Nats Enquirer

Right now Ted Lerner is probably wearing a tux, sipping a scotch, and smiling, all the while nodding knowingly.

(Photo of Ted Lerner at 2008 Washington Nationals Dream Foundation Gala by and courtesy of @misschatter)

And so, the PF Flyer flew to Dallas on Friday the 13th to begin a "tour" that starts with the Texas Rangers. Shall we call this tour: Scott Boras's Last Stand?

We checked, and indeed, this last-gasp move by Boras is covered in detail in Chaper 14, page 345, of the Scott Boras Negotiations Playbook: When in crisis mode, create the illusion of a market for a player where there is none...

Over the next few days leading up to the Darvish deadline, there will probably be meetings with the Marlins, Blue Jays, Cubs, and Brewers. Not you, Baltimore Orioles - Boras is desperate, but the man still has his pride. Probably another mystery team or two yet to emerge.

And so, Ted Lerner will wait; still not budging from his last, best offer? Hope so. We're guessing 5-7 years, with an opt out in there somewhere, at $23M per year?

(Ahem. Let's not overlook the fact that despite being all hot and bothered about Yoenis Cespedes, Mike Rizzo and the Nationals were conveniently omitted when Cespedes rattled off the six teams in play for his services. Hmm...we'll have to go back and check our copy of the Boras playbook to see if that move is covered there specifically.)

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In other Washington Nationals Hot Stove news: Bryce Harper went grocery shopping

(Oreos: Check. Kix: Check. Eggos: Check. Bryce Harper's grocery cart: Check. Twitpic via @BHarper3407.)

And so, while you're sitting around waiting for the Prince Fielder market to complete its spectacular and final collapse all around Scott Boras, enjoy the photo above of Bryce Harper's grocery cart. Wait: are the Oreos a "Welcome to Washington" gift for Prince Fielder?

Now, about that market for Fielder? Here's Jim Bowden (via Federal Baseball):

There's a 1 percent chance that the Nationals sign Prince Fielder?

(Prince Fielder is a pretty good bowler, too. Screencap via this TWCSports video.)

And so, we couldn't help but re-purpose the opening sentence of Bill Ladson's "Nationals unlikely to sign Prince at current price" report from Wednesday afternoon...

There is a "99 percent" chance that the Nationals will not sign free-agent first baseman Prince Fielder, according to a baseball source.
(via Bill Ladson, MLB.com, 1/11/2012)

...and make our own headline, which reads just as ridiculously as that time in 2008 when we ran with a tip from an anonymous source who told us Dmitri Young was pregnant.

Laying in the weeds?

Former Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen gestures during news conference in Miami, Florida September 28, 2011. The Florida Marlins baseball club announced the signing of Guillen as their new manager for next season when the team moves to a new stadium in downtown Miami and is renamed the Miami Marlins. REUTERS/Hans Deryk (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

 

And so, while you're sitting around waiting for something -- anything! -- on Prince Fielder, Larry Stone of The Seattle Times got us thinking about potential dark horses in the Fielder sweepstakes who could potentially blow away anything Ted Lerner has on the table at the moment. This gave us pause:

In other Washington Nationals Hot Stove news: Stephen Strasburg wants the NHL Winter Classic at Nats Park next year

And so, while you're sitting around waiting for Prince Fielder news and dreaming about Spring (just 41 days until pitchers and catchers report!), enjoy the photo above via @BinkValdellon, as RT'd by @stras37 himself. That's Nats Park on Monday, under the first significant snowfall (read: dusting) of the 2011/2012 Winter in Washington. Stephen Strasburg took the opportunity to jokingly stump for the NHL Winter Classic at Nationals Park next year in a Tweet based on that photo. Good man! Somewhere, Ted Leonsis is smiling:

 

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Look at all these tickets Michael Morse won!

While you're sitting around waiting for Prince Fielder news, enjoy the photo above, moments after Michael Morse apparently went Beast Mode on skee ball or some such game at his local arcade/Dave & Busters-type restaurant? Can the Nats put those tickets towards Prince Fielder? Photo via Michael Morse's Facebook page.

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Raise your hand if you care where Cecil Fielder thinks Prince Fielder will end up

(There's Cecil Fielder on TV in Arizona in September 2011. Screen cap via here.)

Okay, so against a backdrop of a weekend of silence followed by reports of the Rangers considering a late run at Prince Fielder (which we should all simply chalk up to Texas trying to put a jolt of fear into the Yu Darvish camp; it just happens to work well for Scott Boras's negotiation strategy?), Prince Fielder's father Cecil Fielder joined Holden Kushner and Jim Duquette on Sunday on MLB Network Radio. Fielder the Elder weighed in (get it!?) on where his son will land. Listen to the interview here. Here's the highlight for Nationals fans:

Holden Kushner: Next time  you talk to him, will you tell him to come to Washington?
Cecil Fielder: I think that's what's gonna happen, man. That's what's gonna happen. Personally, I think that's gonna happen.

