The Texas Rangers appear to have their sights focused on free agent first baseman Prince Fielder. SportsDay from the Dallas Morning News posted some excerpts from Monday's program featuring Analysts Kevin Sherrington and Evan Grant, who chimed in with their take on the Rangers' pursuit of Fielder.
Grant was asked whether the targeting of Fielder might merely be part of a negotiating tactic with free agent pitcher Yu Darvish. He had this to say:
It's very, very clear that [Texas] is where [Fielder] wants to be. We're now in the second week of January and he's still sitting there unsigned. It appears that he and Scott Boras have been waiting all along for the Rangers to get their Darvish situation settled so they could get down to brass tacks between Prince and the Rangers.
Sherrington, meanwhile, was asked about whether the Rangers would be able to sign Fielder to a long-term deal if he comes to Arlington, or if he would merely be a hired gun for the 2012 season.
It depends on what you mean by long-term. He was talking eight, nine or 10 years. He wasn't going to get that from anybody, everybody's afraid of that body and what it's going to be like in five or six years. I think if you can get Prince Fielder for four or five years, I think it's well worth considering in where you're going to be, and especially as negotiations progress with Josh Hamilton. You have to decide what you want to do with him, because now it's come out that he wants six years. So I think both of those guys, those are both questionable deals to extend them both that far. So I think they'll have to make up their mind on which power hitter they want.
The addition of Fielder would make the potent offense of the two-time defending American League champion Rangers even more formidable. In 2011, Fielder hit .299/.415/.566 with 38 home runs, 36 doubles and 120 RBI. He also posted the best walk-to-strikeout ratio of his career, walking 107 times against 106 strikeouts. Over seven seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, fielders career slash line is at .282/.390/.540 with 230 home runs.
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