DETROIT -- The Detroit Tigers responded to a jarring injury with an audacious move. cheap jerseys from china . Free-agent first baseman Prince Fielder and the Tigers agreed Tuesday to a nine-year, US$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 off-season conditioning. CBS first reported the agreement with Fielder. The person told The Associated Press the deal was subject to a physical. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract was not yet complete. The Tigers won their division by 15 games before losing in the AL championship series to Texas. Adding the 27-year-old Fielder gives the Tigers two of the games premier sluggers, pairing him with Miguel Cabrera. With Fielder now in the fold, general manager Dave Dombrowski and owner Mike Ilitch have a team that figures to enter the 2012 season as a favourite to repeat in the division -- with an eye on winning the franchises first World Series title since 1984. "Everyone knew Mr. Ilitch and Mr. Dombrowski were going to make a move when Victor went down," outfielder Brennan Boesch said in a phone interview with the AP. "But I dont think anybody thought it would be this big." The move also keeps Fielders name in the Tigers family. His father, Cecil, became a big league star when he returned to the majors from Japan and hit 51 home runs with Detroit in 1990. Cecil played with the Tigers into the 1996 season, and young Prince made a name for himself by hitting prodigious home runs in batting practice at Tiger Stadium. A few years ago, when Prince returned to Detroit as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline recalled that power show. "You cant ever say that you look at a kid that age and say that you know hes going to hit 40 or 50 home runs someday, but Prince was unbelievable," Kaline said then. "Heres a 12-year-old kid commonly hitting homers at a big league ballpark." In an interview with MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, Cecil Fielder said he was "shocked" by the news that Prince was heading to Detroit. "Hes been there in Detroit most of his young life so I think hell be comfortable in that place," Cecil Fielder said. "I know Mr. Ilitch is probably excited because hes been wanting that kid since he was a little kid, so he finally got his wish." With Cabrera and Fielder, Detroit will begin this season with two players under age 30 with at least 200 career homers. According to STATS LLC, thats happened only once before. At the start of the 1961 season, the Milwaukee Braves featured 29-year-old Eddie Mathews (338 homers) and 27-year-old Hank Aaron (219). Several teams had shown interest this winter in Fielder, who had spent his entire career with the Brewers. He visited Texas, and the Washington Nationals also got involved in the discussions. The beefy slugger hit .299 with 38 home runs and 120 RBIs last season. He is a three-time all-star and was the MVP of last years event in Phoenix. Fielder has averaged 40 homers and 113 RBIs over the past five years. Hes also been among the most durable players in the majors, appearing in at least 157 games in each of the last six seasons. Fielder hits left-handed, while Cabrera is a righty. Manager Jim Leyland will get to decide where to put them in the batting order. "I dont think theres a better right-left combo in any lineup in baseball," Boesch said. "Im sure Skips wheels are already turning on how to set them up." The deal is only the fourth $200 million contract in baseball history, following Alex Rodriguezs $275 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees, A-Rods $252 million, 10-year deal with Texas and Albert Pujols $240 million, 10-year contract last month with the Los Angeles Angels. Among current players, Fielders $23.78 million average salary is behind only A-Rod ($27.5 million), Ryan Howard ($25 million), and Cliff Lee and Pujols ($24 million each). Dombrowski indicated last week hed probably seek a short-term solution to Martinezs injury, but he left himself some wriggle room, saying it depended who the replacement was. Acquiring Fielder opens all sorts of possibilities. For now, Detroit has an opening at DH with Martinez out. But Martinez is in the second year of a $50 million, four-year contract. One option could be to move Cabrera from first base to third. He played third base regularly for the Florida Marlins before the Tigers acquired him before the 2008 season. Third baseman Brandon Inge has one year left on a two-year, $11.5 million deal with Detroit. The Tigers reached the World Series in 2006, but they appeared to be in cost-cutting mode when they traded popular centre fielder Curtis Granderson to the New York Yankees after the 2009 season. It turned out they were simply re-allocating resources. They quickly signed ace Justin Verlander to a five-year deal in early 2010, then added Martinez and standout reliever Joaquin Benoit last off-season. ... Larmer Jersey . Australia took a 22-3 lead into halftime and nearly blew it all. Luciano Orquera, who had knocked over each of his previous five kicks, put a penalty heartbreakingly wide in the final minute as Italy missed out on a historic first draw against Australia. . And in typical Federer fashion, he did it in the most dramatic way possible. 