Show Me What You Got, Dept.

 

 ................

Jay-Z, smartphone to ear:  ... So where are we, Prince?  We've had a pretty good offer in with you guys for a while.  Where are we at? 

Prince:  ... Huh.  I dunno, Jack.  Like we talked when I was up there.  I don't see a lot of help.  Dunno if I can play by myself.

Jay-Z:  Well, suppose we line up a blockbuster and bring in offense to hit behind you.  To get a team around you.  Would that make a difference?

Prince:  Oh yeah.  If you did that, it sure would be a big positive.  Yeah.

.............

Next day, or day after.

Jay-Z on phone to Boras:  "Scott, Prince has talked about wanting offensive help in our lineup.  We've been able to work some exciting things.  We've got a chance to bring in the kind of help we've talked about, like right now.  So how about checking with Prince and see where that would leave us if we go ahead and pull the trigger?"

Boras:  Like what blockbuster?  

Jay-Z:  We're looking at Jesus Montero.  He'd catch and hit fourth, behind Prince.  We're talking about giving up Michael Pineda, Scott, in order to get this lineup where we want it, with Prince as the focus of it.  We've got a shot at more help after Montero and Prince, too.

Boras:  That's impressive, Jack.  Sounds like quite an opportunity for you with Montero.  I'll check with Prince and get back to you.

..............

Next day.

Boras on phone to Jay-Z:  Hi, Jack.  Hey, Prince did like the idea.  He says if you brought Montero in to catch, Prince at first for 125 games plus, and Smoak to DH, if that's the plan, he could start to see things coming together there.  If you're going to bring in hitting right now, sure.  We can get pretty close pretty quick, I think.

Jay-Z:  Okay.  Fine.  So we'll wrap this up with Montero, and then what if we get you guys in here to talk years, options, and if we come in pretty strong and the numbers match up, can we get something done?

Boras: ...

Boras (thinking he doesn't have all winter, and this is his break in the logjam)

Boras:  We'd have to see your best deal and check back with a team or two.  We promised that.  But if you get Montero in and your numbers are the best, we can probably get Prince to Seattle.

Jay-Z:  Okay.  I'll go finish this up and then I'll get with you about a meet.

.............

Coulda happened.

 

Comments

2

Funny, I was thinking that exact same scenario myself yesterday.  Might the Mariners chances have improved with the Montero deal?  Perhaps.  We know that the persistent buzz surrounding Fielder has been that his criteria has been:
1) That he'd like to end up somewhere close to his hometown in Florida (that's never going to happen for Seattle, obviously.  A lot of people out there seem to feel we live in Southeast Alaska).
2) Fielder wants to go to a situation where he believes he can win sooner than later.  The Montero deal definitely is a loud sounding klaxxon to all of MLB that the Mariners are serious about winning.  I mean, can you believe that in the space of a year and a half the M's have added: Justin Smoak (MLB's #9 rated prospect heading in to 2010), Dustin Ackley (MLB's #5 rated prospect heading in to 2011), and now Jesus Montero (MLB's #3 rated prospect heading in to 2011)?  If that's not a signal, I don't know what is.  With guys like Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, and Nick Franklin on the way up -- check in the box for Seattle as a team that will be winning very soon.
AND
3) Fielder wants to be paid -- he signed on with Scott Boras as an agent.  I mean, come on -- you don't do that unless you're looking to break a few piggy banks.
So on point #3 there, the question is -- how much exactly are we talking about and who's going to pay him the most? 
Well, the Rangers did meet with Fielder and some interesting details came out of that meeting as to what Boras is lookig for.  Here is what the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported yesterday ...
 
