The Tigers have signed 27-year old lefty swinging 1B Prince Fielder to a 9-year, $214 million dollar deal. Fielder played in 162 games for the Brewers last year and he was 170 for 569 (.299 avg, .981 OPS) with 95 runs scored, 38 homers, 120 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 998 games in his first 7 years in the majors and he is 996 for 3,527 (.282 avg, .929 OPS) with 571 runs scored, 230 homers, 656 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Fielder has won 2 Silver Slugger Awards and he has been to the All-Star Team 3 times in his career so far. In the last six years, Fielder is averaging 94.8 runs scored, 38.0 homers and 107.7 RBIs per season. Fielder will be the starting 1B with Miguel Cabrera shifting to 3B or LF or RF for 2012. This was an epic signing for the Tigers as Fielder returns to the city where his father (Cecil Fielder) excelled. Imagine what kind of numbers Miguel Cabrera is going to put up with Fielder hitting behind him!

The Tigers have lost 33-year old switch-hitting DH/C/1B Victor Martinez for the entire 2012 season due to a torn ACL. He was injured during winter conditioning. Martinez played in 145 games for the Tigers last year and he was 178 of 540 (.330 avg, .850 OPS) with 76 runs scored, 12 homers, 103 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 1,149 games in his first 10 years in the majors and he is 1,298 of 4,279 (.303 avg, .840 OPS) with 585 runs scored, 143 homers, 741 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. One had to think that this was a big loss for the Tigers, until they signed Prince Fielder today.