Fielder and Braun agree, free agency chatter silenced by success
From July 26 to August 28, the Brewers put together a sparkling 27-6 record. They held a 10.5-game lead in a tough NL Central Division and looked virtually incapable of ever slowing down.
Now, though, having lost nine of their last 15 games and with their division lead shrinking, the club sits firmly in the crosshairs of baseball’s media.
With the conveniently-timed news of Prince Fielder’s recent comments to TBS about his future in Milwaukee, that media attention surrounding the club has increased exponentially.
Fielder is well aware that the free agency spotlight diminishes when the team is winning, and that when they’re sliding, the opposite is true. Inevitably, however, he’ll always attract at least some attention given his MVP-caliber season.
“Definitely, with us winning, those [free agency] questions seem to disappear,” Fielder told The Good Point. “You couldn’t ask for anything better, especially us being a winning team and me having a great year helping my team. I couldn’t ask for anything more, besides the fact that the free agency stuff is left alone.”
The sad part is that Fielder’s free agency has been the most talked about topic concerning the Brewers for over a year now, and it’s rarely, if ever, left alone.
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Fielder’s teammates understand the process, including fellow franchise cornerstone Ryan Braun, who has played with Fielder his entire career in Milwaukee.
“I know that he likes it here, I know that he’s enjoyed his time in Milwaukee,” Braun said. “I know that he would love to stay, but then again it’s a business, so he’s got to do what makes the most sense for him.”
“But winning this year is only going to help; the more money we’re able to generate, the more revenue we have, the better chance we have to keep him so, we’ll see.”
Dating back to last year, it’s been a foregone conclusion that Fielder’s time in Milwaukee had been nearing its end. Despite all of the trade rumors, though, the Brewers decided to hang on to him in 2012 for a postseason push; an intriguing finale to Fielder’s tenure as a Brewer.
Fielder’s status with the team could easily have been a distraction to a club who has had their sights on winning their first division title in 30 years, but Braun understands that things would have been significantly different had they been a losing club this year.
“Number one, I think the biggest reason why it hasn’t been a distraction is because we’re winning. If you’re a great player on a team that’s losing and you’re an impending free agent, you’re going to have to answer questions about that far more often. But when you’re a great player on a really good team that’s going to the postseason, the focus is on the team.”
While Fielder and his contract status could be labeled as distractions to his team, he has had to deal with enough personal distractions himself. Amid the plethora of questions he gets asked on a daily basis about free agency, the slugging first-baseman’s accomplishments on the field have been largely downplayed.
In 150 games for the Brewers this season, Fielder has managed a .294 average and .407 on-base percentage, and those figures are the second-highest of his career. Add in 33 doubles, 32 home runs and 109 RBIs to the fact that Fielder is on the cusp of his third-consecutive season of 100 walks, and it’s no surprise that he is right in the thick of the NL MVP chatter.
To Fielder, individual achievements might be nice, but he’s firmly focused on simply helping his team win.
“That would be wonderful,” Fielder said about winning the NL MVP, “But right now, I’m just trying to help my team win, trying to do anything I can.”
Thanks to Fielder, Braun and every other member of the Brewers, the Crew are close to playing postseason baseball for the second time in four seasons.
When the Brewers won the Wild Card in 2008, it was their acquisition of CC Sabathia at the trade deadline that helped them get there. This time around, Fielder says things are quite different.
“This year I think we have more overall talent, I think the team overall is a lot better, the pitching staff is a lot better,” Fielder said. “The pitching staff in ’08 was good, but CC was pitching every other day it felt like, throwing 120 pitches. Now we don’t have to do anything like that.”
Whether the Brewers go deep in the postseason and their revamped starting rotation gets them there remains to be seen.
Just like Fielder’s future in Milwaukee.
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