Prince Fielder

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that Prince Fielder is close to a nine-year (yes, nine) deal with the Detroit Tigers. The American League is getting ridiculous. First Albert Pujols and now Fielder. More to come. UPDATE, 3:01 p.m.: Jon Heyman of CBS is reporting the deal is done and it's for nine years and $214 million. Scott Boras knew what he was doing all along. That's an average of $23.7 million a year. Pujols got 10 years and $254 million.

When the bullpen door swung open, Chris Perez braced himself. After criticizing Cleveland's fans for failing to support the first-place Indians, Perez wasn't sure what to expect when he came in for the ninth inning with another game on the line. As he entered the field, there was only one sound. The roar carried him. "That's the loudest I've ever been cheered here," Perez said after earning his 14th save in Cleveland's 5-3 win over the Detroit Tigers. "It didn't go unnoticed, trust me. I'm humbled.

NEW YORK (AP) — A person familiar with the negotiations says Prince Fielder and the Detroit Tigers are nearing agreement on a nine-year contract worth about $200 million. CBS first reported the terms of the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday because talks are ongoing. The person says ‘‘there are still some things that need to be worked out. " Detroit, coming off an AL championship series loss to Texas, fills a void left by the knee injury to slugger Victor Martinez.

Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera and the rest of the Detroit Tigers are swinging and missing far too often lately. And for the first time all season, a lack of hitting has handed the Tigers a losing record. Fielder and Cabrera combined to go 0 for 8 with four strikeouts, and Detroit had only five hits in a 3-1 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night. "You can look better swinging the bats and still not get any hits. I've seen signs but not many," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

A combination the Tigers hope to see all season: Miguel Cabrera gets on base; Prince Fielder drives him in. The Mets walked Cabrera twice. Fielder drove him in twice, and the Tigers beat New York 7-6 in 10 innings Wednesday. Fielder followed the first walk with a two-run homer and the second walk with a single in a four-run fifth inning. "He hit behind (Ryan) Braun over in Milwaukee so he'll hit behind Cabrera," manager Jim Leyland said of Fielder. "We've got petty good protection behind him in Delmon Young; he knocked in 100 runs the year before last (112 in 2010)

The Detroit Tigers responded to a jarring injury with an audacious move. Free agent first baseman Prince Fielder and the Tigers agreed yesterday to a nine-year, $214 million contract that fills the AL Central champions' need for a power hitter, a person familiar with the deal said. Detroit boldly stepped up in the Fielder sweepstakes after the recent knee injury to star Victor Martinez. A week ago, the Tigers announced the productive designated hitter could miss the entire season after tearing his left ACL during offseason conditioning.

A new era began for the Red Sox today as they opened the 2012 regular season against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. The game pitted Red Sox starter Jon Lester against reigning American League MVP and Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander. The Boston Globe provided live updates from the game here: 4:17 p.m.: The Tigers claimed an Opening Day win when their walk-off run overcame a ninth-inning Red Sox rally. With the bases loaded, Austin Jackson punched a line drive down the left field line to score the winning run. Alfredo Aceves hit Ramon Santiago one batter earlier to load the...

Prince Fielder and David Ortiz will get to pick their teammates for the All-Star Home Run Derby. Major League Baseball announced on Thursday that Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers was chosen as captain of the National League squad and Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox was picked to be the American League captain. The last two derby winners will each pick three teammates for the July 11 slugfest at Chase Field in Phoenix. The leagues will compete against each other in this year’s event.

Randy Wolf pitched eight sharp innings and the Milwaukee Brewers jumped on Jake Westbrook early to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 Wednesday night, giving the NL Central leaders their 13th win in 14 games. Prince Fielder had a sacrifice fly in the first inning and an RBI double in the third to help the Brewers open a five-game cushion on the second-place Cardinals. Milwaukee clinched only its fifth road series win of the season and will try for a sweep Thursday night. The Brewers have taken four of five from St. Louis this month.

Albert Pujols had one of the biggest postseason nights of his career in Game 2 of the NL championship series, going 4 for 5 with a home run, three doubles and five RBIs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 12-3 on Monday. Pujols belted a two-run homer in the first, a two-run double in the third and an RBI double in the fifth, then added another double in the seventh. The crowd cheered sarcastically when the Brewers finally retired him in the eighth. His big hits came one night after Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder bashed the...