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Happ, have twice in five days put their fate in the hands of a 39-year-old pitcher who hasnt held a regular job in the major leagues since 2007. CALGARY -- That the decision was painful was evident, as Dan Church was in tears by the end of the conversation. His stated reason for abruptly resigning as head coach of Canadas Olympic womens hockey team was he felt there were doubts about his ability to coach the team to Olympic gold in February. "If there isnt confidence in what Im doing, I need to step aside and let the team move on," Church told The Canadian Press in a phone interview Thursday. "Im heartbroken, to be honest, about the whole situation. Im sad I cant finish this journey." Church didnt specify whether it was players or Hockey Canada who doubted his competence as a coach. "Just discussions Id had over the last few days made that apparent, in some meetings Id had with leadership," Church said. "I think it was just difference of opinion on the direction we were headed. "In the end, I just decided if Im getting in the way of where the team needs to go, I need to step aside and let them continue on in the process." That bombshell comes less than two months before the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Church was expected to announce his 21-player Olympic roster before the end of December. Church left Calgary on Thursday morning without addressing the players and flew to Toronto, where he lives with his wife Regan. Canada hosted the U.S. women in Calgary at night. "I was in shock. It was unexpected," veteran forward Caroline Ouellette said. "I appreciate Dan. I always have. I have a lot of respect for him. I think hes done a lot of great things for our team since 2011 when he took over as head coach." The Canadian women will attempt to win a fourth straight gold medal in Sochi after victories in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Church coached Canada to a womens world title in April, 2012. The 40-year-old from Toronto was rewarded with a two-year contract to coach for the 2013 world champions and the Winter Olympics. When asked if Hockey Canada tried to convince him to stay or reverse his decision Thursday, Church replied, "No, they did not." "Dan has decided to resign for personal reasons," Hockey Canadas chief operating officer Scott Smith said at news conference Thursday. "Hes put a tremendous amount of work into this and we respect the decision hes made." Assistant coaches Danielle Goyette, a former national team player, and Lisa Haley will co-coach until a new coach is named, Smith said. "Time certainly is of the essence," Smith said. "This decision came upon us in the last few hours and were going to react as quickly as possible. Melody Davidson coached the Canadian women to Olympic gold in both 2006 and 2010. She became Hockey Canadas female head scout and serves in a general managers role for the national team. Davidson was adamant Thursday she would not step into the breach. "I stepped down in 2010 for a reason," Davidson said. "I left because it was time to be off that bench and Im comfortable in the role I can play off the ice." "I think theres some real good candidates there who can help us and bring a different voice than mine. Ill definitely support whatever direction we go in, but its not going to involve me as part of the coaching staff." The reality is the ppool of Canadians who have experience coaching international womens teams is shallow. [url=http://www.nhlblackhawkshockeystore.com/red-28-ben-smith-womens-jersey/]Ben Smith. . Davidson says she could identify with Churchs feelings as she nearly quit when Canada lost the 2009 world championship final to the U.S. prior to the 2010 Olympics. "The Olympics is overwhelming at times," she said. "Sometimes you get caught up in that. Maybe Dan couldnt feel he could envision something different." Davidson didnt think Church was in over his head as head coach of the team. "Definitely not," she said. Haley says she did not question Churchs decisions. "In my opinion, Dan has done and said everything with the intention of this team winning a gold medal," Haley said. "I trusted his decisions all along when Ive gotten the chance to coach with him over the years. "Hes gotten a lot of things right. Right now, what we want to do is trust this decision that this is whats best for the team and hopefully we can win him that gold medal." Church and Davidson invited 27 women to try out for the Olympic team. Theyve been training full time in Calgary since August. Church cut forward Jenelle Kohanchuk and defenders Tessa Bonhomme and Brigette Lacquette in November. Two more forwards and a defenceman will be released when the Olympic team in named. The Canadian women lost 3-2 to the U.S. in the final of this years world championship in Ottawa, but were on a three-game winning streak against their archrivals until Thursday night. With Goyette and Haley behind the bench, Canada lost 5-1 to the U.S in the third exhibition game between the two countries this winter. In their previous meeting at the Four Nations Cup in November, Canada doubled the Americans 4-2. Canada went 4-0 to win that international tournament. The women were 10-11 against male teams in the Alberta Midget Hockey League and have played 31 games since September. "All I can say is I gave 100 per cent effort in everything I did this year," Church said. "I worked tirelessly. "I put in all the hours to be successful and I believe we were moving in the right direction as a team. We had reached all the benchmarks at the times we had wanted and winning all of our games against the U.S., winning at Four Nations. "While we had struggled a little bit with the midget results, wed played with a lot of injuries to our lineup and a really tough November schedule. "Its disappointing to not feel theres confidence in what youre doing." Hes coached the York University womens hockey team for nine seasons. His father died of cancer in January at age 70, but Church said his decision was not related to health or family issues. Church coached the Canadas under-18 womens team to a world champoinship in 2010. He was an assistant coach to Ryan Walter on the womens team that took silver at the 2011 world championship. With Church behind the bench at the 2012 world championships in Burlington, Vt., Canada suffered a worst-ever 9-2 loss to the U.S. women to open that tournament, but rebounded with a 5-4 overtime win in the final for the countrys first world title since 2007. The U.S. has won four of the last five world championships. Canada and the U.S. will meet again Dec. 20 in Grand Forks, N.D., Dec. 28 in St. Paul, Minn., and Dec. 30 in Toronto. ' ' '