"With more than $100 million sunk into Yu Darvish and a handful of core players lined up for big pay raises, the Rangers' pursuit of Prince Fielder seems to be on life support. Unless Fielder significantly slashes his contract demands, Texas' front office is skeptical it can find the cash to make such a move work.

But the Ranger brass has developed a reputation as an industrious and innovative group under Jon Daniels, and assistant general manager Thad Levine isn't willing to count the club out entirely.

"I will just tell you that Jon Daniels is an amazingly creative general manager," Levine said on MLB Network Radio when asked about the club's financial flexibility. "We are aware of acquisition costs of almost every player who's on the market, including the guys who are still out there. There are active discussions internally to see if there's any ways we can improve the team, and we're always abreast of those.""