The Red Hot Prince

Fielder won NL Player of the Week for
April 3rd through the 10th

There are just some things that I got used to in the month of April. The weather slowly gets nicer, classes are coming down to the end as I scramble to boost my grades my up, and Prince Fielder struggles out the gate. The first five full seasons of Fielder's professional career always seemed to be stuck in neutral for the beginning part of the season.  This year things have changed in April at least for Fielder as he has began the season hotter than any first baseman in the Major Leagues. 

Fielder's first ten games have been stunning for an usual slow starter. Right now, Fielder is hitting .400 with  a .488 on-base percentage, and .686 slugging percentage. Also this only began in the third game against Atlanta where Prince had a four RBI day.  It's not like Prince is going on an absolute homer tear either, he is spraying the ball to all parts of the baseball field. At least in my opinion, it is a calculated risk  for opposing teams to have a shift for Fielder.  He is not pulling the ball as much anymore plus his early numbers against lefties have been outstanding.



When Fielder is playing at this level, he is damn near impossible to figure out as an opposing pitcher. Brett, a Cubs fan watched the game with me on Sunday and tried to tell the TV to not pitch Prince inside. Once, Geovanny Soto positioned himself on Prince's inner half, Brett sighed knowing to expect the worst on the next pitch. Brett knew Prince was hitting that pitch out of Miller Park, which he did, contributing to a 6-5 Brewers win on Sunday night.

I know baseball is a long season, and Prince will not stay hot for the entire year. His usual April slump might get replaced by two miserable weeks in July because baseball is a long season and all about streaks. But right now, I am going to enjoy Prince getting off to a monster start.

-Charlie.

Potential Pujols' Free Agency Leads To NL Central What If's

There isn't many things that Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs fans can agree on.  Whenever the I-94 rivalry is on, both fan bases are rowdy and are obnoxious at the other team's stadium. But one thing that we can both hope and pray to our respective gods- Bob Uecker and Harry Carey, is that Albert Pujols leaves for free agency.

With the exorbitant amount of football going on this weekend, people might not have heard Pujols tell the Cardinals that if they do not get a deal done before Spring Training then he will test the free agency market.  There is a possibility that this could happen because the Cardinals have a ton of money invested in Matt Holiday, Chris Carpenter, Jake Westbrook, and Kyle Lohse.  I think they have enough to give Pujols what he wants because the city, arguably the biggest baseball city in America wouldn't forgive the management if they got rid of Pujols.  This would go down as one of the bigger FU move in the history of sports if they let go of Albert even at his older age. But this raises two interesting things for the Cubs and Brewers.



For Chicago, if Pujols gets to test the market, shouldn't the Cubs throw the pie in the sky type offer to him. His loyalty to the Cards in his career is unmatched by a lot of athletes, but as we learned with Brett Favre and others, they love revenge and money talks.  The Cubs do have Carlos Pena for a year, but I assume they will want Prince Fielder or Pujols in the 2011 offseason.  I am curious to hear from my Chicago readers/writers, if there would be any resentment.  My assumed answer: No, it's Albert f------ Pujols bro.  

Today, Fielder signed a one-year deal for 15.5 million dollar deal and it appears he will probably test the market in the upcoming year. If Pujols is out there, he is the second banana. Prince will make less money than Albert, and he will not be welcomed by the fans with ringing praise. Instead it will be 'well we could have had Pujols, but I guess I will settle for Fielder.'  I think Prince is a sneaky MVP pick this season because he will come up big in a contract year, but in no way is he better than Pujols.  Who knows if Pujols is out there, maybe Prince decides his best option is staying here in Milwaukee even though I know that's wishful thinking.

When a team is under a deadline, there are multiple scenarios that could happen.  1.) They overspend and screw their franchise for the years to come (could happen but it's Pujols, the man's a robot)  2.) Management decides to play hard ball with him, and believes he will come around by the beginning of the season (horrible idea).  3.) They come to a mutual agreement like the Joe Mauer situation, which this reminds me of it a lot.

Obviously as a Brewer fan, I hope nothing gets done and the Cards are in a chaotic panic the entire year. But I doubt it will happen, the Cardinals are smarter than that, right?

-Charlie.