Well, it's official. What most of us thought all along has come true...Prince Fielder has signed with someone esle. I know a lot of Mariners fans that were holding on to hope that Prince would join King Felix in Seattle, but to be honest if the Mariners were in the mix, they would have offered him a long time ago. Today Prince signs in Detroit for 9 years and 214 million dollars. While I think this is a good signing for Detroit, I just don't think it would have worked in Seattle for that price.

The Tigers add Fielder to a team that was two games away from the World Series last year. Fielder and Miguel Cabrerra now make up one of the best offensive duo's in the game. Add to it, next year Victor Martinez will return from knee surgery and that's a heck of a 3,4,5 of a lineup. The Tigers have World Series caliber pitching as well.

I've said it before, if you win a World Series it is worth an estimated 200 million dollars in merchandise alone. So the contract will pay for itself with a title. The deal is great for the Tigers because they already have the pieces around Prince.

The Mariners don't have those pieces. So it would have been a much bigger risk for the Mariners. With Seattle it might have really handcuffed what they can do. I've said many times that with the contract Ichiro has accounting for so much of the M's budget it has limited what Seattle could do. Prince would have done the same thing if Seattle was unwilling to open the budget beyond Prince. If Seattle was serious about winning they could have brought in Prince, but would have had to be willing to get more help. I just don't see that. Therefore, as much as I would have liked to see him in Seattle, it just wouldn't work. Not because he's not great, but because the Mariners are being run like a hobby, not a business. In a hobby you have as much fun as you can without losing too much money. In business you have to be willing to give some to make some. Seattle isn't willing to do that, and hasn't been for a while now. If Seattle would open the pocket books and go for a title knowing that if they did win, they would be paid back, then this move would make more sense.

Instead Seattle will more than likely go to camp without adding anything else. Jesus Montero who has less than 100 career at bats in the Major Leagues will be the guy counted on to carry the offense. And they will surround him with guys like Dustin Akley (half season experience), and Mike Carp (one good half-season of Major League Baseball production).

Welcome to another great year Mariner's fans. Don't forget to come out to Safeco and enjoy the Ichi-meter, and the rally fries. Just please don't pay attention to that crap on the field. Hey, at least we have the hydro races on the big screen.