Prince Fielder is the most intriguing story line left this offseason. Part of me thinks that at this point, he’d make the most money playing for Bob’s Chicken Coop in the Wauwatosa beer league.
Top story line 1B: Yoenis Cespedes.
The five-tool Cuban outfielder has no fewer than six dead-serious suitors, the Tigers definitely among them. And he’s done himself no favors by getting off to a slow start in the Dominican League playoffs.
But, boy, did he open some eyes tonight. Cespedes, playing DH for Aguilas Cibaenas, turned a 97-mph fastball into mincemeat, smashing it far over the left-field wall during a 7-1 victory over Gigantes del Cibao (for whom Wilson Betemit went 0-for-2 with a strikeout, for the two people who care).
Cespedes, 26, still is batting just .130 in the playoffs, with just three hits and six strikeouts in 23 at-bats, but that shouldn’t much damper the enthusiasm surrounding his looming free-agency.
He told AP recently that the Cubs were the team most interested in him, but that the Tigers, White Sox, Indians, Orioles and free-spending Marlins are in the mix, too. Keep a close eye on the Marlins, who have a new ballpark and a warm climate to offer Cespedes, and the White Sox, who have a track record of bringing aboard high-price Cuban talent.
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