Is Boras slow-playing the Fielder sweepstakes going to cost his client?

[Warner2BruceTD]

In hindsight, the Cardinals should have waited this thing out and spent their Albert money on Prince. Instead, they shot their load on Beltran.

[Guest]

Fielder and Boras are just waiting for the Darvish situation to play itself out. If the Rangers don't end up with Darvish, that is over $100 million they can put towards Fielder.

After that, it is anyones guess what happens with Fielder. I just can't see them settling for a one year deal and going back next year. Fielder is going to sign a long-term deal with someone.

[Goober]

Saw on twitter today that Milwaukee offered to take him back for a 1-year deal, and then he could take a mega-offer from the new Dodgers ownership next offseason.

Boras did not go for it, according to the source.

I still don't know if this offer was made recently or at the winter meetings. Signing Fielder would be nice for the team, but I don't know if there's money left for it. Of course I'd me fine with an outlandish ticket price raise to pay for one year of Fielder in his prime, lol.

[Guest]

More pressure on Darvish to sign.......though it could be a great off-season if the Rangers ended up with both.

The Texas Rangers' interest in Prince Fielder is high enough that a handful of club officials met with the free-agent slugger in a face-to-face meeting at a Dallas-area hotel Friday.

Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan said Saturday at Rangers FanFest that the club's meeting with Fielder and agent Scott Boras was "very preliminary."

Ryan was asked by a young fan as part of a Q&A at FanFest at the Arlington Convention Center what he thought about the meeting.

"We met Prince yesterday and his agent Scott Boras to try to get a true feel for where they are at this point in time in his free agency to see if we thought there might be something there that would work for the Texas Rangers," Ryan said. "It's very preliminary and it's very early in any type of negotiation process. It was an initial meeting that we had."

The club is exploring all possibilities to improve and Fielder is likely a backup option should a deal with Yu Darvish fall through, a source said.

The Rangers have until Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT to reach an agreement with Darvish or the 25-year-old pitcher will play in Japan in 2012 and the Rangers won't have to pay the $51.7 million posting bid.

That does not mean the club couldn't afford both Darvish and Fielder, should Fielder's contract be structured a certain way. ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney tweeted earlier Friday that one executive believes that the Rangers, Nationals and Cubs may ultimately get a contract structure of six years with an opt-out after three years at $22 million to $24 million a year. That could make it easier for the Rangers to afford both Fielder and Darvish.

Fielder makes sense for the Rangers, given their lack of production at first base in recent years and the fact that he's a power, left-handed bat. If the club signs Fielder, it could mean that Josh Hamilton isn't in Texas past the 2012 season. He's a free agent after this season and the two sides haven't reached a long-term agreement.

Fielder will turn 28 in May and is the top hitter left on the market now that Albert Pujols has signed with the Angels. Fielder played in all 162 games in the regular season for the Brewers in 2011, batting .299 with 38 homers and 120 RBIs. He has played in at least 157 games in all six of his full seasons in the majors and has 230 home runs and a .282 average in that span.

Richard Durrett covers the Rangers for ESPNDallas.com.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/...rangers-dallas

[NAHSTE]

3-4. Bryce Harper and Prince Fielder , like Ruth-Gehrig, or, okay, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, are back-to-back tape-measure lefty sluggers to anchor the order. Fielder, comfortable at cleanup, protects young Harper.

It's cute that people still think lineup protection matters.

[FedEx227]

In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. You really have to love it.