"Based on what we know — and admittedly, we know only so much — the Cubs are the front-runners to sign Prince Fielder.

No one should schedule a news conference at Wrigley Field. These negotiations might only be in their early stages. But if this is Cubs vs. Mariners — and that's certainly the way it looks at the moment — the Cubs make far more sense.

Neither the Rangers nor Marlins will bid on Fielder, according to major league sources. The Orioles, as my colleague Jon Paul Morosi wrote earlier this week, are the eastern version of the Mariners, a non-contender that would be viable only if Fielder lacked better options.

The Cubs aren't exactly contenders themselves, but few in the industry doubt that new club president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer will transform them into a force in short order.

Yet, if anyone thinks that the Cubs are a lock for Fielder, they weren't paying attention when the Angels, seemingly out of nowhere, signed Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $254 million contract.

And they certainly haven't been paying attention to the cloak-and-dagger negotiating style of Fielder's agent, Scott Boras, over the years.

"Scott can usually pull a rabbit out of his hat," one executive said.

The Mariners, a franchise desperately in need of a jolt, could be that rabbit.

But does Fielder, 27, want to play for a team coming off back-to-back last-place finishes, a team with a laughably inept offense, a team that is the farthest of the 30 major league clubs from his home in Orlando, Fla.?

If the price is right, maybe.

And never mind that one of the Mariners' all-time greats, Ken Griffey Jr., eventually pressured the M's into trading him to the Reds so he could be closer to his home in Orlando.

Boras generally excels at exploiting the market to maximum advantage — or, to put it bluntly, finding the one dumb owner.

Fielder to the Mariners would be the sport's most blatant money grab since Alex Rodriguez went to the Rangers for $252 million. That contract was Boras' Mona Lisa. But after three years, A-Rod wanted out."