MLB Free Agents 2012: How Albert Pujols Signing Affects Prince Fielder Market

Scott Boras is going to need his smile surgically removed after it was announced that Albert Pujols had signed a 10-year contract for between $250-260 million with the Los Angeles Angels. The uber-agent represents Prince Fielder, now the top player available on the market, and is going to have a field day from here on. 

Boras loves to play games with teams, and I am sure that teams do their best to return the favor. He is going to hold Fielder out for as long as he possibly can, or until Fielder says that he wants to sign, to keep the market rising for teams in need of a power hitter in his prime. 

In a lot of ways, the best thing that could have happened to Fielder and his market was to have Pujols sign with the Angels because it opens up a world of different possibilities that likely would not have been there if he had stayed in St. Louis or gone to Miami. 

Boras is going to make sure that Fielder's first foray into free agency pays huge dividends. However, which teams will get involved in the negotiations now? Which teams should get involved?

Here are a few teams that may make a play for Fielder or amp up their current offer for him with Pujols off the board.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers have seen their AL West rivals in Los Angeles do everything it possibly can to catch up to them in 2012. Will they respond with an offer for the first baseman?

According to Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the Rangers did "check in" with Boras about Fielder. The report does not say whether or not an offer was made. 

It also says that the team is committed to Mitch Moreland at first base. Considering how he played over the final four months of last season—.237 average, nine home runs—I can't imagine that they feel confident in him to perform at a high level.

The Rangers' window of opportunity is still very much open because they have pitching depth in the Major League rotation—and moving Neftali Feliiz could be the best move they make this offseason—and plenty of options coming up in the minors. 

Fielder would give them the power hitting first basemen they have lacked since trading Mark Teixeira.

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners have reportedly talked to Boras about a possible deal, and the agent is doing his best to publicly convince them that they should sign him. 

Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times quotes Boras in an article as saying that they play in a "proven market" and are close to contending if they "have the right player to help lead the way."

Even if the Mariners don't contend with Fielder, they should think long and hard about signing him because their offense has been historically bad over the past two years. They need any help that they can get, and have the resources to sign a major player.

St. Louis Cardinals

Hey, why not replace Pujols with Fielder?

The Cardinals were clearly willing to spend a lot of money to keep Pujols in town. They can make an offer for Fielder, though they don't have to go as high for him as they did with Pujols. 

Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman tweets that the Cardinals have a lot of decisions to make right now, and Fielder could be an option that they think about. 

Their window of opportunity is still very much open, though how much money they are actually willing to spend remains to be seen. I think that Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainright being free agents sooner rather than later could determine how they decide to allocate resources.