Despite the halcyon days of the father-son McDonalds ad -- considering the history of estrangement between father and son, we're going out on a limb to say Cecil probably knows as much about where his son is going as you or I do.

According to a person who seems to always know stuff and is usually right about it -- Ted Lerner made an offer or two he was comfortable with, and went beyond that, and now the Nats are sitting at "take it or leave it".

We won't be surprised as the Darvish deadline approaches to read about renewed interest from the Brewers, a run by the Blue Jays, and even a batshit crazy offer by the Mariners -- our guess is that Boras will be trying to put a scare into the Lerners by putting lots of stuff out there during ensuing talks in hopes of pushing Ted Lerner further. But again, let's not forget that this is Ted BLEEPING Lerner we're talking about here. Don't underestimate the impact of the Jayson Werth contract negotiations on these negotiations, and how Ted Lerner might still be feeling about getting screwed by Boras and overpaying for Werth (even billionaires have feelings, folks!). We'd be surprised if Lerner budges; we'd also be surprised if some other team beats Ted Lerner's last, best offer. Just guessing here.

Meanwhile, the best Nats blog out there -- Nationals Baseball -- weighed in (get it!?) on Friday with the best pro-Fielder-to-the-Nats piece yet. We're still trying to find even a halfway decent anti-Fielder-to-the-Nats argument.

If the Nats had a marketing department, we'd suggest the following slogan for the 2012 season: Who's on First? (no, we don't mean Wil Nieves!).

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Here's Bryce Harper with Domingo Ayala

While you're sitting around waiting for Prince Fielder news, here's a photo of Bryce Harper with the legend, Domingo Ayala, at the Anaheim Baseball Coaches Association convention on Friday. Photo via Domingo Ayala's Facebook page.

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Video of secret Prince Fielder negotiations between Scott Boras & Ted Lerner

Above, a parody of the secret Prince Fielder negotiations between Scott Boras and Ted Lerner. Sounds about right if you ask us...

Our understanding is that today is/was a very important day -- if Boras really is holding out for the Rangers to make a decision on Yu Darvish (maybe Fielder is on board with this idea because he really likes the idea of no state income tax in Texas?), or for the mystery team to beat the Nats best offer (Blue Jays?) does Lerner get pissed off and pull his offer off the table? Yes, we asked the same question earlier today...but it seems worth repeating.

Jim Bowden's take on the situation on MLB Network Radio Friday afternoon is also worth repeating (via Federal Baseball):

"Here's the problem...The problem is, they are in serious negotiations with Scott Boras, which they can't deny.

...They have made offers, multiple offers to Prince Fielder, which they cannot deny. They know the difference that he would make in that franchise, making them an instant playoff contender. They know that. Ted Lerner, the owner, is 86-years-old, he wants to win, and he'd like to win now and the Lerner family would like to see him win. Here's the biggest problem: Mike Rizzo's prepared to step up and get this thing done, but this is Ted Lerner's baseball team, and they do everything by a vote with a board of directors and the board of directors are mixed."

Dunno, but we "think" (air quotes!) ultimately this will be Ted Lerner's call.

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Watch the Prince Fielder-to-the-Nationals rumors on the news in Taiwan

Call it the Chien-Ming Wang/Michael Morse effect: the Prince Fielder-to-the-Nationals rumors are being covered on TV over in Taiwan; check the video of a report on FTV on Thursday.

If you run the text from FTV.com story through google translate, you're left with something like:

Attempt to recruit people to fight Field upgrade

Wang belongs to the national team once again demonstrated to be the front-line teams ambition, national senior team and famous brokers have been meet Porras, intends to recruit the most current free market batters Felder, if to do so true, investment and fighting a war of national power, will reach its peak. ...
If and when people look at Fielder, coupled with Zimmerman, Michael Morse and Jason Werth, center of a solid line will be very strong, do not forget, people have a strong monster hit Bryce harper waiting in the minor leagues fly...

...which makes as much sense as anything else we've read on Prince and the Nats over the last few weeks. Oh, here's the latest from the mouth of Mike Rizzo, via Amanda Comak of the Washington Times on Thursday:

"We feel that we’re settled at that position. But when I get asked the question: Does Prince Fielder help the club? Of course he helps the club. He’ll help any other club he’s with also. Nothing has changed since we discussed this stuff in the winter meetings. There are a lot of comments that we’re the frontrunners, and I don’t know where that comes from because we haven’t gone beyond where we were at since the winter meetings." (Mike Rizzo, via Washington Times, 1/5/2011)

Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that the Nats made it clear to Boras that they wanted an answer by this afternoon, and Ted Lerner has put his best-and-final offer on the table. Let's say Boras doesn't get back to the Nats today, decides to wait out the Rangers and Darvish. Does Ted Lerner pull his offer off the table?

The good news is, there's only ~45 days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. But who's on first?

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