Eleven days after Albert Pujols signed his megadeal with the Los Angeles Angels, the second-biggest name on baseball’s free agent list remains unsigned. But the weird part is that the rumor mill isn’t even buzzing hard for first baseman Prince Fielder. Conflicting reports over the weekend had the Chicago Cubs as both favorites to sign Fielder and leaking their own interest simply as a feint to force rival teams to pay more. That’s not unheard of. New team president Theo Epstein sometimes used such tactics during his tenure in Boston in the free agent wars between the Red Sox and Yankees.
If Fielder’s options for now are the rebuilding Seattle Mariners — desperate in equal measure for a big bat and a star player — and the Cubs, then that doesn’t seem to be much of a contest. But if Chicago’s interest really isn’t serious and the Texas Rangers and Florida Marlins — as FoxSports.com reported last week — really are out of the running, then things get interesting. Because Seattle — far from Fielder’s Orlando, Fla., home and even with him not really a viable contender against the Rangers and Angels in the AL West — seems like a last resort for agent Scott Boras. So what team would fill the void?
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The Nationals, given their history with Boras clients, will always be a whispered dark horse — even though team sources have said repeatedly the Nats aren’t in the running. But the longer Boras goes without an obvious landing spot — a big-market contender willing to pay huge dollars over eight or 10 years with an opt-out in the contract — the more reluctant teams like the Nats can get creative with lots of cash over a shorter contract.
– Brian McNally
