Monster free agent signing in the MLB yesterday. Prince Fielder joined Miguel Cabrera and the reigning AL Cy Young and MVP Justin Verlander in Detroit. I thought two things when I saw this signing. First, was HOLY SHIT. This was simply due to Fielders NINE year $214 million dollar contract. I can’t believe the Tigers agreed to such a long contract with a 27 year old guy like Prince.
Second thing I thought of (and the point of this article) was that this has created one of the best 3-4 batters in a lineup in a while. Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder have a chance to do something real special over in Detroit. I immediately thought of Manny-Big Papi for the Red Sox in 2004 and 2005. They were the best in business (maybe steroids had a bit to do with it) and they were a force for years. More importantly, they were consistent and incredibly clutch, clutch enough to break an 86 year old curse.
Here is the 2004 and 2005 seasons in stats for Manny and Ortiz and Feilder and Miguel Cabrera’s individual stats for last year:
| GP | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | |||||
| Manny | 2004 | BOS | 152 | 568 | 108 | 175 | 44 | 0 | 43 | 130 | 82 | 124 | 2 | 4 | 0.308 | 0.397 | ||
| Ortiz | 2004 | BOS | 150 | 582 | 94 | 175 | 47 | 3 | 41 | 139 | 75 | 133 | 0 | 0 | 0.301 | 0.38 | ||
| GP | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | |||||
| Manny | 2005 | BOS | 152 | 554 | 112 | 162 | 30 | 1 | 45 | 144 | 80 | 119 | 1 | 0 | 0.292 | 0.388 | ||
| Ortiz | 2005 | BOS | 159 | 601 | 119 | 180 | 40 | 1 | 47 | 148 | 102 | 124 | 1 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.397 | ||
| GP | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | |||||
| Cabrera | 2011 | DET | 161 | 572 | 111 | 197 | 48 | 0 | 30 | 105 | 108 | 89 | 2 | 1 | 0.344 | 0.448 | ||
| Fielder | 2011 | MIL | 162 | 569 | 95 | 170 | 36 | 1 | 38 | 120 | 107 | 106 | 1 | 1 | 0.299 | 0.415 |
Before anyone gets on my case, I understand Prince just came from a pretty good 3-4 punch on the Brewers with Ryan Braun, but Miguel has never batted around the type of talent Prince has, thus inflating his stats in future years (and no Victor Martinez, who batted behind Cabrera last year, does not count). Braun has had the protection of Prince for 5 years and I like to think this has influenced his stats a great deal. Don’t get me wrong, he is a great player, but I like Miguel Cabrera as a hitter more than steroid boy Braun.
After throwing up this comparison, in some ways I feel stupid. The numbers from Ortiz and Manny are jaw dropping. That’s all that can be said. Granted they may have had some help from a few friendly needles up their ass, but those numbers are rediculous. I think Cabrera will have an incredible year this year and Fielder might even have a better year in hitter friendly Comerica Park, but who knows if they can touch Manny and Papi’s numbers. The big factor will be whether they can win a couple World Series rings together, like the former two led the Sox to do.
Boston Sports Blog 
Ortiz? Steroids? Nope.
Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder will be interesting to watch.
I (along with the rest of Red Sox Nation) really hope he didn’t, but you have to be realistic on this one and it is hard to argue he didn’t toosoxy.. Nearly every big hitter in the league was juicing then and Ortiz is a guy who basically came out of nowhere from the Twins. He started putting on some serious weight and jacking the ball out of every ballpark and its very clear to everyone his partner in crime Manny was roiding up so its hard to think he wasn’t.
I can completely argue that he didn’t. He has spoken out against steroid use in baseball- and even admitted (without an accusation) that he had drank a questionable energy drink. That’s when they weren’t even testing. No one made him do that- and that was just an energy drink and his preemptive action. Plus the whole presumption of innocence thing. Therefore, I presume innocence. Manny was also complaining every five seconds and faking injuries- neither things Ortiz participated in…