"What's the market for Prince Fielder? Plenty of baseball executives would love to know the answer to that one. Welcome to the world of Scott Boras.

The Orioles are in. The Orioles are out. Possibly. The Nationals definitely are in unless they happen to be out. The Mariners have some interest. Most likely. The Blue Jays, too.

The Cubs make some sense, but they've said nothing. The Rangers? They appear to be sitting this one out, but don't bet next month's rent on them staying out.

And don't forget the mystery team. Boras always has one or two of them in play. Do they exist?

The Red Sox doubted a mystery team existed in their negotiations with Boras regarding Johnny Damon six years ago.

Turns out, Boras did have a mystery team. Turns out, that mystery team was the Yankees.

And yet...

The Rangers signed Alex Rodriguez to a 10-year, $252-million deal after the 2000 season. At the time, they believed they were lucky to have survived the negotiating process because the competition had been fierce.

Only thing is, the Atlanta Braves believed they had the second-highest offer on the table and that it was about $100 million less than what the Rangers ended up paying. The Braves wondered if the Rangers might have been bidding against themselves for those final $100 million.

Boras says there indeed was a mystery team involved and that it took every last nickel of that $252 million to get A-Rod to Texas.

He used similar tactics with the Astros after the 2004 season. They'd acquired Carlos Beltran for the stretch run, and he'd performed brilliantly. They badly wanted to re-sign him and began by putting $75 million on the table. Boras did not counter. They threw another $15 million into the deal and then another $10 million. Boras did not counter either.

Boras would only tell the Astros that their offer wasn't satisfactory, and yet he would not give them a dollar figure to negotiate from. In doing so, he created confusion and anxiety. The Astros didn't know if Boras was playing them or if he really did have a better offer elsewhere. "