DETROIT -- Why didn't things work out for Prince Fielder in Detroit?
Was it the dimensions of Comerica Park, which is a Death Valley for left-handed sluggers who aren't pull-happy.?
Was it the divorce proceedings that began near the start of his second and final season with the Tigers?
Was it trying to live up to his father's accomplishments in Detroit?
Was it wearing down from never missing a game?
Or was it simply having a $214 million contract over nine years that was becoming a burden to the club?
I believe it was a little bit of each of those things.
Mostly, though, it was Comerica and having a contract that demanded he be great, while he was only as pretty good.
The area around the scoreboard in right-center is the only place where the ballpark doesn't come close to playing fair. It used to be that way in left field, too, until the fences were moved in and the bullpens placed where the warning track and outfield grass once were.
Miguel Cabrera wouldn't have won a Triple Crown if that hadn't been done.
Fielder hit his share of majestic shots to that area in right-center. He'd launch balls, admire them for an instant and then realize there was no chance of the ball going out.
He'd turn it into high gear, hold down his helmet with his right hand while turning the corner at first, then pull up in disgust as an outfielder caught it.
I'd try to get Fielder to talk about his frustrations with that happening so often. He'd acknowledge it was tough, but not alibi about it.
But you could see it in his eyes -- he felt conquered by it at times.
Now he's going to a homer haven, the Ballpark in Arlington, where he just might hit 50 home runs again and finally provide the Rangers with a viable replacement for Josh Hamilton in the middle of the batting order.
Fielder, a two-time All-Star Game Home Run Derby champion, also won the National League homer title with 50 for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007. He hit 46 two years later.
His 30 homers in 2012 and and 25 in 2013, however, were disappointments for the Tigers.
He drove in 108 and 106 runs and made two All-Star teams for Detroit, so this wasn't a matter of failing. It was a matter of falling short of expectations -- just like those shots to right-center.
Still, there will always be a piece of Cabrera's Triple Crown that goes to him for forcing pitchers to throw to the two-time MVP.
Fielder filed for divorce in Florida in May, and I think that brought about a brief funk. But once teammate and good friend Torii Hunter let the cat out of the bag in hopes of defending Fielder, it seemed to take the pressure off and he returned to being productive.
Cecil Fielder -- who brought Prince to Tiger Stadium as a young boy and watched him hit homers there as a 12-year-old -- won home-run in 1990 (51) and 1991 (44). He finished runner-up for the MVP award both seasons.
That's a lot to live up to, and nobody wanted Prince to do what his father did more than Tigers owner Mike Ilitch. But I don't think that pressure was a major factor in his power decline.
(As a side note, the fact that Cecil and Prince were working on their differences at the end of the season was heart-warming.)
Prince followed his father's advice in never taking a game off, and hasn't missed one since 2010. The wear and tear might have cost him some but not a lot. He's only 29 and never seemed to be dragging.
All of that money, on the other hand, did bring him down.
The fans booed Prince during the ALCS, when he hit .182 against the Boston Red Sox.
Fielder batted .071 in the 2012 World Series and hasn't hit a postseason homer since the 2012 ALDS. He had just one RBI in his last four playoff series.
In pointing to why the title dreams died, it was easy to blame Fielder.
The reason he was booed is because heroics are expected of players making $23 million a year. It wasn't fair for a player giving his all, but that goes with the territory for superstars.
After losing to the Red Sox, Fielder was asked about the bitter ending.
"It's not really tough, man. It's over," Fielder said after the deciding Game 6. "I got kids I got to take care of. I got things I got to take care of. It's over."
That didn't go over well with fans, who felt he was flip about it. He was just being realistic, though, and coping in his own way.
I can't complain about the way Prince treated me in the clubhouse. We got along great, but he rubbed most of the reporters in town the wrong way by either declining to talk too often or seldom saying much of anything.
He's a good guy with a big heart, but really needs to show it to more people in Texas.
He's now a Ranger because the Tigers couldn't afford to pay him $168 million over the next seven years for just being pretty good.
Detroit will, according to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, pay $30 million of that money due him to Texas, but will save $76 million by trading him for second baseman Ian Kinsler.
Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski can now use some of that payroll money to hopefully keep Max Scherzer long term.
Economics and a ballpark better suited for pitchers are the reasons Prince Fielder is headed to Arlington.
