In case you haven’t heard Prince Fielder agreed to a nine-year, $214 million contract with the Detroit Tigers yesterday. That’s an average annual salary upwards of $23.7 million. It’s hard to fathom this kind of money, but it most definitely is not foreign to Major League Baseball or professional sports. The absurd amount of money athletes are paid is a discussion for another day. Looking at this deal from a baseball perspective, it doesn’t look promising long-term for the Tigers.

The length is the most troubling part of the contract. Fielder turns 28 in early May and thus will be 36 when the contract ends (reportedly there is no opt-out clause). The Tigers will get some of Fielder’s prime years, but will also very likely be saddled with his decline. History tells us that Fielder’s production will slow down significantly while under this contract. Prince has shown over his six seasons as a full-time player that he stays on the field as he’s only sat out 13 total games over that stretch. On the other hand you cannot help but look at Fielder and notice he is not the most svelte player in the game. As players get older they tend to add weight not lose it (however people are different and it’s hard to know how Fielder’s build will effect him in future years). The position Fielder plays helps and hurts him. First base is not a position that holds a lot of value. Baseball teams are built up the middle. A player must hit a ton (Fielder does) to have value as a first basemen. While Fielder does not play one of the premium positions, he plays perhaps the least taxing position on the field. He is further assisted by going to the American League and the possibility of moving to DH. Fielder’s glove and range certainly aren’t going to keep him at first. In baseball terms, the back half of Fielder’s contract is borderline reckless. The Tigers will be paying over $23 million per year for a declining 1B/DH. I would be shocked if four to five years from now we aren’t talking about this contract as an albatross for the Detroit Tigers.

In the short-term this deal adds serious big time thump to a lineup that was in trouble after losing Victor Martinez for the year to a torn ACL. Over the past five seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers Prince Fielder has quite simply been one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball ranking 2nd in home runs (200), 4th in slugging percentage (.553), 4th in OPS (.951) and 5th in RBIs (565) over that stretch. Don’t get me wrong, the Tigers got a huge impact bat in Fielder. He’s a top five player at perhaps the most offensive centric position in the game. Put Fielder in the same lineup with Miguel Cabrera and Tigers fans should be salivating at the prospects of their new 3-4 combination.

The injury to Victor Martinez opens the door for that new 3-4 combination of Cabrera and Fielder to hold down 1B and DH this season (at least that’s the way it should work). Next season, however, seems to present a problem. With Martinez presumably back healthy the Tigers have three players for two positions. Fielder can only play 1B. Cabrera can only really play 1B. And while Martinez has played most of his career as a catcher he can no longer play behind the plate consistently and Alex Avila is the starting catcher anyway. Putting Martinez behind the plate doesn’t make any sense especially with the emergence of Avila. That leaves 1B as the only place on the field for Martinez. In Fielder, Cabrera, and Martinez the Tigers have three 1B/DH players. This seems to leave one option if these three players are still on the team come 2013. Miguel Cabrera returns to third base. Unless Cabrera drastically changes the tide on his own weight trend and is able to do an improbable mid-career turnaround back to his old position the Tigers will have serious defensive issues. Miguel Cabrera at 3B would be a disaster defensively in all likelihood. Considering the contract Fielder just received and the position issues that may arise I have to wonder if Martinez or Cabrera may be on the move next season. I think it’s more likely we’ll be seeing a lot more of Cabrera at third.

Prince Fielder’s new contract isn’t the largest or most ridiculous contract given out to a player this off-season. It wasn’t even the largest or most ridiculous at his position. That would belong to Albert Pujols who signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for 10 years, $254 million. It’s easy to compare the Fielder and Pujols deals because they were both free agents this off-season, play the same position, and got similar deals. If I were forced to choose which deal was better, I would take the Fielder deal mainly because of the age factor as Fielder is four and a half years younger. Pujols will be under contract at age 42 while Fielder’s ends when he is 36. Luckily for both players and the teams they signed with they’ll be able to DH when needed. This also leaves a massive hole at 1B as far as the National League is concerned. With Ryan Howard out with a torn Achilles, Joey Votto is left as the lone big bat at first base in the NL. Months ago the NL had Adrian Gonzalez, Pujols and Fielder. Now they are all in the AL leaving a very interesting opening for the position come All-Star time (really this shouldn’t matter but considering the insane ramifications placed on the All-Star game it does play a small factor). But going back to the two huge contracts given out this off-season. It doesn’t make a bunch of sense baseball wise particularly when considering the length of the contracts. The market is the market (as much as I can’t believe these are the lengths these teams had to go to sign these players), but giving out these types of contracts almost guarantees payroll issues down the road. At the very least the teams won’t see on-field production that matches or exceeds the terms of the contracts. Winning the World Series sometime in the next decade would go a long way toward justifying the deals the Tigers and Angels gave out this off-season.