Justin Verlander won his 12th straight decision on the road, Prince Fielder homered and the Detroit Tigers raced to an early lead before holding on for a 6-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Verlander wasn't his sharpest, giving up three runs and seven hits. But Verlander retired nine of his final 10 batters, struck out six and went at least six innings for the 49th straight start. Andy Dirks had a single, double and drove in three runs in his first two at-bats, helping give Verlander (3-1)

Alex Rodriguez made the biggest play of the night with a simple wave of his hand. Rodriguez homered and drove in two runs, but didn't have to lift his bat with one out in the ninth when Derek Jeter scored on a passed ball as the New York Yankees rallied to hand the Tigers their fifth straight loss, 7-6 on Friday, hours after Detroit left fielder Delmon Young was arraigned on a hate crime harassment charge. A-Rod frantically waved for Jeter to break from third after the ball glanced off catcher Alex Avila's glove.

Yu Darvish pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning and Mike Napoli homered for the fourth straight game, leading the Texas Rangers to a 10-3 rout of the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night for their seventh consecutive victory. The Rangers beat the Tigers in six games in last year's AL championship series, winning the clincher 15-5. This one wasn't much closer, with Texas scoring five runs in the eighth and finishing with 19 hits. Detroit (9-4) has the American League's second-best record behind the Rangers (11-2)

Manager Ned Yost was second guessing himself after the Kansas City Royals' 4-3 loss Wednesday night to the Detroit Tigers. The Royals have lost seven straight, including their first six games at Kauffman Stadium, the most consecutive home losses in franchise history to start a season. The Royals lost their first five at home in 1993. Prince Fielder drove in the go-ahead run with two out in the seventh with a single off left-handed reliever Jose Mijares. After Gerald Laird scored and Miguel Cabrera advanced to second on a wild pitch, Yost opted to pitch...

Prince Fielder drove in two runs, Max Scherzer got his first win of the season and the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Wednesday night. The Royals have lost seven straight, including their first six games at Kauffman Stadium, the most consecutive home losses in franchise history to start a season. The Royals lost their first five at home in 1993. Scherzer (1-1), who had given up 10 runs on 13 hits and three walks in 8 2-3 innings in his first two starts, held the Royals to three runs on seven hits and one walk in six-plus innings.

Mat Gamel may never hit home runs the way Prince Fielder does, but he showed he can score from first base a lot faster. Gamel, who replaced Fielder at first for Milwaukee this year, scored the winning run on a close play at home on a double by pinch-hitter George Kottaras with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Brewers to a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. "I knew it was going to be close," Gamel said. "I figured I could get around (catcher A.J. Ellis)

Pablo Sandoval homered and doubled during San Francisco's eight-run third inning, and the Giants beat the Milwaukee Brewers 13-3 in a split-squad game on Saturday. Sandoval led off the third with a double. He added his first spring homer later in the inning, a long drive over the fence in right. San Francisco's big inning made it 10-0. Giants prospect Tommy Joseph hit two home runs, and Barry Zito pitched three scoreless innings. The embattled left-hander allowed one hit and hit a batter.

DETROIT - He had probably been extended to his limit. Fifty-one pitches over four innings of scoreless relief represented more than yeoman's work for Vicente Padilla. The long relief - or, better yet, the looooong relief - Padilla provided Boston's beleaguered bullpen proved downright heroic, if not overlooked, after Sunday's gut-wrenching 13-12 loss in 11 innings to the Tigers, who swept the Sox in the season-opening series at Comerica Park. "I'm glad somebody noticed it," said catcher Kelly Shoppach, "because he went out there and really extended himself for us. " The 34-year-old journeyman...

DETROIT - He had probably been extended to his limit. Fifty-one pitches over four innings of scoreless relief represented more than yeoman's work for Vicente Padilla. The long relief - or, better yet, the looooong relief - Padilla provided Boston's beleaguered bullpen proved downright heroic, if not overlooked, after Sunday's gut-wrenching 13-12 loss in 11 innings to the Tigers, who swept the Sox in the season-opening series at Comerica Park. "I'm glad somebody noticed it," said catcher Kelly Shoppach, "because he went out there and really extended himself...