Fielder, three years younger than Hamilton and an All-Star who has never been on the disabled list, is chasing a contract that rivals the deal Albert Pujols got from Anaheim -- 10 years, $240 million.
That's out of the Rangers' price range, and they received no indications during a Friday meeting with Fielder and agent Scott Boras that the price tag is going to come down.
Now, I'm just analyzing this as a MLB fan saying to myself, "Where in the world is this guy going to end up?"  Who is going to give him the best deal?
The Cubs (whom every expert had as their #1 choice a couple of weeks ago) have said that it's just not going to happen ...
The Cardinals (whom you'd naturally think of as a possibility) have said Fielder will not be coming there [their GM John Mozeliak said so on Saturday]...
The Rangers are interested without question -- but to what extent?  They're certainly not if he's going to insist on 10 years.  The article I cited above there indicates that Fielder may be more of a fallback for them if the Darvish deal falls through ... and that if they actually signed Fielder, they are probably going to be waving Bye Bye to Josh Hamilton.
The Nationals appear to be the most interested team, but also -- only to an extent. They're not willing to do a 10 year deal either, but would do a 6 or 7 year one and possibly a no trade clause.
So outside of the Rangers and Nationals, I'm not really seeing anyone being mentioned as a real possible landing point.  Shannon Drayer said that there are a lot more teams out there interested than has been reported ... but I'd say that everyone else out there you can pretty much put in the Dark Horse category.
So again, I'm just asking myself as a baseball fan from afar, "Where's the guy going to end up?"
And I especially ask that because (unbelievably) it appears that Boras is still looking for a 10 year/$240 million deal for Fielder. No one is going to give that to him.
Boras has said that Fielder will sign a deal before Spring Training ... but no team is playing ball with him -- and the clock is ticking. I would say basically that at this point all the Dark Horse teams are still in play for Fielder -- including the Mariners.
Jason Churchill agrees ...
While I have no inside information on the subject, there have been hints that the Seattle Mariners are still in on Prince Fielder -- at least from the club's standpoint. Whether or not Fielder would consider signing with the M's is another story.
Geoff Baker was on with 710 ESPN's Bob and Groz back on 1/4, saying that he believed Seattle was not only interested -- but believed that they would most definitely pay the man ...
As far as all these teams go, I think that the Mariners would have to be up there as far as interest level goes just because they are the one team I could see going longer on Albert Pujols – (corrects himself) on Prince Fielder – uh, meaning up to 8 years. You know, I don’t know if they’ll go much beyond that but I could see them making a longer term deal because they have more years to play with – they’re not trying to contend next year. Uh, they’re looking for somebody to build that team around and then you have that lurking TV contract that’s going to be up for renewal in 2015 and you’d like to have a guy that you could build that new contract around and start negotiations on. – uh, within a year or two.
There's an old adage -- Follow the Money Honey.  If you want to know why nations do the things they do ... and people make the decisions they make -- Follow the Money Honey. 
The consistent buzz that you've heard around is that teams who are interested, are interested in Fielder at a 5 Year deal ... a 6 or 7 Year Deal -- never do you hear a 10 year deal.  If in Fielder's mind Seattle has the look of an up and coming team ... and is actually willing to offer him an 8 Year Deal ... suddenly Southeast Alaska might just appear a whole lot closer to Florida to him.  We'll see how things shake out after Wednesday.
MA

