MLB Bullets Says "Goodnight, Sweet Prince"

Big Deal. My father and I both ended up with exactly the same number of major league home runs. So I guess you're not so special, Cecil and Prince Fielder.

• The Texas Rangers are holding a press conference today to reportedly announce the end of the career of Prince Fielder. While some have called this Fielder's retirement, technically he won't be cleared by doctors to ever play again after his second spinal surgery.
• As per my introduction paragraph, Fielder will finish his career with 319 career home runs which ties him for 116th on the all-time list with his father Cecil Fielder.
• If you're curious to what happens to with all that money Fielder is still owed, Maury Brown has the details. Yes, Prince is still getting paid.
• Jean-Jacques Taylor believes that the Rangers will miss Fielder in the clubhouse more than anything else. That's good, because they've been missing Fielder on the field for a while now.
• Tracy Ringolsby looks at where the Rangers go from here and why Fielder is a reason the team is in "win-now" mode.
• Jeff Sullivan assesses Fielder's career.
• Speaking of retirements, Joe Posnanski looks at the legacy of Alex Rodriguez's career and notes that all Rodriguez really wanted was love.
• Will Leitch believes that A-Rod's career holds some lessons for Bryce Harper, if he chooses to pay attention.
• Red Sox fans at Fenway chanted "We Want A-Rod" last night. That's something they've never chanted before, not counting a few fans hanging out in a nearby dark alley.
• Jay Jaffe does a quick alternate history of what would have happened if the Alex Rodriguez trade to the Red Sox has gone through?
• Staying on the Red Sox for a moment, the team cancelled a David Ortiz bobblehead giveaway because . . .well, just look at them. Even if you don't think they're "insensitive" like the team said, you've got to admit they're just plain awful.
• Because the media doesn't have enough to talk about, former quarterback Tim Tebow wants to play professional baseball. J.J. Cooper has a look back at the scouting reports of Tebow in high school and the long odds against him ever playing in the majors.
• Gary Sheffield is impressed with Tebow's bat speed.
• Former major league pitcher (and pitching coach) Tom House says that the 29-year-old Tebow has "stupid power."
• Orioles outfielder Adam Jones ridiculed Tebow's announcement. Jones is always the voice of reason.
• Jayson Stark flat-out says Tebow has "no chance" to make the majors.
• Matt Snyder lists five stupid things written about Tebow's baseball announcement. I thank him for not including anything I said.
• Cliff Corcoran lists six players who had careers in both the NFL and MLB. Brian Jordan was a very good player after quitting the NFL. But he was 25, not 29, and more importantly, he didn't go 12 years without playing the game competitively. Jordan played in the minors during the NFL offseason.
• Oklahoma City Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig is taking some heat for some videos he posted on social media of him and the team partying after a game against the Iowa Cubs. What was he supposed to do? He was in Des Moines for the first time in his life! It's the Rio de Janeiro of Central Iowa! If you've got one chance to party with your teammates in Des Moines, you can't pass that up. It's not like he was in Grinnell or Ottumwa. Besides, they shut out Iowa the next day on a one-hitter and Puig homered. #puigyourfriend
• The Dodgers say that they were "disappointed" in Puig and his teammates but that they will handle the matter internally. I'd say that by publicly saying you were "disappointed," you're not handling this internally.
• The Maricopa County board rejected the Diamondbacks request for $65 million in "renovations" to Chase Field, which included a new scoreboard and renovating the luxury suites. One supervisor wrote the team that they could "take your stupid baseball team and get out" and go back to "(expletive deleted) West Virginia." So yeah, I think governments are starting to push back on stadium funding requests. Except in Georgia, of course.
• Former major league pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee said he once smoked pot with future President George W. Bush. I think Dusty Baker and Jimi Hendrix has that beat by quite a bit.
• The Indians may be "de-emphasizing" the use of Chief Wahoo, but John Woodrow Cox writes that the team still makes a lot of money selling his image and that the mascot appears to be going nowhere at the moment. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• Claire McNear thinks that the words of Ichiro Suzuki have much wisdom that we all can learn from.
• In a more serious vein, Eric Nusbaum argues that Ichiro's 3000 hits is an ode to the dignity of hard work.
• Brandon Crawford did something Ichiro never did: he got seven hits in one game on Monday. (And yes, unlike what Rennie Stennett did to the Cubs in 1975, this game went to extra innings) Jeff Sullivan argues that Crawford had one of the greatest single-game performances of all-time.
• The Pirates must be U2 fans, because according to Grant Brisbee, they still haven't found what they're looking for: some urgency.
• Andrew Mearns notes that despite their recent struggles, the Mets still have a good chance at the postseason because of a weak schedule down the stretch.
• Mike Axisa notes that the injury to outfielder Michael Brantley hasn't slowed the first-place Indians down at all.
• Ken Rosenthal says he'll no longer doubt the Dodgers chances this season.
• Will Leitch writes that the Orioles are for real. And all this time, I thought they were a fictional baseball team made up for The Wire.
• It's an ESPN Insider article, but Dan Szymborski projects which "rebuilding/tanking" team will get back to competitiveness first? (Hint for those without insider access: just drive north on I-94)
• And finally, it got overshadowed by Crawford's seven hits, but Buster Posey has mastered the art of the "face-first" slide into third base. Too bad that wasn't what he was trying to do. Honey, you're embarrassing me in front of Buster Posey!

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.