Just days after Rickie Weeks was brought up, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt reports the Brewers will promote Prince Fielder, son of former Tigers slugger Cecil, later this week.
Brewers general manager Doug Melvin confirmed this afternoon that Fielder, 21, would come up strictly to serve as the DH in three-game series at Tampa Bay and Toronto. Melvin said Fielder then would be returned to Class AAA Nashville.
“We figured the way we™re hitting, we™ll see if he can jump-start the offense a little bit,” said Melvin. “We talked about this a couple of weeks ago.
“We™ve got some guys banged up right now, so we™re a little thin. And with the offense struggling, we™re looking for an offensive boost.”
While the move smacks of desperation somewhat, the Brewers might be catching Fielder (above) at the right time. The powerful first baseman has been on a home run binge of late, socking two more out of the park Sunday in Nashville™s 7-1 victory over Iowa.
Fielder, a first-round draft pick in 2002, was batting .253 with 15 home runs and 47 runs batted in for the Sounds. He had a .507 slugging percentage, with 37 walks and 57 strikeouts.
The Brewers™ options to serve as a DH in the American League parks were limited because of recent injuries to third baseman Jeff Cirillo (sprained wrist) and catcher Damian Miller (strained groin). Slugger Russell Branyan is on the disabled list with a broken finger, eliminating another possible option.
Starting at DH (alongside Weeks and rookie JJ Hardy, still struggling to hit his weight), Fielder is 0 for 3 thus far tonight, as a
I was excited when the Mets signed Mienkiewcitz (close enough?) – because despite the horrid year last year, he’s a career .270 hitter which is fine with me. But I doubt I’m the only Met fan rooting for Prince Fielder right now – because the thought of Lyle Overbay in the home whites/blacks/pinstripes is a great deal more appealing than thoughts of Casey, Helton, or Sweeney in the same.
according to the milwaukee papers, Prince F. is just a temporary call up, so they might not be ready to deal Overbay just yet.
Without knowing how this will turn out, I know I am not the only one who is having trouble getting past Delgado’s snub/signing with the Marlins.