After hearing about the behind-the-scenes dealings involving Prince Fielder, I almost feel like I just watched “Return of the Jedi.”
You remember when the Dark One, Darth Vader, has a bit of good inside his evil heart and does The Force a solid by sacrificing himself to save his son, Luke Skywalker. Well, after hearing that Frank McCourt had been trying to bring Fielder to Los Angeles for the past couple months, I feel a little differently about him.
For those of you who didn’t hear, McCourt had supposedly been communicating regularly with Fielder’s agent, the other Dark One – Scott Boras. No one in the media was mentioning the Dodgers in relation to the Fielder chase.
The Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals and Seattle Mariners were lauded as the top three suitors for Fielder. The Dodgers? Not a chance … or so we were led to believe. However, according to CBS Sports, McCourt was trying to steal Fielder out from under everyone else with a seven-year, $160 million deal.
After hearing this news, now I don’t think that McCourt is as worthless as parenting advice from Lindsay Lohan’s mom or dad. Not only did McCourt try to leave the Dodgers in a better place than when he found them by pursuing Fielder, but he supposedly didn’t want to go 10 years on a contract.
McCourt allegedly wanted to make the contract front-loaded and give the Dodgers an out-clause, in case Fielder’s belt continues to get as big as his bat. That’s mighty nice of you, Frank!
I love the fact that the Dodgers tried to get Fielder. The longer the Fielder drama dragged on, the more I kept thinking, “Why not the Dodgers?” Fielder and Matt Kemp are good friends, and the Dodgers could have used another potent bat in the lineup.
How much fun would it have been to see a lineup this season with Kemp hitting third, Fielder hitting cleanup and Ethier hitting fifth? How would you like being an opposing pitcher facing that part of the order and still try to keep your underwear clean?
It almost causes me to salivate when I picture Fielder ripping line-drive homers over that three-foot-high right field fence in Chavez Ravine. Big Prince could spank a ball over that short fence with one hand tied behind his back.
Well, we all know that Fielder’s in Motown now and not in Los Angeles. However, I am going to remember McCourt with a little less disdain because of his pursuit of Fielder. When I think of McCourt and his gold-digging wife, I won’t focus solely on their selfishness, lying, mismanagement and poor judgment.
Now McCourt will be remembered with a little bit of pink in his black heart, uttering the words, “Prince, I coulda been your father.”
