It was supposed to be the Washington Nationals or Texas Rangers introducing free-agent slugger Prince Fielder. Drafting behind those frontrunners in the chase for Fielder, Baltimore, Seattle and Miami were supposedly lying in wait.
But Detroit?
They were never in the picture. Nevertheless, it will be a Tigers jersey that Fielder will be pictured in for the next nine seasons.
Not long after Detroit lost designated hitter Victor Martinez for the 2012 season due to a torn knee ligament, the Tigers swooped in and shocked the baseball world by handing Fielder a nine-year deal.
Like father, like son.
Cecil Fielder, Prince's father who crushed 245 homers in six seasons with the Tigers, was just as shocked as everyone else to see his son follow in his footsteps. Cecil signed his own lucrative free-agent pact with the Tigers in 1990.
"That just shocked me. I just landed in New York and I got that call -- that's crazy! He's going to come full circle," he said in an interview with MLB Radio on SiriusXM. "You know, he's been there in Detroit most of his young life, so I think he'll be comfortable in that place."
Cecil played for Detroit from 1990 to 1996, making three All-Star games and earning two Silver Slugger Awards. But as Prince started to grow as a rising baseball star, the father and son relationship became more contentious and eventually the two were estranged.
Back in 2006, Prince told George Dohrmann of Sport Illustrated that he isn't very close with Cecil and that they are very different, and reports say the relationship had been rocky for years. In an interview with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap in 2007, Cecil said the split occurred due to his messy divorce with Prince's mother. Some have speculated that Cecil's publicized gambling problems had something to do with the father-son feud.
Prince hasn't shed any light on their relationship, but following the news of the blockbuster deal, plenty of reporters wanted to hear Cecil's reaction. In the interview with Sirius XM, Cecil said that the two have had a few chats and are doing a lot better than they were.
Talking to ESPN, Cecil said he spoke to his son before Christmas and that he didn't know Detroit was even in the picture. But he mostly talked to ESPN about how he doesn't understand why he's getting a lot of attention.
"This is Prince's deal, he's the one who did this. It ain't me," he said. "Today is Prince's day and I'm going to let him enjoy his day. I hope I don't have to do another interview."