MY PRINCE REACTION

Whilst I would agree that trading Prince anytime in the next 80 games would be madness, after that all bets are off.

Prince will be arbitration-eligible after this season, this means 2 things :

1) He will start becoming expensive ($5-10m for 2009, depending on his 2008 numbers)

2) The countdown to his final day as a Brewer (October 2011) will have begun.

By September 2009 at the latest, Mat Gamel and Matt LaPorta will almost certainly be ready to hit in the big leagues. LaPorta will probably hold down a corner outfield spot, with Hart or maybe Braun moving to CF. Gamel continues to struggle defensively at 3B. The traditional solution for this would be to move him to first. If this happens, Prince becomes expendable in the same way that Lyle Overbay was in 2005. Trading Prince then becomes the best oppourtunity for the Brewers to improve themselves since they sent Richie Sexson to the Diamondbacks. Witness what the Marlins got from Detroit for Miguel Cabrera, who they hardly even seem to miss.

There is no way Prince will find himself in a Jersey other then the Brewers this season.  If they trade him, they get a rookie firstbaseman who is playing third in the minors as his replacement.  to me, that is not an upgrade at all and would impact the teams chances of making any type of playoff run.  However, I feel like he will most likely be gone before spring training of next year.  I am a huge Prince Fielder fan and love what the kid brings to the ball park in his abilities, energy, and leadership roles.  Arbitration will bring his salary to the 5-10 million mark which leads me to believe they will trade him away and try and get a quality number 2 pitcher in return for the trade.  I am not referring to a Jeff Suppan Type of number 2, but someone who is actually good.  That would allow the Brewers to bring up Gamel to play third because Bill Hall SUCKS, and Laporta can move to 1st and Tony Gwynn Jr. could move to center while braun and Hart stay in their respective positions where they have played well all year.  My only problem with that scenario is that it would leave the young brew crew as an even YOUNGER brew crew.  I also think if they where to trade away Fielder they would have more wiggle room to offer Sheetsie some more money and possibly(i use this lightly) re-sign him for a 3-5 year contract.  Sheets is my favorite player in baseball so if we have to give up a young kid with .280/50hr capability I will not be upset.  But if the brewers lose both Fielder and Sheets in the offseason I will be very disappointed.  Everyone needs to just keep routing for the brewers because if they make the playoffs this year and win a series, the Brewers will have to add payroll and try to improve the team, otherwise it would be a PR nightmare in Milwaukee.

Just one mans opinion

I don't see the fans urgency to trade Fielder, do they not realize that he is not elgible for free agency for a few years yet.  I also don't want to see Sheets traded, the only scenario you trade Sheets is if you fall out of playoff contention before the trade deadline.  I believe in trying to win now, Fielder and Sheets are part of this.  I would rather make the playoffs and lose in teh first round than trade Sheets for prospects.  Fielder is a key player on this team, he started slow but is producing quality numbers.  I simply don't understand fans wanting to get rid of him and just because Laporta and Gamel are tearing it up in AA ball, what guarantee does that have that they will do the same in the majors when the quality of pitching dramatically increases.  I would like to see Prince in  Brewer unifrom until he turns 30, at that time he may be ready to be a full time DH in the A.L.

The Brewers have always sold there top players in the past for prospects, its time the team takes the opposite approach and retains some of their current stars and maybe acquire a few for the pennant race.  I would rather try to make the playoffs and lose one of our top guys in free agency