With baseball's winter meetings upon us and free agents flying off the shelves as teams are shopping for that perfect gift for under the tree, the growing realization is that Prince Fielder probably won't be around these parts much longer.

My question then, is when he leaves Milwaukee of his own volition, how is he different than Brett Favre? After all, they both will have left us wanting more at the time of their freewill departure.

Of course, as has been discussed ad nauseum, the Packers wanted to go with Aaron Rodgers after years of Favre waffling as to whether or not he was going to return or retire. The act grew tiresome, and both sides wanted out. What followed was a ridiculous game of player vs. team and in the end, Favre was traded.

That he eventually went to play for the Vikings and even flirted with the notion of playing for the Bears is irrespective to his legacy of success in Green Bay. Like it or not, Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers will forever be intertwined.

Likewise, when Fielder leaves Milwaukee for the riches of Washington, Miami, Seattle, Texas, or even – gulp – Chicago, he will be viewed as a returning conqueror when he plays the Brewers by the fans he chose to leave.

But what if Fielder chooses the Cubs? What if Albert Pujols winds up elsewhere and Fielder gets Pujols' former spot in the Cardinals lineup? Will he still be viewed as a Milwaukee hero?

My guess is yes, but with a twinge of "but why them?"

The economics of baseball are undeniable. And no one is disputing the right of Fielder to explore free agency. He put in his six years here in Milwaukee and can now go where he chooses.

But if that's the case, why is Favre is viewed as a traitor and Fielder is not? How are the circumstances really that different?

For a moment take Favre's bizarre behavior over the last few years out of the equation. For more than a decade and a half he was the biggest rock star in Wisconsin. He was the player that ultimately brought glory back to a franchise that had lost it some 25 years earlier.

Kids wore his No. 4 in their front yards dreaming of being Brett Favre throwing touchdown passes; just as kids today wear Fielder's No. 28 dreaming of swatting baseball a country mile.

Favre, like Fielder, was a marvel; a player that helped lift a moribund franchise to heights it hadn't seen in a generation. Just as it had been 29 years in between Super Bowl wins for the Packers, it had been 29 years in between postseason series wins for the Brewers.

Just as Favre had grown up as an athlete in Green Bay, Fielder grew up as an athlete in Milwaukee. Just as they both had "aw shucks" demeanors when the cameras were on them, they were the biggest, loudest, most profane jokesters in their respective locker rooms.

The Packers took their cues from Brett; the Brewers took theirs from Prince.

Both left us still with some game left. Two years after leaving Green Bay, Favre placed fourth in the NFL's MVP balloting. Fielder this season was third; many think he will win the honor at some point in his career.

But even with all of these similarities, isn't the most glaring one of all that both chose to leave us?

Brett Favre wanted to play football. However,he knew the Packers didn't want him anymore. The argument that "he retired so he just should have stayed retired" is idiotic. He felt trapped so he orchestrated his exit. For better or for worse, that's what happened. Could it have been handled better? Absolutely, but to assert that he had a responsibility to stay on his John Deere and be happy with it is nonsense.

Fielder knows the Brewers want to keep him, and he has repeated over and over that he loved his time here in Milwaukee.

If that's the case, why doesn't he just stay?

In that sense, isn't what Fielder is doing worse than what Favre did? Fielder loves everyone in the Brewers front office; he never had the personality clash with Doug Melvin that Favre did with Ted Thompson. Favre knew Thompson wanted him gone.

Conversely, by virtue of the standing ovation he got before his final at-bat at Miller Park in Game 6 of the NLCS, Fielder is assured that he will be returning to open arms in someone else's uniform the next time he is in town.

I'm not saying that is wrong. I am saying that his situation really isn't that much different than Favre's when you really think about it.

In sports, as in life, things happen. You get offered a better job with better pay and you leave. Sometimes you don't feel welcome at your current job and seek out a better situation for yourself. You would like to think that those you left behind will understand.

But in the case with professional sports, leaving for that better opportunity is viewed as some sort of betrayal.

Remember, Paul Molitor was booed upon his return to County Stadium in a Blue Jays uniform, despite the lowball offer he was given by the Brewers. Perhaps times have changed and we understand the economic realities of the game better today. Perhaps the Molitor (and Favre, for that matter) situation took us off guard and surprised us, while we have been steeling ourselves for Fielder's departure for years.

Whatever the case and wherever Fielder winds up, he will likely long for the days of playing before his adoring fans here in Wisconsin. In many ways, I think that is what fueled Favre's countless comebacks.

I don't believe Brett Favre ever set out to hurt Wisconsin. I don't believe that any of his actions were directed at you. If anything, I think he wanted to prove to you that he was still the same ol' gunslinger that lifted this state to unprecedented highs. However, his feud with Thompson had too much collateral damage.

My hope is that Favre will once again be welcomed wearing green and gold. It is his legacy; just as a ball cap with a twig of barley underneath a script "M" is Fielder's.

It's just a shame both had to leave us.