The Detroit Tigers stunned the baseball world today when they signed Prince Fielder. Obviously, this affects them very much with one of the top hitters in the game now in their everyday lineup, but how does it affect the rest of their roster?
Victor Martinez, their DH of last season, will miss this entire season with a torn ACL. He will be back in 2013, however. So that will mean that Miguel Cabrera, likely to DH this year with Fielder at first, will have to see some changes.
Some speculate that Cabrera will have to move to third base, his old position, or the outfield. I do not see how Cabrera will be able to play the outfield in a year or so so it should be interesting how this works.
One thing that is interesting is the fact that as he gets older, Fielder can DH, something he would not be able to do if he signed with the Washington Nationals, an NL team.
Once Martinez is back, this creates one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball with Fielder just another cog in there. They emerged as a surprised team late in these negotiations, but they just won one of the best hitters in the game. This affects them in only positive ways, but it also affects the rest of their lineup.