In one of the more surprising signings in modern baseball history, the Detroit Tigers agreed to sign free agent Prince Fielder to a nine-year, $214 million dollar contract. This is according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com via Twitter.

Fielder who is the son of famed Tiger Cecil Fielder will be in Detroit until he is at least 36 years of age for an annual salary of $23.78 million dollars.

Heyman further tweets that Fielder will take over the first base position with Miguel Cabrera moving to DH since Victor Martinez more than likely will be lost for all of 2012.

Looking ahead to 2013, it’s also possible that Cabrera moves back to third base after only playing at the position for 14 games since being traded to Detroit back in 2007.

Stay tuned for further updates as they become available.

Ref: CBS Sports, MLBTradeRumors, Twitter, Getty (image)