Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols?

Both Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols are spectacular players. There is no debate over who has had the better career (Albert Pujols), however, which player would you rather have your team sign.

Albert Pujols, the former St. Louis Cardinal, is arguably a top-ten player ever even at the age of 31. Prince Fielder is no where near that level. Even so, I would rather have Prince Fielder on my favorite team than Albert Pujols.

Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols were about even at the plate last year. In 162 games, Prince hit .299 with a .415 OBP and 38 homers.  His oWAR (offense wins above replacement) was 5.9. In 147 games, Pujols hit 37 homers with a .366 OBP and .299 average. His oWAR was 4.5. Last year, Fielder and Pujols were relatively similar.

Defensively, Pujols has a huge advantage. He is one of the best defensive first basemen in baseball. The two-time Gold Glove winner had a dWAR of .9 last year. Therefore, Pujols combined WAR was 5.4. Prince on the other hand, had a dWAR of -.7, and has never had a positive dWAR. His combined WAR for last year was 5.2. Therefore, Pujols and Fielder were nearly identical in performance last year.

Yes, Pujols has the edge in legacy and consistency. He has hit 40 homers six times in his career. He is a career .328 hitter as well. However, when teams pay for a hitter, they have to pay for future performance, not past performance. The St. Louis Cardinals enjoyed having Pujols, the best player in baseball, but they knew his performance would fall off over the next four years. The Anaheim Angels signed Pujols to a 10 year $254 million contract. Pujols will be 42 at the end of his contract. Pujols will be fine for the next five years, but it is silly to tie up this much money into a hitter in the second half of his career. The New York Yankees made the same mistake with Alex Rodrigeuz. A-Rod began breaking down around age 33. In 2011, at the age of 35, he only played 99 games. The worst part: he is signed until 2017.

Prince Fielder is only 27 years old. He almost certainly will not receive a contract offer of over 7-8 years. If a team signs him to an 8 year deal, he will be around 35 by the end of it. No matter what you are receiving 3-4 of Prince's best years.

Teams need to stop giving out mega-contracts to players over 30. Whichever team gets Fielder will be in a better position than the Angels.