The Worst Long-Term Contract of the MLB Offseason

     I like Prince Fielder. He was a key part of my keeper league team last year, and I'm definitly keeping him for a second year this season (unless I'm heavily intoxicated when I submit my keepers and decide to gamble on Eric Hosmer). I'll grant you that Fielder and Miguel Cabrera hitting back to back is terryifying, but the other side of the diamond plus the final five years of the contract are what make Detroit's newest acquisition such a foolish one.
     Fielder was signed for 9 years at $213 million. He's going to be 28 years old this May. That means when he is 37, the Tigers will be paying him $23.5 million. One just has to look at the career track of Ryan Howard, Mo Vaughn, and Jim Thome to see what Detroit will be paying for once Fielder hits his mid-30s.
     Defensivly is where this deal will hurt in the short-term. Unless Cabrera and Fielder get comfortable sharing both first base and the DH spot, Miguel is going to spend a fair amount of time at third base. In Cabrera's last two seasons with Floriday, he committed 40 errors at third. In 14 games there for the Tigers in 2008, Cabrera committed 5 (that would put him on a pace for roughly 50 if he played the whole season there). That was four years ago. It's asking too much to expect Cabrera to be able to handle the hot corner at even a sub-par level. It's more than likely going to be a disaster on the level of former Mets catcher Todd Hundley trying to convert to the outfield about fifteen years ago (anyone else remember that? Those were some great Sportscenter highlights, espeically after they showed Chuck Knoblauch chucking the ball 20 feet over Tino Martinez' head).
     Those previous two paragraphs are the reason I am nominating Prince Fielder as the 2012 winner of "No Credentials Worst Long-Term Contract of the MLB Offseason". He joins Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth as the second winner of this award.