Much like one of Prince Fielder’s towering 400-foot blasts into Miller Park’s opposing bullpen, the Brewers’ face of the franchise and MVP caliber slugger is soon to be lonnnnnng gone from the Midwestern metropolis known as Milwaukee. Bernie doesn’t slide down from his creepily pre-pubescent tree fort to wave his Brew Crew flag in celebration; at this point he is just waving good-bye.

It is another case of a homegrown superstar stolen from a small-market franchise with the allure of greener pastures (And wouldn’t it be awesome if the Yankees actually attracted free agents with a field full of money? It would be so arrogant and literal. RIP George.)

It is a story everyone can feel righteous anger over. There are plenty of bad guys to bash from big-market bullies to Scott Boras — who is up there with Jay Mariotti, Terrell Owens and anyplace that refers to itself as “The U” in Dante’s Ninth Ring of Sports Hell — to Major League Baseball itself. Fans cry “unfair,” hope that Brewers general manager Doug Melvin can salvage a decent pitching prospect or two and wait for football to begin.

At least, that is the groupthink mentality that has pervaded the Milwaukee media this summer. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sports columnist Michael Hunt has stated often it is a matter of when, not if, Fielder gets dealt. Journal Sentinel Brewers beat writer Tom Hardicourt wrote before the trade deadline that Fielder may have been traded in July and will certainly be shopped around to all takers this winter. Sports talk radio (as opposed to the less popular written radio) jumps at each rumor to discuss the pros and cons of a deal that was likely never discussed in the first place.

And perhaps they are right. Hunt and Hardicourt are as close to the situation as any non-Brewers member can be and have Melvin’s ear on a weekly basis.

But from an outsider’s perspective, from the point-of-view of someone who doesn’t have off-the-record conversations with the Brew Crew decision makers, none of the facts add up to the inevitability the Mil-town scribes have been pushing since it became clear the numbers would tip the wrong side of the win-loss column this season. Fielder may be playing a farewell tour this September, but it isn’t because the Brewers can’t afford to keep him.

Fielder’s agent, the insatiable Boras, has repeatedly compared the Brewers first baseman to Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira and his eight year, $180 million deal. And Boras got something right: Fielder and Teixeira compare nearly identically offensively. In the past four seasons, Fielder has posted an average of .284/.396/.559 with an OPS+ of 150. In that same span, Teixeira has gone .292/.390/.545 with a 146 OPS+.

What Boras got wrong, however, is that Fielder’s suitors will be willing to hand out a Teixeira-sized contract. It isn’t that Prince doesn’t deserve to be paid like a king; it’s that the usual suspects with royalty-like coffers aren’t in the market for a first baseman. The Yankees already have Teixeira, and even the team with a small country’s GNP cannot justify $180 million for a designated hitter. The Red Sox are set with Kevin Youkilis at first for a cost-efficient $10 million a year, and besides, Boston general manager Theo Epstein has avoided mammoth deals over five years at every opportunity in his tenure. Philly locked itself into Ryan Howard. The Tigers have Miggy Cabrera. The Angels seem to like Kendry Morales, despite his wild home plate celebrations.

The Cubs are in need of a first baseman, but with new ownership wanting to cut costs and an unthinkable amount of dollars already sunk into Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano, it seems unlikely the North Siders will outbid the market. The Mets could blow away the market for Fielder, but with Jose Reyes in need of a new deal, David Wright and Carlos Beltran nearing the end of their contracts and Johan Santana chewing a significant chunk of a $130 million payroll, it seems a Teixeira-sized deal is out of the question.

So where does that leave Fielder? If the situation plays out without any twists, how about around the arbitrary figure of $100 million over five years?

It isn’t completely unthinkable, and the Brewers have already demonstrated a willingness to lock that much money into one player after CC Sabathia hit the market. And, you know, he only plays once every five days as opposed to a surprisingly durable Fielder, who despite looking like a short offensive lineman has averaged 159 games over a full season in his career.

Of course, the question then becomes, if Fielder is affordable despite the groupthink that has shouted NO for the past three months, can the Brewers justify spending the money on offense when the team desperately needs pitching? In short, yes.

While 2,000 more words could be spent breaking it down, the Brewers fans just need to look to the Padres and Twins, both small market teams in line for playoff berths. Only two members of the Padres superlative rotation this season are home grown. The other three were acquired through trade or free agency. One of the Twins’ top two starters this season, Carl Pavano, was picked off the scrap heap.

It is ideal to bring in starting pitching through the farm system, but it isn’t impossible to find quality arms through other means. If the Brewers lock up Fielder for the next five years, Milwaukee fans can at least have legitimate hope every year with a one-two punch of Fielder and Braun. Find just average starting pitching with Fielder and Braun together, and Brew Crew supporters can experience baseball in October for the second time in a quarter century.

Or we can all just bitch about how the Yankees spending has ruined baseball and buy up Aaron Rodgers jerseys in droves.

Michael is a senior majoring in journalism. Yell at him in group form at [email protected].