Prince Gets Richer

Prince fielder is just the lastest player in the major leagues to sign a massive contract. This time, the Detroit Tigers are the team that decided to open up their wallet and pay. Their man: Prince Fielder. The Tigers signed him for nine years and over the course of those nine years, they will pay him 214 million dollars. Going into this year's free agency, people were curious to see who would receive the better deal, Pujols or Fielder? Pujols cashed in with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for ten years and he is making 254 million dollars.

Regardless of who got paid more, why is baseball the only sport that gives out contracts for a riduculous amount of years and a riduculous amount of money? Albert has passed his prime and is now 32years old. How can anyone justify paying him roughly 25 million dollars a year at the age of 42. He is a power hitter, he will not have the bat speed or the power at the age of 42. You could still argue that Prince Fielder is in his prime, but his body type is not meant to last and produce over the next nine years of his career. I would be more understanding if he was a contact hitter, because it is much easier to rely on your contact rather than your power. Fielder though is purely built for power. I just don't understand how anyone could make that kind of an offer for just one player.

A Cubs fan with a hilarious sign directed towards Prince Fielder.

Darvish signs with the Rangers

On the last day possible, the Texas Rangers got the deal done with the Japanese ace who was formerly with the Nippon Ham Fighter's. The deal is for $60 million, $56 million guaranteed, over the next six years. Including the posting fee to talk to Darvish, it cost the Rangers $111 million to sign Darvish.
For the Red Sox's to sign Dice - K, it cost them $103 million and to be quite honest, it has been worth any of that. Dice - K has severely underperformed and was not a $103 million player. Most scouts feel like Darvish is different though, they feel like he has but better control of his fastball and his pitching repertoire has every pitch in it except a fastball.

The Rangers also said that they feel like Darvish is built to pitch a lot of innings and like he is going to be effective. I don't believe that though because Darvish has to get used to pitching every fifth day, the mound is a different height, and the ball is a little bit bigger.

The newest member of the Texas Rangers.

Dogers Active in Free Agency

The Dodgers were able to retain two of their arbitration eligible players yesterday in Andre Eithier and James Loney. Eithier will turn 30 this year as the season is starting and this was his last year to be eligible for arbitration and he will become a free agent at the end of the year. Loney will also be a free agent at the end of this coming season and was in danger of not being a part of the team because he put up very disappointing numbers before the all - star break.

Signing the two of them was good for the Dodgers, but they must resign Clayton Kershaw. To lose a great young pitcher who has drawn comparison's to Sandy Koufax would be a big blow to the Dodger's. Clayton asked for ten million dollars in his first year of arbitration, which is a lot of money in a players first year of arbitration.

The arbitration hearings will take place during the first three weeks in February.

Yankees trade Jesus Montero

The New York Yankees traded away their top prospect in Jesus Montero along with Hector Noesi to the Seattle Mariners in return for Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. Montero was expected to be the heir to Jorge Posada's position, but then Francisco Cervelli took the spot and played well for the Yanks. So then Montero had to wait until he devoloped more in the minor leagues to start for the Yankees.

The Yankees biggest problem this past season was their pitching rotation. The team was relying to heavily on Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon and A.J. Burnett. In typical Yankee fashion, they went out and did whatever they had to do to improve their team.

In addition to Pineda, they signed Hiroki Kuroda who was formerly with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kurodi was a very nice addition who can give them quality innings and win them some games. That is the difference between the Yankees and most other teams in baseball. They will go out and do whatever it takes to get better and that is why they have the most World Series trophies in history.

Bud Selig Gets Extension

The owners of the thirty major league teams voted to extend Bud Selig's contract for another two years until 2014. Selig had previously said this past season would be his final year as commisioner, until the owners were asking him to remain as commisioner. If Selig would act as commisioner until his contract runs out, he would be 80 years old.

Then, if Bud Selig were to be the commisioner until September of 2016, he would surpass Kennesaw Mountain Landis as the longest acting commisioner in history.

For the vote, the owners voted almost unanimously, 29 - 1. Its no real suprise that the owners wanted to keep him because while the NFL had its lockout along with the NBA, baseball has remained stable. To address the serious streroid problem in the game, he has put in place performance - enhacing drug rules that are strict and have reduced the use of them. Selig also added a wild card team into the playoffs and made instant replay available for home run calls in 2008.

Hall of Fame

Barry Larkin is the only inductee of the 2012 Hall of Fame class. Larkin spent his entire playing career with the Cincinnati Reds. He was inducted on his third ballot.

Some highlights of Larkin's career are:

A .295 batting average. 2, 340 hits, 379 stolen bases, the 1995 National League MVP, a 12 time All Star, and a nine time Silver Slugger Award winner.

The voting next year for the Hall of Fame will be very interesting because all of the players who are on the ballot played during the steroid era. Some of the names up for election are Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, and David Wells. Players like Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro have not gotten a lot of votes for the Hall of Fame in the past and both players were connected to steroids. I can't wait to see the voting for next year's Hall of Fame.

The Dodgers have another suitor

Joe Torre has resigned from his job as executive vice president of Major League Baseball. He stepped down so that he could attempt to purchase a part of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers have had numerous people rumored to be interested in the buying the team including Magic Johnson, Steve Garvey, Mark Cuban, and now Torre.

If your a Dodger's fan, you probably want Mark Cuban to purchase the team because he has the money and isn't afraid to spend it to put a winning team on the field. He has been known to do whatever it takes to make his team good and competitive for a championship. The front office of the MLB doesn't want Cuban to buy the Dodger's though because they think he is to flashy and refined enough for the game. That was proven when Cuban attempted to buy the Chicago Cubs and he was not allowed.

Regardless of who purchases the Los Angeles Dodger's, they almost have to be a better owner than Frank McCourt ever was. His lavish spending took away from the storied franchise. Through all the turmoil though, the Dodger's were able to have a winning season. You wouldn't believe that if you just listened to the media though. The team has some holes, but it also has the Cy Young award winner and Matt Kemp who was a very legitamate MVP candidate. Some even gave him votes for MVP over Ryan Braun. The Dodger's situation will work out in time and the owner will be very happy with his purchase.