Prince Fielder, the Texas Rangers DH/1st baseman, is not retiring. Not by choice anyway. He is being told by doctors he will not be medically cleared to ever play again. The term is “medically disabled”. This means that he will still receive his full paychecks owed by both the Texas Rangers and the Tigers.
He would be due the full remaining salary on his contract, that is $104 million. According to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, the Tigers would owe him $24 million, the Rangers would have to pay him $44 million, and insurance would cover $36 million.
Prince Fielder never was the player that the Texas Rangers hoped he would be when they traded second baseman Ian Kinsler for him. Kinsler has played in a lot more games, but if Kinsler would have stayed we wouldn’t have Jurickson Profar or Rougned Odor on the Rangers. Even though the trade was a bust, the Rangers still came out alright overall in my opinion.
It would have been a lot of fun to see Prince Fielder with that short right field porch fully healthy for five or six seasons, but all sources are pointing to Fielder never playing in the major leagues again. He has to do what is right for him and his family before anything.
This will be a tough one to swallow financially, and now the Rangers need to find another DH, but two neck fusions in three years probably should send a message to a guy. Jon Daniels thought he was doing the right thing when he brought him to Texas. No one knew that he was going to have these problems. No one knew he would be done at 32. No one knew how Kinsler would do in Detroit. The Rangers have a lot more winning to do, and it will have to be without Prince Fielder from now on.
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