"My new contract is THIS big". Take a good look at the new clean-up hitter, Tigers fans. Welcome home, Prince! (Photo/Jonathan Daniel)

The term ‘earthquake’, doesn’t give this news justice.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Tigers jumped into the Prince Fielder sweepstakes, and came away with the jackpot. Just last week, Detroit General Manager, Dave Dombrowski, said that Fielder and the Motor City “isn’t a good fit”. By 3:00pm EST today, that was all but forgotten about.

The Tigers boldly went where no other team was willing to go. Owner Mike Ilitch, Dombrowski and the Tigers reeled themselves in another slugger, reportedly agreeing to a nine-year, $214 million deal with Fielder.

Props to Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports, who originally broke the story via his twitter account. Also, props to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, who confirmed the deal, via his twitter account.

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Detroit joined the pursuit of Fielder in a hurry, it seems. Once news broke about the season-ending ACL injury to Victor Martinez, the Tigers immediately turned their eye to the free agent market in hopes for finding a replacement. This right here, is more than just a replacement.

“Everyone knew Mr. Ilitch and Mr. Dombrowski were going to make a move when Victor went down,” outfielder Brennan Boesch said in an interview. “But I don’t think anybody thought it would be this big.”

Fielder, 27, hit .299 with 38 home runs and 120 RBIs in the 2011 season with the Milwaukee Brewers. After six full seasons in the big leagues, Fielder has a career .282 batting average and .930 OPS, to go with his 230 home runs. His .299 batting average in 2011 was a career best, but marked his top notch in homers in 2007, with 50, and RBIs in 2009, with 141.

Cecil and Prince Fielder.

As a child, Prince spent plenty of time around the Tigers organization, following his father during batting practice and in the club house. Some fans may even remember seeing him taking batting practice at Tigers Stadium, and hitting home runs at age 12.

Five years ago, Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline talked about Prince as a child; “You can’t ever say that you look at a kid that age and say that you know he’s going to hit 40 or 50 home runs someday, but Prince was unbelievable,” Kaline said then. “Here’s a 12-year-old kid commonly hitting homers at a big league ballpark.”

Cecil Fielder spent six seasons in Detroit (1990-96) and smashed 51 long balls during the 1990 campaign.

The contract is the fourth-largest in MLB history, behind Alex Rodriguez’s deal with Mariners and Yankees, and Albert Pujols’ recent agreement with the Angels. Another note to keep in mind about the mega deal; there are no opt-out clauses, meaning Prince and the Tigers might have long, long relationship.

According to Tigers beat writer, Jason Beck, the team did approach Miguel Cabrera before pulling the trigger on the deal. With Miggy on board, there was nothing stopping Detroit. It is expected that Fielder will be the main first baseman, and Cabrera will split time between third base, DH, some left field and of course, some first base.

Here is a projected starting lineup for the 2012 season:
Jackson CF, Boesch RF, Cabrera DH, Fielder 1B, Young LF, Peralta SS, Avila C, Raburn/Santiago 2B, Inge/Kelly 3B.

Imagine the lineup in 2013 when V-Mart returns (if no other moves are made):
Jackson CF, Boesch RF, Cabrera 3B, Fielder 1B, Martinez DH, Young LF, Peralta SS, Avila C, Raburn/Santiago 2B.

What a day.

Quotes in this article via ESPN.com.