MLB betting: Hot Stove speak on Fielder and Pujols

According to MLB.com “Unquestionably and quite predictably, the two players who have generated the most Hot Stove discussion in these weeks leading up to the Winter Meetings have been Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder.

The markets for two of the game’s most productive players have been soft, and that’s a product of the unsurprising lack of interest shown by the Yankees and Red Sox, who have been known to drive up a price tag or two but are not currently in the market for a first baseman.

Prince could stay with Brewers if he’s willing to give the home team a discount. And the Cubs are the main threat to steal Pujols from St Louis.

So it is that the only known offers to either player are the roughly $200 million over nine years the Cardinals reportedly offered Pujols before Spring Training and a Marlins offer to Pujols that was for the same number of years but reportedly less money.

For Fielder, the Brewers, surprisingly, remain a possibility, only because his other potential suitors — including the Nationals, Marlins and Cubs — haven’t bowled him over just yet, and no other clubs have had their interest, if it exists at all, made public.

Ultimately, Pujols’ loyalty can’t be measured until somebody else steps up with a serious offer, and that’s what makes the Cubs’ sudden participation, calculated as it might be, so intriguing.

The American League makes the most sense for Fielder, because of his body. Entering the land of the designated hitter is not a stated goal for him, but it could be enough enticement to make an AL team outbid the rest.  Fielder’s agent, Scott Boras, is known for dragging out negotiations as long as possible (Werth was an exception to this rule), so it’s quite possible Pujols will be the first domino to fall, setting a comparable contract for Prince.

 Anthony Castrovince, MLB.com Columnist, closed his column saying that at the moment, the market for either player is anything but ripe. The Winter Meetings, though, have a way of speeding up the ripening process.

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