3

Funny, I was thinking that exact same scenario myself yesterday.  Might the Mariners chances have improved with the Montero deal?  Perhaps.  We know that the persistent buzz surrounding Fielder has been that his criteria has been:
1) That he'd like to end up somewhere close to his hometown in Florida (that's never going to happen for Seattle, obviously.  A lot of people out there seem to feel we live in Southeast Alaska).
2) Fielder wants to go to a situation where he believes he can win sooner than later.  The Montero deal definitely is a loud sounding klaxxon to all of MLB that the Mariners are serious about winning.  I mean, can you believe that in the space of a year and a half the M's have added: Justin Smoak (MLB's #9 rated prospect heading in to 2010), Dustin Ackley (MLB's #5 rated prospect heading in to 2011), and now Jesus Montero (MLB's #3 rated prospect heading in to 2011)?  If that's not a signal, I don't know what is.  With guys like Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, and Nick Franklin on the way up -- check in the box for Seattle as a team that will be winning very soon.
AND
3) Fielder wants to be paid -- he signed on with Scott Boras as an agent.  I mean, come on -- you don't do that unless you're looking to break a few piggy banks.
So on point #3 there, the question is -- how much exactly are we talking about and who's going to pay him the most? 
Well, the Rangers did meet with Fielder and some interesting details came out of that meeting as to what Boras is lookig for.  Here is what the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported yesterday ...
"Fielder, three years younger than Hamilton and an All-Star who has never been on the disabled list, is chasing a contract that rivals the deal Albert Pujols got from Anaheim -- 10 years, $240 million.
That's out of the Rangers' price range, and they received no indications during a Friday meeting with Fielder and agent Scott Boras that the price tag is going to come down."
Now, I'm just analyzing this as a MLB fan saying to myself, "Where in the world is this guy going to end up?"  Who is going to give him the best deal?
The Cubs (whom every expert had as their #1 choice a couple of weeks ago) have said that it's just not going to happen ...
The Cardinals (whom you'd naturally think of as a possibility) have said Fielder will not be coming there [their GM John Mozeliak said so on Saturday]...
The Rangers are interested without question -- but to what extent?  They're certainly not if he's going to insist on 10 years.  The article I cited above there indicates that Fielder may be more of a fallback for them if the Darvish deal falls through ... and that if they actually signed Fielder, they are probably going to be waving Bye Bye to Josh Hamilton.
The Nationals appear to be the most interested team, but also -- only to an extent. They're not willing to do a 10 year deal either, but would do a 6 or 7 year one and possibly a no trade clause.
So outside of the Rangers and Nationals, I'm not really seeing anyone being mentioned as a real possible landing point.  Shannon Drayer said that there are a lot more teams out there interested than has been reported ... but I'd say that everyone else out there you can pretty much put in the Dark Horse category.
So again, I'm just asking myself as a baseball fan from afar, "Where's the guy going to end up?"
And I especially ask that because (unbelievably) it appears that Boras is still looking for a 10 year/$240 million deal for Fielder. No one is going to give that to him.
Boras has said that Fielder will sign a deal before Spring Training ... but no team is playing ball with him -- and the clock is ticking. I would say basically that at this point all the Dark Horse teams are still in play for Fielder -- including the Mariners.
Jason Churchill agrees ...
"While I have no inside information on the subject, there have been hints that the Seattle Mariners are still in on Prince Fielder -- at least from the club's standpoint. Whether or not Fielder would consider signing with the M's is another story."
Geoff Baker was on with 710 ESPN's Bob and Groz back on 1/4, saying that he believed Seattle was not only interested -- but believed that they would most definitely pay the man ...
"As far as all these teams go, I think that the Mariners would have to be up there as far as interest level goes just because they are the one team I could see going longer on Albert Pujols – (corrects himself) on Prince Fielder – uh, meaning up to 8 years. You know, I don’t know if they’ll go much beyond that but I could see them making a longer term deal because they have more years to play with – they’re not trying to contend next year. Uh, they’re looking for somebody to build that team around and then you have that lurking TV contract that’s going to be up for renewal in 2015 and you’d like to have a guy that you could build that new contract around and start negotiations on. – uh, within a year or two."
There's an old adage -- Follow the Money Honey.  If you want to know why nations do the things they do ... and people make the decisions they make -- Follow the Money Honey. 
The consistent buzz that you've heard around is that teams who are interested, are interested in Fielder at a 5 Year deal ... a 6 or 7 Year Deal -- never do you hear a 10 year deal.  If in Fielder's mind Seattle has the look of an up and coming team ... and is actually willing to offer him an 8 Year Deal ... suddenly Southeast Alaska might just appear a whole lot closer to Florida to him.  We'll see how things shake out after Wednesday.
MA

4
Taro's picture

I'm guessing we're probably out on Fielder. DH is a fallback plan for Montero and he'll get significant PT there regardless.
Z doesn't seem like someone who reveals his plans to anyone.

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