince Fielder didn't do any of those things because Prince Fielder is not just any hitter, even as an 18-year old. Nine years ago he waited on that pitch and drove it over the left field wall for his first Midwest League home run.

There were a couple of stunning things about that home run. Ketchner allowed three home runs over 111 innings during the 2002 season. The homer by Fielder was the only one hit by a lefty off Ketchner that season. Now, 107 lefties faced over an entire season is a small sample size. But, still...My gosh. It was the first of many impressive performances by Fielder in this state.

Follow the jump for more!

Continue reading this post »