Now that Albert Pujols is no Longer in the National League, why not go for Broke and Pay Prince Fielder?

There are so many reasons for the Brewers just to kick the dirt and watch Fielder sign a fat contract elsewhere, believing there is nothing they can do about it, but now that Albert Pujols has left St. Louis it's time to consider the reasons to go for it and sign Prince to a huge contract that might even seriously jeopardize the Brewer's bottom line.

• The NL Central is a weak division and likely to stay that way for a while. St Louis was the only remotely competitive team last year and with both Pujols and LaRussa gone, they'll likely spend the next few seasons rebuilding. The Brewers could be playoff contenders for the better part of the next decade if they manage to keep their core line-up intact.

• Even though they're a small market team, the Brewers have much more money to play around with when they winning and filling seats at Miller Park. I don't know what kind of return Fielder was on the club's investment last season, but a bold and gutsy gamble would drive fans wild and they'd likely see more returns.

• Anyone who watched Fielder play last year knows just how hungry this guy is. The odds of this guy shirking after signing a big contract are pretty slim.

I case there's any doubt I am indeed recommending that the Brewers float Fielder a 7-8 year contract somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million, which would be only about $25 million less than the entire team was bought for in 20034 and that if the deal didn't pan out it would financially ruin the team, but who cares? Financial ruin isn't the end of the world. The Texas Rangers went bankrupt a few years back and they've only been the World Series each year since.

Don't get me wrong, I know exactly how enormous this gamble would be, but sometimes you have to just say "Screw it! Let's go for it!" If every there was one of those time in the history of the Brewers, it's now.

MORE: I'm watching SportsCenter's special coverage of the Winter MLB meetings and John Kruk and Terry Francona were suggesting the same thing. Interestingly enough, neither of them mention the Yankees or the Red Sox as a possible destination.

A quick addendum: The Cards thought they were safe floating Pujols a $210 offer, thinking that would clear the projected $200 million other teams were going to pony up. The Angles blew those figures out of the water. There's a good chance that the Brewers will now have to contend with some other team upping the ante by an equally ridiculous degree. Do we still think the Brewers should try to top it? Damn straight we do. Even if that means "over-paying" him? Yup. Even if it means putting the team in debt that no amount of winning could possibly pull them out of? A thousand times yes.

Just looking at these figures from after the losing 2010 season seems to suggest that the Brewers can come up with an additional $10-15 million for Prince.