The Fresh Prince of Gruyere, Plus... A FanGraphs 'Big Bigs' Redux

Unfazed by super agent/players' salary Robo Cop Scott Boras, the Detroit Tigers put the cheese on the table for Prince Fielder to the tune of 9 years and $214 million.

And cut goes the cheese.

Following the loss of Victor Martinez to an ACL injury for the 2012 season, Fielder's offense will fill in more than ably for the division-winning Tigers. Miguel Cabrera is also in line for some unprecedented lineup protection, as if an OPS over 1.000 wasn't high enough.

The only question that remains is: was it worth it?




Fielder's contract is not far from Albert Pujols territory, as he signed a 10 year, $240 million contract with the L.A. Angels. It should be noted, however, that Pujols is 32, and Fielder is 27, but does a fit 32 equal a rotund 27?

Returning to the groundbreaking analysis of my All Big Bigs Team, I compared noted with a recent Fangraphs article that looked at the contributions of players above and below a certain "body type" as they age. (They didn't call it a Rotundity Ratio™, but we can't all be legendary journalists.)

The results clearly show that the decline in production is precipitous as heavier players age (the full article explains how the chart was made). I would argue, however, that the analysis is incomplete.

Every pudgy player needs to be judged according to his own merits.

• For starters, we have to acknowledge that Fielder is remarkably durable for his size. He has never missed more than 5 games in a year over the last 6 years, and that's despite playing (poorly) in the field. 
• As a DH (which you have to assume he'll play), his career can be extended even longer, removing him from the rigors of Richter registering belly-flops for line drives down the first base line. Interestingly enough, Fielder is so bad in the field that his Wins Above Replacement (WAR) increases if he doesn't play first base at all, making him more valuable.
• The easy comparison for big DH's is David Ortiz. Ortiz, despite showing more fragility at a younger age than Fielder, is still the best DH in the game at age 35. Fielder will be 36 when his contract expires. Moreover, Fielder has already shown he can hit at Ortiz's level early in his career.

If there is a reason to condemn this signing as a waste of money, it should be on the philosophical grounds that there's no way a guy who only plays half of the game of baseball is worth that much money. I think that much we can all agree on.

And as for all you "weightists" out there, like the FanGraphs people: let the Big Bigs be.