Prince Fielder career to end with announcement expected Wednesday.

It was reported by Ken Rosenthal first and then team sources following that Prince Fielder will announce the end of his 12 year career Thursday afternoon. He was acquired back in November of 2013 in a trade for Ian Kinsler. It was a trade that was seemingly one that fit needs for both teams. The Rangers needed a power hitting first baseman to add to their lineup after losing Mike Napoli and the Tigers needed to add speed and defense to their lineup. Dave Dombrowski and Jon Daniels were able to work out a straight 1-for-1 trade. This trade freed up some of the Tigers payroll and gave them enough money to extend Miguel Cabrera for what looks like the rest of his career and try to fortify their bullpen. The trade for the Rangers opened up second base for Jurickson Profar to become the starting second baseman in 2014. The Rangers had too many middle infielders, the Tigers wanted Cabrera to play 1st and so it was thought to be a trade that would work out for both teams.

Trades that always look good on paper don’t always stand up to what can happen in real life. On paper it looked like Prince Fielder would come here and use that short porch in right field and reestablish his career as a 30-35 home run or more guy. He would add power to the lineup and protection for Adrian Beltre. It would give some thump to a lineup that in 2013 had really been missing power. In 2013 the Rangers as a team hit 176 home runs. Mitch Moreland at first base hit 23, but only hit for a .232 batting average. The Rangers needed more from first base and they needed someone at DH as well. Jon Daniels looked at his roster and knew he was likely losing Nelson Cruz in free agency and that would be about 30 less home runs. Instead of chasing someone in free agency he traded for Prince Fielder who had a track record of hitting for power and average. It was a controversial move as Ian Kinsler was very well liked in the clubhouse and among the fans. If he had stayed he might have gone down as one of the best 2nd baseman in Texas Rangers history. Jon Daniels as always is willing to take chances. The team had also loved what they saw from Profar in 2013 and were ready to hand him the 2nd base job. Things don’t always play out how you picture them though.

In Spring Training of 2014 everything looked ready to proceed according to the plan that is until Profar’s shoulder came up lame early on in camp. They had him rest and just hit, but it was not getting any better. They eventually had to DL him and he ended up having to sit out the entire 2014 season. His was one of many injuries for that 2014 team. Prince on the other hand came to camp and was just hitting weak singles all through Spring Training. It was thought that he was just trying to peak at the beginning of the season. The weak singles continued on into the season as he was hitting for little to no power in April. The team kept chugging along though and somehow was in first place as April went along.Then in May the bottom dropped out. Martin Perez had to have Tommy John surgery and the injuries just kept piling up. It became too much for this team when after May 16th it was announced that Prince would have season-ending surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck. No one could have predicted that this would happen that both Prince Fielder and Jurickson Profar would miss the entire season. In Profar’s case he would miss both 2014 and 2015. He rested his shoulder the entire offseason before 2015 thinking that would help him be ready for Spring Training and the shoulder would heal. Unfortunately that is not what happened. He would require shoulder surgery and would be out all of 2015. If that had been the end of the story then this trade would be marked as an abject failure and would be looked at as one of Jon Daniel’s worst moves during his tenure.

2015 was a new season for Prince. He came in with a renewed attitude and sense of purpose. He admitted that Mitch Moreland was better than him at 1st and should be starting over him at the position. He said he would be okay with being the DH. He embraced the fact that his power had decreased due to neck surgery and so worked to be able to hit the ball the opposite way. It led to teams not being able to use the shift against him. He was also able to carry the offense the first two months as he was playing at an MVP type level through May. In May alone he hit .377, with 9 home runs, and 28 RBI’s. It was an astounding month that saw the Rangers get back into the division race after being in last place through April. Prince was the sole reason that was happening. He was amazing. He cooled down after that though and played close to career norms the rest of the season. He still only hit for 23 home runs which continued a trend of his power declining. That was to be expected though as he was coming back from neck surgery. It was thought after an offseason of rest he will come back in 2016 and continue to be the player the Rangers thought they were getting.

That is not what happened. Prince came back and has been one of the worst players in MLB. He didn’t have the same bat speed, he could not get around on good fastballs, he was back to hitting weak singles like he was in 2014, and just was not able to contribute to this team in the fashion that they needed him to. Banister continued to write his name in the lineup and gave him days to rest to help him get through the season and maybe rejuvenate his season. Nothing worked though. Finally on July 20th the team placed Prince Fielder on the DL. On July 25th it was revealed he would need neck surgery again to repair a different herniated disc. Now here we are and it is announced that he will be ending his career.

It really is sad anytime a long-time player has to end his career. It is even sadder when his career is taken away from him due to his body breaking down on him. I was never a Prince Fielder fan, but it did seem like the team loved playing with him. He was a good clubhouse guy that just loved playing the game. I loved seeing him with his kids around him as it showed that he is a caring father. I am going to miss seeing that big smile on his face and that majestic swing of his. He had such a powerful that if he ever got into one it was gone. Ranger fans have gone through this before as fan-favorite Rusty Greer saw his career end suddenly when his body couldn’t recover from injury. Greer stayed on the roster in order to collect the rest of his contract. Fielder will do the same thing as he will not officially retire until after 2020. That is when his current contract is due to end.I wish him well on his recovery and hope that he decides to stay around baseball. If the Rangers are going to have to pay him through 2020 they might as well employ him in some fashion. I would not be surprised to see him in Spring Training as an advisor of some sort or a coach. I could see him working for Jon Daniels in some fashion. I just hope they keep him in the organization in some aspect. Prince is still young and bright. This may be the end of his playing career, but his life in baseball is far from over.